Officers with the Riley County Police Department’s Special Investigations Unit with the assistance of the Junction City, Geary County Drug Task Force made several arrests following 5 search warrants in Manhattan (3030 Sunnyside Drive, 516 Bertrand Street, 1126 Ratone Street, 1904 Violet Circle, and 1514 Colorado Street) which were executed Thursday (August 4, 2016). This investigation was the culmination of 6 weeks of work and removed 3 ounces of methamphetamine from the community. Arrested on the offense of distribution of methamphetamine within 1000 feet of a school was Tyrone Goodridge, 34, Manhattan. He was given a bond of $77,000.00 and…
Author: KMAN Staff
NEWTON — The head of Amtrak celebrated the salvation of Newton’s passenger rail service and said there’s a possibility Wichita could get passenger rail service. Joe Boardman, Amtrak’s president and CEO, was in Newton on Thursday and called the Southwest Chief, which runs through Newton, a “critical link.” The Southwest Chief carries about 350,000 people a year from Chicago to Los Angeles. The route was threatened in Kansas by aged track. The Wichita Eagle reports Boardman said Amtrak has invested about $40 million on area rails, which are owned by a railroad. He says Amtrak is also considering the possibility of restoring…
WICHITA — More than 20 percent of Kansas’ school districts, including some of the larger districts will have new superintendents this fall. Dale Dennis, deputy education commissioner of Kansas, said 61 Kansas school districts, including Topeka, Olathe, Lawrence and Manhattan, have new leaders this year. Some veteran superintendents in rural districts are also going elsewhere. The departures follow at least two straight years of record-breaking turnover, which Dennis and others said has taken a toll on districts and the state. The Wichita Eagle reports that the average tenure for a superintendent in Kansas is about five years. The Kansas Association of School…
TOPEKA — A Kansas woman is scheduled to be sentenced next month for attempting to give her daughters Kool-Aid laced with prescription drugs. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the sentencing is set for Sept. 2 for Shakina Dauniel Lawton. She pleaded guilty in February to two counts of attempted murder. Before making the plea agreement, Lawton faced two charges of attempted first-degree murder. Senior assistant district attorney Todd Hiatt said her daughters were 14 and 9 when Lawton brought them into the kitchen, where she gave them the medication-laced Kool-Aid. The older daughter called 911 and told dispatchers her mother was trying…
TOPEKA — Kansas lawmakers were critical of the service provided by a contractor for the state’s Medicaid program during a tour of a program clearinghouse in Topeka. An official with the contractor, Maximus, said the company is determined to improve service, particularly a backlog of applications. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports members of a KanCare oversight committee toured the clearinghouse Thursday, as part of a legislative effort to examine problems with the privatized Medicaid program in Kansas. Committee members said their constituents complain that it takes too long for their applications to be processed, the documents are often lost and Maximus doesn’t communicate…
TOPEKA — The Kansas State Board of Education has approved a total of $7.2 million in additional state aid to 31 public school districts. But it’s not clear how much money the districts actually will receive after the board’s action Thursday. Legislators financed the “extraordinary needs” aid with proceeds from selling off an economic development agency’s assets. The sale must generate $38 million for districts to get all their funds, and state officials aren’t sure it’s possible. Thirty-four districts applied for a total of $8.4 million. All but three received some funds. The largest allocations were nearly $849,000 for the Spring Hill…
Monday, Riley County commissioners approved the publishing of intent of sale notices for four county buildings. Thursday, county counselor Clancy Holeman told the commission there’s already some interest. “I have had some initial contact from potential bidders, because of the public discussion of this — which we anticipated,” Holeman said. Commissioners agreed to publish two notices of intent to sell property Monday, including one for the Courthouse Plaza East building — where the commission meets — at 115 N. Fourth St. in Manhattan, and another for a packaged sale of the Emergency Medical Services building, the Pawnee Mental Health building…
A Kansas Department of Corrections inmate serving time on several Geary county charges including first degree murder is up for public comment sessions and possible parole. Mikel Dreiling, 44, was convicted in connection with a prominent Geary County murder case in 1994. Dreiling and his sister Dana Flynn were sentenced in early 1997 in the shooting death of Randall Sheridan. Dreiling and Flynn were passed over for parole in early 2015. Flynn is not eligible for release until January of 2019. Dreiling’s upcoming public comment sessions are October 12th in Derby, October 21st in Topeka, and the 24th in Kansas City. His earliest possible release…
WICHITA — A county official says enough signatures were gathered to allow a grand jury to criminally investigate Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s handling of Kansas’ online voter registration system. But even Kobach’s harshest critics say they’ve seen no evidence he committed a crime. Douglas County Clerk Jamie Shew said Thursday that the petition has more than the required number of verified signatures. The next step is a judge’s review. Kobach didn’t immediately return messages for comment. The petition seeks an investigation into whether his office committed election fraud and voter suppression by deleting registration data. The American Civil Liberties Union, which…
WICHITA — Alaska Airlines plans to start flights between Wichita and Seattle next spring. The airline announced Wednesday that the first non-stop flight would be April 13. The airline will use 76-seat Embraer E175 regional jets on the Wichita-Seattle route. Those airplanes will be operated by SkyWest Airlines. Alaska Airlines also announced Wednesday that it plans a new non-stop service from Wichita to Indianapolis beginning May 11. The Wichita Eagle reports Alaska Airlines, based in Seattle, has been aggressively expanding it service to new cities and now flies to more than 110 cities with an average of 970 daily flights in the…