An employee in the Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office tested positive for COVID-19 last week. As a result, the Pottawatomie County Health Department will begin testing select inmates and corrections staff on Wednesday, June 17. The new patient is the first county staff member to test positive for COVID-19. Anyone who was in close contact with the patient was ordered to self-quarantine and check for symptoms. County employees are being advised to avoid non-essential travel and large gatherings when possible and to practice physical distancing. For more information on COVID-19, visit kdheks.gov.
Author: KMAN Staff
Two members of the Ascension Via Christi Hospital medical staff who traveled to COVID-19 hot spots in May to care for patients joined KMAN’s In Focus last week to reflect on their experiences. Brooklyn Stoddard, a CNA, worked at a rehabilitation nursing facility in a town about 30 miles southwest of Chicago called Joliet. According to Stoddard, about 90 percent of the staff at the nursing facility were out sick with COVID-19. “A lot of them had worked up to 28 days in a row,” Stoddard said. “We were there to help them have some days off so they could…
In a release from K-State Athletics on Tuesday afternoon, the school announced that two of their student athletes had tested positive for COVID-19. A source told KMAN on Tuesday morning that at least one of the positives is a member of the football team. K-State received the positive results after 120 student-athletes had been tested as of June 16th, following the use of PCR (polymerase chain reaction) testing. Each student-athlete that arrives in Manhattan is to stay at home for seven days prior to their testing. During that time the athletes are not allowed inside any department facilities or participate…
The impact of COVID-19 on local businesses Jack Allston, executive director of the Pottawatomie County Economic Development Corporation, presented to the Pottawatomie County Commission Monday the results of a survey showing how COVID-19 has impacted local businesses. Of the businesses that responded to the survey, about 15 percent closed and are now open, about 4 percent closed and are still closed and the rest have remained open. As for how job numbers have changed, Allston says there is good news. According to Allston, event-based companies have been negatively impacted the most while those involved in food service and childcare are also…
BELLEVILLE, Kan. — The Kansas Highway Patrol says a Minnesota truck driver has died in a crash in northern Kansas. Television station KAKE reports that the crash happened Monday morning on U.S. Highway 81 in Republic County, killing 33-year-old David Fronning, of Breckenridge, Minnesota. Investigators say Fronning was driving a semitrailer southbound on the highway when it went into a ditch, hit an embankment and went airborne before crashing into trees, coming to rest on its side in a field. Authorities say Fronning died at the scene.
LAWRENCE, Kan. — A man who was shot and killed by Kansas law enforcement was wanted in a Nebraska killing. Omaha, Nebraska, police said the man who was killed Monday is 31-year-old Nicholas Hirsh, a white man who faced a first-degree murder arrest warrant for the shooting death Thursday of 41-year-old John Miles, of Council Bluffs, Iowa. The U.S. Marshals Service said it appeared that the suspect had been in Kansas since Friday, when a car was stolen from Clay Center. The Kansas Highway Patrol spotted the car near Perry Lake in northeast Kansas and pursued it to Lawrence. The…
Riley County commissioners chose not to put a continuing county half cent sales tax on this year’s general election ballot. Commission Chairman Marvin Rodriguez was the lone commissioner to vote for the measure, saying it may not pass by future commissions, especially if there is turn over this year. He is worried if the City of Manhattan’s sales tax question passes, then the smaller cities in the county will be affected. “This has already been approved by the attorney general. Let the people vote; if they vote yes, then that’s their decision. If they vote no, then that is also…
Manhattan City Manager Ron Fehr and Mayor Usha Reddi previewed Tuesday’s city commission meeting.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Kansas law enforcement authorities on Monday shot and killed a man wanted by the U.S. Marshals Service who led them on a car chase then pointed a gun at them, according to the Kansas Highway Patrol. The patrol didn’t identify the suspect, a white man who died at the scene. The chase started Monday afternoon when Highway Patrol troopers located a man wanted by the marshals near Perry Lake in northeast Kansas, the KHP said in a news release. Troopers pursued the vehicle into Lawrence, where they eventually were able to stop it using tactical maneuvers…
A preliminary hearing is scheduled to begin Tuesday morning and end Wednesday in the case of Robert Iacobellis, who stands accused of more than 100 counts of child sexual abuse. The Bob’s Diner owner was arrested last August on 130 total counts of sex-related crimes involving three alleged victims, all under the age of 18, taking place over a six-year period. The charges include 125 counts of aggravated indecent liberties, one count of aggravated indecent solicitation, three counts of criminal sodomy and one count of rape. An all-day setting is scheduled beginning at 9 a.m. with Riley County Judge William…