Today’s guests on In Focus included Manhattan/Ogden USD 383 School Board member David Colburn with Assistant Superintendent Eric Reid, and also Monica Heasty from the Manhattan Area Technical College’s Admissions Department. Colburn & Reid: Heasty:
Author: KMAN Staff
Two of three people convicted in connection with a February 1997 murder in Riley County have been passed over for parole. The earliest possible release date for Delisha Branch, 45, is May of 2020 and Shakeer Davis, 37, has a June 2018 date for the earliest chance at being released. The two, along with Duereal Campbell, 37, were convicted of the murder of Wanda Norman, 44, of Manhattan at Norman’s home at Countryside Estates more than 20 years ago. All three were up for public comment sessions in January, with the earliest release in March of this year…but the Kansas Deaprtment…
TOPEKA — Kansas will use $291 million in internal government borrowing to avoid a deficit in its current budget and pay bills on time through June. Republican Gov. Sam Brownback signed the budget bill into law Tuesday. The measure allows the state to avoid short-term cuts in aid to public schools, social services and other programs. The state plans to liquidate a special investment fund and loan most of the proceeds to its main bank account to cover general spending before the fiscal year ends on June 30. The loan would be paid back over seven years. Kansas would still face…
Manhattan City Commissioners voted to approve eight new items to be incorporated into the budget for the 2018 City/University Special Projects Fund, but not without some controversy. Assistant city manager Kiel Mangus told commissioners about the seven items that were recommended for approval but the special projects committee. The projects include updates to the main campus and along the North Campus Corridor. The special fund was created in 1994 after the city annexed Kansas State University, and the projects being funded must be deemed to be of mutual benefit to the community and university. According to Mangus, an eighth item was recommended…
TOPEKA — Hundreds of people have gathered in Topeka for a candlelight vigil in support of a financially troubled nonprofit Catholic hospital that faces an uncertain future. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that nurses, physicians, maintenance staff, security guards, clergy and former patients marched Monday night in front of St. Francis Hospital. Anna Munns, who works in patient access, created the event on Facebook. She says the 378-bed hospital is a “huge part of the community.” St. Francis’s Denver-based owners, SCL Health, has reported financial losses in recent years. It placed St. Francis on the market 11 months ago, leaving 1,600…
Open phones with Dave Lewis and Cathy Dawes:
The body of the man involved in a law enforcement chase a nearly two weeks ago has been recovered. The Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s office announced Tuesday morning that on Monday the deceased male individual was recovered from the Kansas River approximately 1 mile East of the Belvue River Bridge. Family members had identified the man last week as Tyler Gibson of the Topeka area. A release from Pottawatomie County Sheriff Greg Riat indicates the Pottawatomie and Wabaunsee County Sheriff’s Offices conducted another search of the river Monday. They were aided by a local Wamego resident with an air boat and…
Nearly three months after a gunshot incident in a Kansas State University residence hall, the 19-year-old student involved in the case has been charged with unlawful possession of firearms in a state owned building. Matthew Hanzlick of Atwood was taken into custody this past week at the Riley County Law Enforcement Center on Seth Child. His bond was set at one-thousand dollars. As KMAN reported in January, a K-State student was transported on a Sunday ro an area hospital for injuries from an accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound. KSU police were called to a student’s room in Goodnow Hall on a…
The parents of Amber Wilhelm released video statements Tuesday morning pleading for any information about the person who put his daughter in the hospital last Friday. Wilhelm was struck Friday by a pickup while crossing the intersection of 12th and Bluemont in Manhattan. The truck and driver fled the scene. She is still in Stormont Vail Hospital in Topeka in critical condition. Police investigators are in the process of interviewing witnesses and collecting video surveillance of the area from several businesses as well as traffic control cameras. “I got the phone call early Friday morning that my daughter had been in an accident,” Darryl…
KMAN’s Cathy Dawes spoke with Manhattan Mayor Pro Tem Linda Morse and City Manager Ron Fehr: