Today’s guests on In Focus were: Rob Ott, Manhattan Public Works Director Gregg Eyestone, Riley County Extension Horticulture Agent Ryan Pickett, District Director with Boy Scouts of America
Author: KMAN Staff
WICHITA — A new government report shows the value of land and buildings on Kansas farms fell 7 percent last year. The National Agricultural Statistics Service said Friday farm real estate value in 2016 averaged $1,880 per acre. That is down $150 per acre compared to the previous year. Cropland values fell 7 percent to $2,050 per acre. Cropland with irrigation averaged $3,000 an acre, down $270 per acre. Cropland without irrigation averaged $1,940, down $150 an acre. Pastureland was valued at $1,290 per acre, down $100 per acre. The agency said cash rents paid to landlords for cropland was mixed with…
TOPEKA — Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration has gotten a preview of what working with a less conservative Legislature could be like. It came Friday in the form of an oversight committee’s angry, bipartisan scolding over issues within the state’s Medicaid program. The public dressing-down of Department of Health and Environment officials came only three days after the state’s primary election. Voters showed their unhappiness with Brownback by ousting at least 11 conservative Republican incumbents in the Legislature. Members of the House-Senate oversight committee were upset about budget-balancing cuts in payments to pharmacies, doctors and hospitals providing services to Medicaid participants. They…
TOPEKA — Authorities say a suspect in a killing at a Topeka hotel has been captured in Missouri. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that authorities are working on the extradition of the 26-year-old man. He was captured Wednesday in Platte County, Missouri. Topeka police spokeswoman Amy McCarter said Thursday that the man initially was identified as a person of interest in the death of 18-year-old Sarah Crawford but is now considered a suspect. Crawford was found Saturday in a room at the Ramada West hotel. Police said they believe Crawford died after an argument and that she and the suspect are thought to…
Officers with the Riley County Police Department arrested Aaron Finch, 29, of Manhattan while in the 1700 block of Ranser Road on Thursday Aug. 4 at approximately 3:30 PM. Finch was arrested on the offense of criminal damage to property which was listed on a warrant with “no bond.” At the time of this report Finch was confined at the Riley County Jail. Andre Quinton Jr., 33, of Topeka, Kansas was arrested while at the Riley County Police Department on Thursday at approximately 2:25 PM. Quinton was arrested on the offense of failure to appear with an original offense of…
Officers with the Riley County Police Department’s Special Investigations Unit with the assistance of the Junction City, Geary County Drug Task Force made several arrests following 5 search warrants in Manhattan (3030 Sunnyside Drive, 516 Bertrand Street, 1126 Ratone Street, 1904 Violet Circle, and 1514 Colorado Street) which were executed Thursday (August 4, 2016). This investigation was the culmination of 6 weeks of work and removed 3 ounces of methamphetamine from the community. Arrested on the offense of distribution of methamphetamine within 1000 feet of a school was Tyrone Goodridge, 34, Manhattan. He was given a bond of $77,000.00 and…
NEWTON — The head of Amtrak celebrated the salvation of Newton’s passenger rail service and said there’s a possibility Wichita could get passenger rail service. Joe Boardman, Amtrak’s president and CEO, was in Newton on Thursday and called the Southwest Chief, which runs through Newton, a “critical link.” The Southwest Chief carries about 350,000 people a year from Chicago to Los Angeles. The route was threatened in Kansas by aged track. The Wichita Eagle reports Boardman said Amtrak has invested about $40 million on area rails, which are owned by a railroad. He says Amtrak is also considering the possibility of restoring…
WICHITA — More than 20 percent of Kansas’ school districts, including some of the larger districts will have new superintendents this fall. Dale Dennis, deputy education commissioner of Kansas, said 61 Kansas school districts, including Topeka, Olathe, Lawrence and Manhattan, have new leaders this year. Some veteran superintendents in rural districts are also going elsewhere. The departures follow at least two straight years of record-breaking turnover, which Dennis and others said has taken a toll on districts and the state. The Wichita Eagle reports that the average tenure for a superintendent in Kansas is about five years. The Kansas Association of School…
TOPEKA — A Kansas woman is scheduled to be sentenced next month for attempting to give her daughters Kool-Aid laced with prescription drugs. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the sentencing is set for Sept. 2 for Shakina Dauniel Lawton. She pleaded guilty in February to two counts of attempted murder. Before making the plea agreement, Lawton faced two charges of attempted first-degree murder. Senior assistant district attorney Todd Hiatt said her daughters were 14 and 9 when Lawton brought them into the kitchen, where she gave them the medication-laced Kool-Aid. The older daughter called 911 and told dispatchers her mother was trying…
TOPEKA — Kansas lawmakers were critical of the service provided by a contractor for the state’s Medicaid program during a tour of a program clearinghouse in Topeka. An official with the contractor, Maximus, said the company is determined to improve service, particularly a backlog of applications. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports members of a KanCare oversight committee toured the clearinghouse Thursday, as part of a legislative effort to examine problems with the privatized Medicaid program in Kansas. Committee members said their constituents complain that it takes too long for their applications to be processed, the documents are often lost and Maximus doesn’t communicate…