Fieldhouse Project chair Gail Urban pulled no punches in a packed city commission work session on Tuesday night as she fielded questions from the Manhattan city commission. The project is expected to have an initial cost of $54,194,604. Project contractor Evan Eleff says the estimates indicate that after a five year “maturation” the facilities would be bringing in $36,440,923 by hosting 79 tournaments. The figure includes givens such as $100 dollar per diem for participants and 1.5 spectators. Several community members came forward to show their support for the project including MHS wrestling coach Robert Gonzalez, and Wamego Chamber president…
Author: KMAN Staff
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The Kansas Supreme Court has denied former Attorney General Phill Kline’s request for a rehearing to consider modifying a ruling that indefinitely suspended his law license. The denial was signed Tuesday by Justice Dan Biles on behalf of the court. Kline’s attorney Tom Condit filed the motion with the court last week. Condit, who didn’t immediately return messages seeking comment, argued that investigators in Kline’s case were biased and facts about the former attorney general’s investigations into abortions were misrepresented. The Supreme Court in October agreed with a state disciplinary panel that said Kline repeatedly misled or…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A first-degree murder trial has been postponed at the request of lawyers for a 32-year-old Wichita man accused of injecting another man with a lethal dose of meth. The Wichita Eagle reports that Dang Sean was scheduled to stand trial this week in Sedgwick County District Court. The was continued Tuesday at the request of the defense. A new date for the trial has not been set. Prosecutors say they plan to seek a Hard 50 prison sentence if Sean is convicted. Sean is accused of injecting Shawn Lindsey, 34, with a lethal dose of meth on Jan.…
PRATT, Kan. (AP) A retired Army general who is now a lobbyist says a strong ethanol industry is critical to national security because it reduces U.S. reliance on foreign oil-producing countries. The Wichita Eagle reports Wesley Clark, co-chairman of the national group Growth Energy, spoke Monday at the newly reopened Pratt Energy ethanol plant in southern Kansas. He is scheduled to testify Wednesday in front of the U.S. Senate Clean Air and Nuclear Safety subcommittee. The Pratt plant opened in 2008 but went into bankruptcy and closed a year later. Pratt Energy bought the plant in 2012 and spent millions…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Feelings are mixed in Kansas over the inclusion of former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius as one of 10 finalists for Time magazine’s Person of the Year award. Democratic Kansas House member Dick Ward told the Wichita Eagle it’s an honor for everyone whenever someone from the state is recognized for influencing major world events. But Republican Rep. Brenda Landwehr called the selection ridiculous and said she couldn’t think of anyone less deserving for the award. Sebelius serves as U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services. She has been in the spotlight since the Oct. 1 problems with the…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) An audit found that Kansas government agencies need to do a better job protecting sensitive information stored on their computer systems. The Legislative Post Audit Division found “chronic weaknesses” in several security controls, including weak passwords and software vulnerabilities. The information was presented Monday in a closed session of the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Information Technology. The Lawrence Journal-World reports that the audit looked at eight agencies, including the Department of Administration, attorney general and the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System. Auditors concluded that controls were insufficient to prevent hackers from accessing confidential information held by the…
HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) The Kansas Cosmosphere has hired a consultant to help determine why attendance is falling at the space attraction in Hutchinson. Cosmosphere president Jim Remar says the center hired Boston-based Verner Johnson Inc. to help the museum develop a plan for its future. The Hutchinson News reports venue ticket sales at the Cosmosphere have dropped 21 percent between 2007 and 2012. Attendance dropped below 200,000 last year for the first time since at least 1992. The numbers represent how many venues people visit, such as the planetarium and the theater, rather than actual visitors. The Cosmosphere doesn’t count…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A 30-year-old Manhattan man has pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact in a fatal arson. U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom says in a release that Gavin Taylor Hairgrove pleaded guilty Monday for his role in a Feb. 6 fire at a Manhattan apartment building. Vansanta Pallem died as a result of inhaling gases from the fire. Grissom’s office says Hairgrove admitted to being present when three co-defendants talked about what to do to keep the Riley County Police Department from searching an apartment where two of the co-defendants lived. One of the co-defendants later poured…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The former chief financial officer of an Emporia manufacturing firm has pleaded guilty to embezzling nearly $266,000 from the company. The office of the U.S. Attorney for Kansas says in a release that 58-year-old Sandra Moore, former CFO of Sauder Custom Fabrication, pleaded guilty Monday to one count of embezzlement and admitted the crimes began in 2008 when she was CFO. Prosecutors accused her of using various methods to divert money from the company’s accounts to her own. Moore is scheduled to be sentenced March 3 and faces up to 10 years in federal prison and a…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A Wichita maintenance technician has pleaded guilty to selling equipment he stole from two Wichita companies where he worked. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for Kansas says Mark A. Lankford, 45, pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court in Wichita to two counts of wire fraud. He admitted stealing equipment from Spirit Aerosystems and Fiber Glass Systems. Prosecutors say he made more than $150,000 from selling the stolen equipment. Lankford was an equipment maintenance technician for Spirit Aerosystems in Wichita from October 2010 to Sept. 5, 2011. Prosecutors say he stole computer parts from Spirit worth about $466,000. He’s…