TOPEKA — The Kansas Supreme Court has signed off on a new education funding law that boosts state aid to poor school districts. The justices issued a brief order Tuesday saying that the Legislature “has currently satisfied” the court’s previous orders on education funding by approving the measure last week. The decision ends a threat that the state’s public schools would be shut down after Thursday. The court issued its three-page order a day after Republican Gov. Sam Brownback signed the school finance measure into law. Lawyers for the state and attorneys for four school districts suing the state submitted a joint…
Author: KMAN Staff
A Manhattan man was arrested Tuesday morning by Riley County Police Department. Gage Knudson, 24,was arrested Tuesday morning while at the Riley County Police Department. He was arrested on the offenses of burglary and theft of property or services and was given a bond of $5,000. This warrant from Riley County stemmed from an incident in Spring 2016. Knudson was not confined at the Riley County Jail.
The Manhattan City Commission heard funding requests Tuesday from outside agencies during the third 2017 City Budget work session. The Social Services Advisory Board asked for $417,688 in 2017 funding, an increase of 8.5% over 2016. John Ball, the chair of the advisory board, said folks don’t easily see the impact of poverty in Manhattan in large part due to the services facilitated by the board. “By having a good social service network, probably the key thing is it keeps pressure off of law enforcement,” he said. The Special Alcohol Fund Advisory Committee presented its 2017 budget recommendation Tuesday. The fund is…
Today’s guests on In Focus were: Pottawatomie County Commission Chair Dee McKee and Health Director Leslie Campbell Charlene Brownson and Barry Miche with Geneological Society Brandon Irwin with Kansas State University’s Department of Kinesiology on Affordable Housing and update on his Tiny House
LIBERTY, Mo. — A Kansas man is charged with stealing a shuttle van at an airport and then trying to take off in a jet to fly to Miami. The Kansas City Star reports 21-year-old Adam Scott, of Overland Park, was charged Friday in Clay County, Missouri, with two counts of first-degree tampering. He also faces a tampering charge in Platte County. Investigators say Scott took the van from Kansas City International Airport after he couldn’t afford to buy tickets. He allegedly drove to Wheeler Downtown Airport, where he again tried to buy tickets but couldn’t. Scott eventually got into…
A Manhattan man charged with first degree murder and child abuse appeared in the Riley County District Court via webcam from the county jail Tuesday afternoon. Andrew Gibson, 25, appeared before Judge William Malcolm for a status hearing that was continued from May 24. The court scheduled Gibson for a preliminary hearing on Aug. 9 at 2 p.m. The hearing is estimated to last one hour and will be in front of Judge Sheila Hochhauser. On May 11 KMAN obtained more details on the case. According to an affidavit of Gibson’s arrest warrant, three-month-old Serenity Reich was not breathing when police arrived at…
TOPEKA — A 36-year-old Kansas man convicted of mistaken-identity killing has been resentenced to a shorter prison term. The Hutchinson News reports that Charles Christopher Logsdon was sentenced Monday to life without the possibility of parole for 25 years for the 2011 killing of 27-year-old Jennifer Heckel. He also was sentenced to another 23 years for four other crimes. Intruders entered Heckel’s home by mistake and shot her twice as her young son watched television in an adjoining room. Their real target was a drug dealer. Logsdon insisted he didn’t kill Heckel. Under Logsdon’s original sentence, he would have to serve a…
A Salina woman was taken into custody on Monday. Jamie Magnuson, 53, was arrested Thursday afternoon on the offense of probation violation. This warrant was served at the Riley County Police Department and had a “no bond” listed. This warrant originated in Saline County, Kansas and no further information was available to release. Magnuson was confined at the Riley County Jail.
Wise stewardship of resources was one of the main topics presented at Monday’s intergovernmental meeting in Manhattan, with K-State Vice President for Human Capital Services Cheryl Johnson addressing the group. Johnson says the university has reduced its previous 139 steps to make a hire down to under 60. Johnson indicated the bottom line prior to the change was that no one person had a handle on the hiring process…and they were so busy chasing paper no one stepped back to see the entire system. She also mentioned applicants now having the option of social media, including Facebook. Manhattan Finance Director Bernie Hayen…
“Boring” is the word used by Manhattan Finance Director Bernie Hayen to describe the latest sales tax numbers for the city. June figures of $884,481 is up a little from 2015’s June numbers of $870,536…but only about four thousand dollars above 2014 sales tax receipts of $888,675. Hayen adds the numbers aren’t bad, but are “simply stagnant.” And the Finance Director indicates the June sales tax numbers are in line with what had been predicted… Hayen indicates no particular retail sector was down or up for that matter. Hayen had mentioned the Camelot days to intergovernmental leaders Monday–when sales tax numbers were quite impressive–but…