SALINA — State health officials say they have not discovered a single cause for high lead levels found in some children in Saline County. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment has been investigating since routine physical exams found 32 children in and around Saline County with elevated levels of lead in their blood. The Kansas City Star reports the health department has notified some Salina families that the lead poisoning was caused by conditions inside their homes. Department spokeswoman Cassie Sparks says the agency’s findings will be officially released in September but the letters are going out to the…
Author: KMAN Staff
Two Junction City residents were arrested on drug charges Tuesday. The Junction City/Geary County Drug Operations Group, assisted by the Kansas Department of Corrections State Parole Office, executed search warrants at Budget Host Motel, 820 S. Washington St. in Junction City, and 2204 Brookbend, also in Junction City. The search warrants culminated after a two month investigation of crack cocaine distribution within the area. Derrick Lamont Woods, 43, was charged with two counts of the sale and distribution of crack cocaine with other related charges. Toriania D. Griffin, also 43, was charged with one count of the sale and distribution of crack cocaine within 1000…
DENVER — A federal appeals court in Denver will decide whether Kansas can keep thousands of people who haven’t presented documents proving they’re citizens from voting in November’s election. Three judges from the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments in the case Tuesday from Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach and the American Civil Liberties Union but didn’t indicate how soon they could rule. Kansas wants the court to overturn a ruling by a federal judge in May that temporarily blocked the state from disenfranchising people who registered at motor vehicle offices but didn’t provide documents such as birth certificates or…
TOPEKA — A father is seeking custody of seven children whose mother took them to sing for the Oregon wildlife refuge occupiers and is accused of abusing them. The Kansas City Star reports that Tim Sharp said after a Monday court hearing in Shawnee County that he’s hopeful that the children will soon be living with him in Colorado. Their mother, Odalis Sharp, has described the abuse allegations as trumped up. She has 10 children, but several are over 18. One of the older children, 19-year-old daughter Victoria Sharp, is supporting her father’s custody efforts. She was riding with Nevada rancher LaVoy…
WICHITA — A retired Wichita police lieutenant has admitted fabricating documents and agreed to forfeit the $56,400 he unlawfully received under a contract to train law enforcement agencies on responses to armed engagement. Kevin P. Vaughn pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count of embezzlement of public funds and one count of mail fraud. The 51-year-old Wichita man acknowledged he falsified reports to make it look like his company, Red Mist Tactical, had completed 15 eight-hour classes the company agreed to provide last year. He also admitted he fabricated student sign-up sheets for the classes and forged signatures of officers. Vaughn retired in…
CLYDE — A fifth-generation farmer who nearly upset incumbent 1st District Congressman Tim Huelskamp in the Republican primary two years ago is running as an independent against the Republican who dethroned Huelskamp in August. Alan LaPolice of Clyde announced Tuesday that he has officially been placed on the Nov. 8 ballot for the 1st District race. He will face Republican physician Roger Marshall, who beat the tea party-backed incumbent in the GOP primary, and Libertarian Kerry Burt. LaPolice says as an independent candidate he doesn’t have the baggage attached to candidates for the two major parties and is the only one in…
A 35-year-old man was arrested yesterday in the 2500 block of Farm Bureau Road. Orenthal Johnson of Manhattan was arrested at approximately 9:30 PM on a warrant for probation violation originating in Dickinson County. This warrant had a bond of $20,000.00.
Updated Friday morning: TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – A federal judge has set a new sentencing date for a Kansas man who has admitted aiding a wannabe Islamic State jihadist’s plan to detonate what they thought was a bomb at a Kansas military post. U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree on Thursday continued the sentencing hearing for Alexander Blair to Sept. 8. The 29-year-old Topeka man has admitted his role in a foiled plan to kill or maim as many U.S. service members as possible at the Fort Riley in Kansas. He blames a genetic disorder for allowing others to take advantage…
While a vast majority of the 2,000-plus confirmed cases of Zika in the U.S. are travel-related, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) was in Manhattan Tuesday to learn more about the growing concern of the mosquito-carried virus. Moran met with Dr. Stephen Higgs, the research director of the Biosecurity Research Institute on the campus of Kansas State University in Pat Roberts Hall. “Part of my visit here is to check in on what’s happening at the BRI,” Moran said. “But of course, specifically and in a sense of timeliness, the conversation in Washington, D.C., is…
Today’s guests on In Focus were: Pottawatomie County Commission Chair Dee McKee and Public Works Director Peter Clark Speedy PD and Parkinson’s program leader Michelle Haub and Virginia Bennett, Parkinson’s Program participant Manhattan Director of Community Development Karen Davis on city’s housing rehabilitation program