Geary County Schools USD 475 has selected Matthew Droge as its new executive director of communications, according to a press release sent from the district. He will replace Hugh Davis, who resigned in November to be closer to family in Lincoln, Neb. Davis’ last day will be Jan. 9. Droge had served as a law enforcement agency spokesperson for the Riley County Police Department. He comes to Geary County Schools following a career as both a police officer and leader in communications and public relations for law enforcement. School officials recognize him as an experienced strategic and crisis communicator. He…
Author: KMAN Staff
Manhattan firefighters responded to a structure fire Monday night shortly before 9:30 at 1501 Denison Avenue. Upon arrival crews found a two-story residential structure with light smoke showing. Crews entered the structure and quickly extinguished a fire in the basement apartment. The fire was contained within 10 minutes with a total of 16 firefighters responding on 6 fire apparatus. Two occupants of the structure were home at the time of the fire and were able to exit without injury prior to arrival of fire crews. The residence received an estimated loss of $4,000 to the contents and $11,000 to…
Jake Fenske and Yui Fei are kicking off 2017 as parents. They welcomed Evelyn Fenske was born at Via Christi Hospital in Manhattan at 12:28 p.m. on Monday. She measured 21 inches and weighed in at eight pounds and two ounces. The couple received a gift basket full of baby items to commemorate having the first baby of 2017 in Manhattan.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) The National Weather Service says 2016 was one of the wettest and warmest in Wichita’s history. The Wichita Eagle reports Wichita got 50.6 inches of rain last year, the second-most precipitation in the city since records began in 1888. The highest amount was in 2008, when 53.82 inches of rain fell. The only other year on record that Wichita received at least 50 inches was 1951, when it had 50.48 inches of rain. The city’s average temperature last year was 60.6 degrees, also the second-highest average yearly temp on record. The highest average temp was 61.4 in…
Riley County Police arrested a Manhattan woman over the weekend for assault. Jennifer Hollingsworth, 34, was picked up in the 2400 block of Greenbriar Drive shortly before 4 p.m. on Sunday. She was charged with aggravated battery and assault with a deadly weapon. She was given a $10,000 bond, but is no longer confined in the Riley County Jail.
From the first day Dean Wade stepped on Kansas State’s campus, Bruce Weber insisted that Wade was one of the Big 12’s best players “when he wants to be good.” In Friday night’s conference opener against Texas, Wade wanted to be good. The sophomore forward scored 18 points, helping K-State to a 65-62 victory over the Longhorns. “He’s not going to be perfect, but tonight he was pretty good,” K-State coach Bruce Weber said. “We need him. When he’s open, we want him to shoot it. He’s done a lot of the little things for us over the last seven…
The Kansas State University Police Department filed an investigation for sexual assault Thursday, according to a press release sent to KMAN from the department. Little information is available on the details of the investigation and officials declined to comment further as of Friday. The report says the incident occurred on Nov.12 and gives no information on the location of the incident. Department officials say the investigation is ongoing.
GREENSBURG — A Kansas man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for killing another patient at a mental health facility three days after he was discharged from a state psychiatric hospital. The Hutchinson News reports that 31-year-old Brandon Brown, of Haviland, was sentenced Wednesday in Kiowa County District Court for second-degree murder. He pleaded no contest in October in a case that prompted a state inquiry. Prosecutors say Brown beat Jerry Martinez so severely in May 2015 at a residential care facility that the 61-year-old died the next month. Brown had spent a week at the state-run psychiatric hospital…
Local schools stacked up well in the latest rankings by website Niche.com for 2017. The website, which analyzes school districts and colleges across the country, listed Manhattan-Ogden as the 4th-best school district in the state. Rock Creek school district was picked 7th-best and Wamego came in at No. 27 of the 272 districts ranked. Randolph-Blue Valley was 12th. Manhattan-Ogden was also ranked 4th-best in last year’s rankings, while Rock Creek moved up three spots. Wamego dropped from last year’s rankings where it was picked 15th-best. Riley County USD 378 — the smallest of the bunch with just two schools — ranked 75th. The…
WICHITA — Two of the Kansas Department of Revenue’s top officials have stepped down shortly after Gov. Sam Brownback appointed a new revenue secretary, who is expected to make changes to the department. The Wichita Eagle reports Brownback announced in the first week of December that former lawmaker Nick Jordan would step down as revenue secretary and Wichita businessman Sam Williams would replace him. Jim Conant, the agency’s director of resource management, left Dec. 9. Steve Stotts, the state’s director of taxation, retired last week. Williams says Conant left before Williams became secretary, and that Stotts’ departure was not Williams’ decision.…