Today’s guests were Pottawatomie County Commissioner Pat Weixelman and Public Works Director Peter Clark.
Author: KMAN Staff
LAWRENCE — A University of Kansas cheerleader has been suspended from cheering after a photo was posted on her Snapchat account linking the Ku Klux Klan with President-elect Donald Trump. The Kansas City Star reports that the photo shows three members of the cheer squad wearing sweaters with “K” representing “Kansas” on their chests. White letters across the photo read “Kkk go trump.” Associate athletic director Jim Marchiony says university officials were made aware of the social media posting during the men’s basketball team’s 83-63 victory over UAB. Marchiony says the male cheer squad members haven’t been suspended. Their involvement is…
Monday’s Riley County Law Board meeting saw four award presentations coming from two separate incidents. Sergeant Dan Bortnick and Officer Tanner Monroe were both given the Meritorious Service Award for their actions on May 3, 2015 in which a shooting suspect was apprehended after a foot chase, later being charged with 2 counts of attempted premeditated first degree murder and aggravated weapons violations by a convicted felon. Officer Brian Dow and Jason Krause were given the Life Saving Award for their actions on July 3, 2016. Officers responded to a call that day in which an individual was attempting to jump…
Riley County commissioners engaged in a lengthy debate before approving the starting salary for incoming commissioner-elect Marvin Rodriguez Monday morning. Ultimately, the commission approved a starting salary of $39,643.78 for the new District 2 representative, who will be sworn in on January. Sitting District 2 commissioner Robert Boyd was the objector in the 2-1 vote. Boyd was defeated by Rodriguez in the Republican primary. In July, commissioners voted to freeze their salaries for the 2017 budget at $43,403.62. It has been customary for newly-elected officials to inherit the same pay as their predecessors in Riley County, but when it came to…
A Manhattan man charged with first degree murder and child abuse was granted continuance Monday in the Riley County District Courthouse. Andrew Gibson, 25, was originally scheduled for his arraignment. It has been rescheduled for Dec. 27 at 10:30 a.m. in Division 1. Gibson is charged with the death of 3-month-old Serenity Reich, who was found unresponsive on May 5 in Gibson’s apartment on the 500 block of Stone Creek Drive in Manhattan after he called 911. On Nov. 4 during Gibson’s preliminary hearing, Riley County Police Department Detective Bryan Johnson testified that Gibson was watching after Reich and two…
TOPEKA — Mental health reform is being proposed in Kansas through several measures, including the restoration of state funding to behavioral health clinics serving the uninsured or underinsured. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the Association of Community Mental Health Centers of Kansas is backing the proposal referred to as Mental Health 2020. The proposal calls for expansion of the number of psychiatry residents at the University of Kansas and a return to the operation of the full complement of 200 crisis beds at Osawatomie State Hospital. Kansas Mental Health Coalition representative Amy Campbell says the state should recognize the potential…
Robin Cole with Pawnee Mental Health joined today’s In Focus to discuss suicide loss, and Retired Col. Gary LaGrange was joined by Retired Lt. Gen. Mike Dodson to discuss the Servicemember Agricultural Vocation Education Farm (SAVE).
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) Federal authorities say a 36-year-old man who was a fugitive for six years has been sentenced to 27 years in prison and has to forfeit $13 million from drug trafficking in Kansas. The office of the U.S. attorney for Kansas says Yehia Hassen was sentenced Friday. He pleaded guilty earlier to conspiracy to distribute cocaine and marijuana, and attempted money laundering. In his plea, he admitted he was part of a drug trafficking organization that operated in Kansas City, Kansas. Prosecutors say Hassen received more than 100 kilograms of cocaine. The prosecutor’s office says Hassen fled…
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) The preliminary hearing for a man charged with capital murder in the death of a Kansas City, Kansas, police detective has been moved. Curtis Ayers, of Tonganoxie, is charged with capital murder in the May 9 death of Det. Brad Lancaster. Ayers is accused of shooting Lancaster in Kansas City, Kansas, and then fleeing in a car to Missouri, where police shot and wounded him. The Wyandotte County District Attorney’s office said in a release that the hearing had been scheduled to begin Monday but was moved to March 13. The defense requested the continuance.
Officers with the Riley County Police Department made a drug-related arrest over the weekend. Isreal Maldonado (44) of Chapman was arrested Saturday afternoon for possession of narcotic drugs, criminal use of weapons, and driving while suspended. Police searched Maldonado’s car and recovered a handgun, which was reported as stolen from another jurisdiction. He was confined at the Riley County Jail on an $11,000 bond.