SALINA — Authorities are looking for a mother and her two children who haven’t been seen since they left their central Kansas home last week to attend a school event. The missing family has been identified as Rebecka L. Lorentsen and her two children, 15-year-old Donald Lorentsen and 7-year-old Ember Schultz. They were last seen leaving for Salina South High School on March 31. Police say they were going to ride a bus to the school, but they didn’t arrive at the school and didn’t return home. Authorities are urging anyone with information to come forward. Rebecka Lorentsen also has gone by…
Author: KMAN Staff
Officers with the Riley County Police Department filed a report for and made an arrest in an investigation into violation of protection order and criminal trespass. Lucas Paar, 22, of Manhattan, was arrested on Thursday at approximately 12:30 p.m. for the aforementioned offenses and was given “no bond.” At the time of this report he was confined at the Riley County Jail. Officers found that Paar had been in violation of a court order at the time officers were contacted about a verbal argument. Due to the nature of this crimes original circumstance no victim information has been released. At…
Today’s guests on In Focus were: Senator Tom Hawk of Manhattan Helen Miller, Autism Committee Chair with Pilot Club; and Dennis Debbaudt. Don Thomson and Manhattan Little Apple Barbershop Chorus
Riley County commissioners are eager to help in realizing K-State’s North Campus Corridor plans. They’re just worried if they can. “As we go forward, you know we have a tax lid coming at us,” Commissioner Robert Boyd said to KSU Institute for Commercialization president Kent Glasscock Thursday morning. “We will need partnerships in dealing with the legislature.” Glasscock, along with Assistant to the University President Sue Peterson, briefed the commission on the North Campus Corridor plans, which entail efforts to increase and revitalize research and laboratory facilities on campus north of Bill Snyder Family Stadium. Officially, the North Campus Corridor is…
WICHITA — Wichita police say a 2-year-old boy hospitalized after a small octopus became wedged in this throat is improving. Police Lt. James Espinoza said Thursday the boy has been upgraded to good condition and doesn’t show signs of long-term injury caused by oxygen deprivation to the brain. The boy has been hospitalized since Tuesday night. That’s when the child’s 21-year-old mother returned home from work and found her boyfriend performing CPR on her son. Espinoza says the couple took the boy to the hospital, where doctors found and removed the dead octopus, which had a head about 2 inches in diameter,…
TOPEKA — The League of Women Voters of Kansas has joined a federal class action lawsuit seeking to overturn a state law that requires voters to show proof of U.S. citizenship to register. The Lawrence Journal-World reports that the American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit in November on behalf of all individuals who’ve unsuccessfully attempted to register since the state’s citizenship requirement took effect in 2013. Plantiffs say that since then, nearly 23,000 Kansas residents have had their registrations placed “in suspense” or have been slashed from the voting lists altogether for failing to show the required proof of U.S. citizenship.…
ALMA — Kansas residents are cleaning up from another round of rural wildfires that have burned at least 18 square miles. KSNT-TV reports that Alma City Councilmen Dan Deiter spent Wednesday sorting through debris at the Catholic school where he taught in northern Kansas. He says there was “no hope” for saving the building, which burned Tuesday. In nearby Riley County, authorities say workers from a Kansas State University agriculture program started a fire that burned about 300 acres and destroyed a mobile home. Riley County emergency management director Pat Collins told The Manhattan Mercury that the workers had been building a…
The Kansas Supreme Court has reappointed Judge Meryl D. Wilson to a two-year term as chief judge of the 21st judicial district. Chief Justice Lawton R. Nuss announced the news through a press release from the court. Wilson’s term is effective Feb. 1, 2016, to Dec. 31, 2017. Wilson has served as district judge in the 21st judicial district since April 1997. He presides over cases in Clay and Riley counties. “We are glad that Judge Wilson agreed to serve another two years as chief judge, providing continuity in capable leadership in the 21st judicial district,” said Nuss. “It is my honor to…
19-year-old Shawn Crowder was sitting at home watching TV, when he came across a televised meeting of the Manhattan City Commission. The topic? Protections against the discrimination of LGBT individuals. Crowder left his home at 10 p.m., determined to share his plea for help with local leaders. With several states around the nation considering bills said to encourage discrimination, the young gay man who hopes to one day become a politician simply told commissioners, “Please let us have our rights.” His sentiment followed a tale of teenage discrimination that forced him to drop out of high school. Like the teen’s,…
Firefighters responded to the scene of a house fire Thursday morning. The Riley County Fire Department said crews from the Keats station arrived to smoke billowing from the attic of an unoccupied home at 3090 Keats ave. Additional crews arrived on the scene and a living room ceiling was opened to expose and extinguish the flames. Total damages are believed to be under $10,000.00.