Julie Gibbs joined KMAN in the 7am hour to provide our COVID update.
Author: KMAN Staff
A state task force this week backed Kansas Health Secretary Lee Norman’s recommendation to use the federal stimulus money on testing at schools, workplaces and other sites. The goal is to catch coronavirus in people who haven’t even realized they’re carrying it, KCUR reports. Some of the testing would be done at Wichita State University, where a new not-for-profit lab is gearing up to churn out hundreds of thousands of tests by the end of the year. “I know that sounds like a lot,” said Tonya Witherspoon, Wichita State’s vice president of industry engagement, “but we think several labs in…
A new mowing routine will soon be implemented by the Manhattan Parks and Recreation Department at a few local parks to help plant pollinators, such as birds, insects and small mammals. Alfonso Leyva, Manhattan Parks and Rec. park planner, says the program, known as Pollinator Pockets, will consist of identifying areas of parks where workers can stop mowing for periods of the year so that native vegetation can grow back for the benefit of the local ecosystem. “If existing vegetation is lacking pollinator vegetative diversity, we will overseed the area with a seed mixture,” Leyva said. “Now currently, the most…
The Manhattan City Commission has approved a roughly $3 million cost-share grant for Kimball Avenue reconstruction, phase 9 of the North Campus Corridor plan. That leaves about $7.1 million that will be covered by city/university, water, stormwater, economic development and bond and interest funds. Mayor Usha Reddi says the city is also in competition to receive BUILD grants, totaling $7.9 million, though considerations are typically given to larger municipalities with higher populations. “But unfortunately that’s who we’re competing against and sometimes I think the public also needs to understand that’s our competition. That’s why we work so hard at things…
US-24 Hwy. projects The Pottawatomie County Commission rejected all bids for the Green Valley Rd./US-24 Hwy. intersection project Monday. The low bid of $4.02 million was about 22 percent higher then the $3.3 million estimate. According to Peter Clark, Pottawatomie County Public Works director, the commission is statutorily required to reject bids that are more than 10 percent higher than the estimate. The commission also heard bids for the US-24 Hwy./Crown C Circle project, with the lowest coming in beneath the engineer’s estimate at about $1.3 million. While some officials were wanting the two US-24 Hwy. projects to occur at…
On Wednesday’s edition of In Focus we spoke with USD 383 Assistant Superintendent Eric Reid and board member Kristin Brighton. We also spoke with Manhattan Christian College President Kevin Ingram.
WICHITA, Kan. — A Keeper of the Plains replica statue that was taken from a Wichita park over the weekend has been found not far from where it was stolen. The Wichita Eagle reports that a resident spotted the statue in the grass beside a creek that runs by Colvin Elementary School. City maintenance workers retrieved the statue Monday evening. It’s too soon to say what they’ll do about the damaged statue. It is one of 13 Keeper of the Plains replica statues, each painted by different Wichita artists. The 10-foot-tall, 75-pound fiberglass statue was pried off its base.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A Wyandotte County judge has ruled that state agency records of a 3-year-old girl whose body was found this summer in a shallow grave should not be released to the public. Olivia Jansen’s body was found in a shallow grave on July 10, the same day her father reported her missing. He and his girlfriend have been charged with felony murder and other crimes in her death. Several media outlets have filed requests for records from the Department for Children and Family Services. The Kansas City Star reports that the judge granted a motion to prohibit…
OLATHE, Kan. — A commissioner for the most populous county in Kansas urged constituents to buy firearms and prepare for a “coming war” in a Facebook post that described a chaotic end to law and order. Johnson County commissioner Mike Brown used the hashtags “All Lives Matter” and “Blue Lives Matter” as he described violence, “burning churches” and “looting stores” in the weekend posts. Brown, who is white, is up for re-election in November. The posts are no longer public, but Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, a Democrat who is Black, retweeted images of them Monday and described the messages…
FORT SCOTT, Kan. — Authorities have found a body in a Kansas lake while searching for a missing kayaker. Fort Scott police say emergency crews began looking Sunday in Lake Fort Scott for 19-year-old Raymond Harper after his friends recovered his kayak but couldn’t find him. A helicopter and divers were called in to help before a body that is believed to be Harper’s was found Monday afternoon.