The Riley County Fish and Game Association will be holding their annual ART Auction and Feed. Ben Jedlicka, Riley County game warden, tells KMAN the event will have food from Ricky’s of Hanover as well as plenty of entertainment. “The entertainment is a silent auction where there is a lot of things donated and they’re on the table and you go around and put a bid down, and then there is a live auction.” He adds that it is a great opportunity to support the Riley County Fish and Game Association, which is involved with several things around the community.…
Author: Kelsey Bigelow
After breaking ground in September of 2020, Sunset Zoo is nearing the completion of Expedition Asia. Melissa Kirkwood, marketing and development coordinator, tells KMAN the grand opening of the exhibit will be April 9. She says sloth bears, tigers, and leopards will be the main animals taking home in the new exhibit. “We couldn’t be more excited to be giving these animals new environments, and to give the community huge new exhibits and creative exhibits to see these animals,” Kirkwood adds. The roughly $4.3 million project, was approved by the Manhattan City Commission early in September and broke ground later…
The Flint Hills Veterans Coalition continues to encourage people to join their mission. The FHVC purpose is to promote patriotism throughout the community. They host veteran’s day events in Manhattan, as well as taking part in several other outreach programs. Chuck Sexton, FHVC president, talks more about their cause. “Just helping as many vets as we can, because it’s all about veterans and veteran related causes, as well as patriotism in the Flint Hills,” Sexton says. “That’s what we were established to execute and that’s what we were established to do.” The largest event of the year for the FHVC…
Manhattan Public Library and Susan B. Anthony Middle School are teaming up to increase students’ access to digital reading materials. According to the library, they have formed a partnership that provides access to thousands of age-appropriate books for students’ use inside the classroom, at home, or anywhere 24/7. Middle school students can now use Sora to borrow from both the school’s collection as well as the public library’s digital collections. Being able to access books digitally eliminates transportation issues for students. Rather than a separate library card, students will be able to use their school credentials through the app. Sora…
Standing room is all that remained as community members gathered in the Leonardville Community Building to express their concerns with the current ambulance services in the northern part of Riley County. On Thursday evening, a special commission meeting was held to allow for the public to comment on the matter. Several area residents were present along with school board members, former Riley County police officers, Riley mayor, and even some from outside the county. The podium never got lonely as resident after resident came up to share personal stories of poor ambulance response times and the pain they or a…
USD 475 School Board members have voted to sell the site of the former Junction City High School to the city. During a school board meeting on Monday, Jason Butler, board member, made a motion to give the land to the city for $1 after agreements, including a memorandum of understanding that would detail the obligations of the city, were made. “This allows us to say to the city, ‘We are ready to move forward, but we want to make sure that we are all in agreement with what the details of this look like.’ Otherwise I think we are…
Valentine’s Day is just over a week away and downtown Manhattan invites you to celebrate. Gina Snyder, Downtown Manhattan Incorporated executive director, tells KMAN that several restaurants are running specials during the holiday weekend and on Valentine’s day itself. She says whether it’s dining in or picking up or whether its a full meal, drinks, or even just dessert, downtown is the place. “Several of them are doing take-out desserts as well. So if you are wanting to just do something special with desserts, you’ll be able to find that on our website, or you can go directly to your…
Governor Laura Kelly this week vetoed the congressional redistricting map, a move that was expected, following outcry from Democrats who argued the map took away a stronghold for the state’s lone Democrat in Congress, Rep. Sharice Davids. The map splits Wyandotte County into two separate congressional districts. It also separates the city of Lawrence from Douglas County and places urban boundaries of Lawrence into Rep. Tracy Mann’s 1st Congressional District. 51st District State Rep. Ron Highland (R-Wamego), voted present on the bill the first time around and explains why. “I heard from many of my constituents they were not happy…
Sunflower CASA in Manhattan continues to help children in several ways. Carson Kober, executive director tells KMAN that this past year was successful for Sunflower CASA. She says they helped more children in 2021 than in any year ever before. Part of that is due to the extended services of Sunflower CASA, that actually extend into two other agencies, the first being Stepping Stones CAC. “We do forensic interviews there of children who have been sexually abused,” Kober says. “So, that’s not something we like to just put out in the newspaper, hey look at our agency, but that is…
After 42 years of service to the public, Riley County Police Department Director Dennis Butler is officially retiring. Monday will be his last day on duty. Butler began his policing career in 1979 when he was hired as a cadet. After about a year, he went to the academy and was hired as a police officer in 1980. Through his many years of service, Butler says he has made many memories and has seen a change in policing. Reflecting on his 25 years of service in Alexandria, Virginia before coming to Kansas, where he was Chief of Police in Ottawa…