TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Gov. Sam Brownback has appointed a former Kansas House member to the commission that screens applicants for the state Supreme Court. Brownback announced Thursday that he appointed former Rep. Don Dahl of Hillsboro to the Supreme Court Nominating Commission. Dahl replaces the late Janet Juhnke, a longtime Kansas Wesleyan University faculty member from Salina. Juhnke died in January, and Dahl will serve the remainder of her four-year term, which runs through June. Dahl is a 68-year-old retired U.S. Navy officer. He served as a Republican in the House from 1997 through 2008. The nine-member commission interviews applicants…
Author: KMAN Staff
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) The Kansas Geological Society is investigating whether a recent earthquake in southern Kansas might have been caused by oil production in the area. But KGS interim director Rex Buchanan says it might be hard to ever determine if the 3.8 earthquake Monday near Caldwell was man-made or caused by natural forces. Buchanan says there is no evidence yet to suggest hydraulic fracturing caused the quake. He says it’s more common for minor quakes near oil production sites to be caused by the disposal of salt water waste. In Kansas, the salt water waste is disposed of in…
HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) A defense attorney is seeking a mental competency hearing for a Hutchinson teenager suspected of starting a fire that killed his mother and sister. Other motions filed this week seek an independent evaluation of the 14-year-old boy and access to his school records. The boy is charged in juvenile court with two counts of first-degree murder after the Sept. 26 fire at the family’s home. He is also charged with the attempted first-degree murder of his father and aggravated arson. The Hutchinson News reports the request for an independent evaluation is in response to the state’s motion…
After two years of planning and several months of designing, The “Peace Offering on the Blue” monument has reached its new home atop the pedestal in the 4th and Bluemont roundabout. “This is the end product of a couple of years of the Advisory Board coming up with the process to ask for proposals, to vet those proposals and to figure out how to finance the first acquisition of public sculpture for Manhattan,” said Jay Nelson, Arts and Humanities Advisory Board member The City financed the $65,000 project by using $29,000 from the 4th street Transport Development District (TDD). McDonald’s also…
HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) Hutchinson police say four people have been arrested as suspects in about 20 cases of counterfeit money being used in the city this month. Police Sgt. Tyson Meyers says three men were arrested Tuesday and a woman was arrested Wednesday. He says the three men apparently worked together but the woman’s connection to the cases is unclear. The Hutchinson News reports officers believe most of the counterfeit cash seized so far came from the home of a 37-year-old man arrested Tuesday. They found a scanner and printer at the man’s home. So far this month, police have…
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) A Topeka woman is facing tougher charges in the shooting death of a 51-year-old Lawrence man. Brittny Adams, 20, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to premeditated first-degree murder in the July death of Gary Edens. She was charged with second-degree murder before Wednesday’s preliminary hearing. The Lawrence Journal-World reports prosecutors increased the charges after a former Douglas County Jail inmate testified that Adams frequently bragged about killing Edens at his home. She also allegedly told a man who was with her to kill Edens’ son but the son escaped injury after a struggle. A detective testified that Adams told…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A Kansas man convicted of killing a 14-year-old girl in 2006 is awaiting a Sedgwick County judge’s ruling on his request for a new trial. An attorney for Elgin “Ray Ray” Robinson argued in Sedgwick County Court Wednesday that his client deserves a new trial because he did not have adequate defense during his trial for killing Chelsea Brooks. The girl disappeared from a Wichita skating rink. Her body was found later in a Butler County field. Prosecutors argued Wednesday that Robinson received adequate representation. The Kansas Supreme Court upheld Robinson’s convictions for capital murder and other…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Kansas labor officials say the state’s unemployment rate dropped to 5.1 percent in November, its lowest mark in nearly five years. The state Department of Labor reported Thursday that November’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate declined from 5.6 percent in October. The jobless rate in November 2012 was 5.5 percent. The department said that unemployment was last so low in December 2008. Department spokeswoman Barbara Hersh said about 6,000 Kansans who had been receiving unemployment benefits found jobs in November. Also, the department said about 19,900 more Kansans were employed in private-sector, non-farm jobs in November than in…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Police say two men were critically wounded in a double shooting at a clothing resale store in eastern Wichita. KFDI-FM reports Thursday afternoon’s shootings at the Flying Pig Boutique apparently stemmed from a dispute between a woman’s former and current boyfriends. Police Capt. Hassan Ramzah says investigators believe the ex-boyfriend entered the store carrying a shotgun and asked for the current boyfriend. Police say the ex-boyfriend shot the other man’s legs, then shot himself in the head. The woman was not believed to be in the store at the time.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A new Kansas Board of Regents policy gives university leaders more authority to remove staff and faculty over comments made on social media. The regents approved the policies Wednesday, the first of their kind by the organization that governs Kansas’ system of universities, community colleges and technical schools. The Kansas City Star reports the policy was in response to a tweet made this fall by University of Kansas journalism professor David Guth regarding a shooting at the Washington Navy Yard. Guth tweeted comments hostile toward the National Rifle Association and their opposition to gun control. The policy…