TOPEKA — Legislators and advocates in Kansas pushing to expand the state’s health coverage for the poor and disabled to thousands of adults are buoyed by events in Washington. They see it as a plus that Republicans in Congress have failed to repeal former President Barack Obama’s signature health care law. The GOP-controlled Kansas Legislature already was more receptive this year to expanding the state’s Medicaid program under the Affordable Care Act. The state Senate was debating a bill Monday and could send it to Republican Gov. Sam Brownback later this week. But Brownback spokeswoman Melika Willoughby said Monday in an…
Author: KMAN Staff
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A man wounded while trying to intervene in an apparently racially motivated shooting at a suburban Kansas City bar has received a $100,000 check. The Kansas City Star reports that Ian Grillot was surprised with the check Saturday at a Houston gala. The India House, which hosted the gala, and three donors teamed to give Grillot the money, to be used toward buying a house. His mother, Debra Grillot described the evening as “impressive.” Last month’s shooting in Olathe left Srinivas Kuchibhotla dead and his friend, Alok Madasani, wounded. Both Kuchibhotla and Madasani were natives of India…
Today on In Focus, Cathy and Dave discussed current events with KMAN listeners on an edition of Open Phones Monday.
A Junction City woman died in a two vehicle crash in Wabaunsee County Sunday night that closed a stretch of eastbound lanes of I-70 near the Paxico Rest Area for two hours. Tammy Patterson, 41, died in the accident, reported shortly after 7:30 p.m. According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, the vehicle Patterson was in had run out of fuel and was stopped partially in the left lane of eastbound I-70, two miles east of Paxico. Another occupant in that vehicle was attempting to push it out of the roadway, when a 2013 Toyota Prius driven by Madison Connally, 23, of Ellsworth struck the vehicle from…
Commuters walked away without injury Friday afternoon following a three-vehicle accident at the intersection of Seth Child Road and Southwind Road in Manhattan. One of the vehicles rested in a steep ditch. Witnesses at the scene told KMAN no injuries were suffered and the Riley County Police Department later confirmed those claims. KMAN will have more information as it becomes available.
OLATHE — An affluent suburban Kansas City woman with a history of shoplifting has been ordered to spend a year and seven months in prison for the thefts. Forty-seven-year-old Kelli Jo Bauer of Overland Park also was ordered Friday in Johnson County to pay more than $22,000 in restitution to merchants. Bauer has admitted she stole tens of thousands of dollars of clothing and merchandise she was peddling out of her nearly $1 million home. Bauer had two prior Johnson County theft convictions when she was charged in 2015 with felony theft. That was after police who searched her home found…
Unemployment numbers just released by the Kansas Department of Labor indicate a 3.1 percent rate in the Manhattan metropolitan area for February, which includes Pottawatomie and Riley Counties. However Manhattan-Junction City combined statistical numbers are 3.5 percent. Junction City by itself has a 5.6 percent unemployment rate. Area county numbers for February include 2.9 for Riley, 3.4 for Pottawatomie, 5.5 for Geary, and 5.2 percent in Clay County.
WICHITA — Republican Ron Estes and Democrat James Thompson squabbled over health care reform, Planned Parenthood funding and more during their first face-to-face encounter in the race to fill the seat vacated by CIA Director Mike Pompeo. Previously, Pompeo was the U.S. Representative for Kansas’s 4th congressional district from 2011–17. Their contentious forum Thursday in the heavily Republican district played out against the backdrop of GOP efforts in Washington, D.C., to repeal the nation’s health care law. Kansas has the nation’s first congressional race since President Donald Trump’s election. Estes says he supports the repeal and replacement of “Obamacare.” Thompson contends country…
Today’s guests were State Representative Tom Phillips, Captain Carly Cooper and Susan Cullen with Irwin Army Community Hospital, U.S. Senator Pat Roberts, and Manhattan Deputy Fire Chief Ryan Almes.
TOPEKA — Kansas educators see plenty of problems with a new school funding plan being considered by legislators, and a big one is what they see as not enough new dollars. A special state House committee opened hearings Thursday on a bill that would create a new per-student formula for distributing aid to its 286 school districts. Republican legislators scrapped a per-student formula in 2015 in favor of stable “block grants” for districts. The Kansas Supreme Court ruled earlier this month that the law violated the state constitution and gave lawmakers until June 30 to enact a new one. Several school…