Author: KMAN Staff

TOPEKA — Kansas is reporting that it collected $27 million less in taxes than anticipated in December with both individual income and sales taxes falling short of expectations. The shortfall in tax collections reported Monday complicates the state’s budget picture as legislators prepare to open their annual session next week. The state Department of Revenue said Tuesday the state collected $599 million in taxes last month instead of the $626 million projected in a fiscal forecast issued in November. The shortfall is 4.4 percent. Since the current fiscal year began in July, the state has collected $2.84 billion in tax revenues. That’s…

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Riley County commissioners were briefed on 2015 crime statistics for their first meeting of 2016 Monday morning As reported before, vehicle thefts were the major concern. Riley County Police Department Lt. Luke Breault told commissioners numbers for that genre of crime were up over 2014’s total. “We saw a distinct rise in vehicle thefts and vehicle burglaries in 2015,” Breault said. “In 2014 we had around 30-some vehicle thefts and (in 2015) we’re projecting that will be around 85.” Breault said when it comes to vehicles broken into, the RCPD is projecting there were 1,440 — an increase of roughly…

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As previously reported by KMAN and updated by Riley County Police on Monday: Police filed a report for aggravated burglary in the 5900 block of Corporate Drive in Manhattan on January 1, 2016 at approximately 1:55 AM after responding to a report of a masked individual who had broken a window and entered Auth Florence Manufacturing. This individual was near an ATM and when officer arrived they found him attempting to gain accesses into it. Police immediately took this subject into custody without incident. Napolean Melton, 28, of Manhattan, the individual taken into custody, was arrested for the offense of…

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For more than a decade Pottawatomie County Commissioner Stan Hartwich has served in that role, and he’s trying for the position again. Hartwich filed Monday morning for re-election and says he’s hoping to see the completion of projects he’s been working on all 12 years he’s been a commissioner, adding “We’ve got a lot of good things going on in Pottawatomie County.” Hartwich says he’s learned a lot throughout the years, and tells KMAN he feels especially strong in the areas of road and road maintenance, having built his first road when he was only 17. And he has expertise in other…

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LAWRENCE — The Lawrence City Commission will decide whether to make land-use and zoning changes that would allow for a new 250,000-square-foot shopping development. The Lawrence Journal-World reports that the commission will meet Tuesday to discuss the KTen Crossing project planned on the city’s south side. Commissioners must agree to rezone about 60 acres at the project’s intersection from residential to commercial property before North Carolina-based development group Collett can move forward. The city’s comprehensive plan must also be altered to reflect commercial use. The issue was originally scheduled to go before commissioners Dec. 8 but was pulled from the…

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CANTON — A central Kansas farmer is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to anyone responsible for killing and mutilating one of his cows. John Shearer tells KWCH-TV of Wichita that he was feeding his cattle on New Year’s Day in McPherson County when he found one of the cows dead, its eyes gone. It’s murky how the animal was killed. Shearer says the family’s veterinarian did find an injection mark on the cow’s neck, though it’s not unclear whether that was from a previous vaccination. The cow’s death came roughly two weeks after a farmer in Harvey County found one…

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Today’s guests on In Focus were: Willie Davila, Riley Co. Animal Services Director Dr. Frank Tracz, Director of Bands at K-State KMAN’s Bill Williams and Erik Stone joined the show for this segment. Dr. Jeff Smith, Associate Professor of Cultural Geography at K-State

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