A 19-year-old Ogden man will serve more than 26 years in jail following Monday’s sentencing in Riley County District Court. Michael Dechant had entered a no contest plea to second degree murder in connection with the death of six month old Dominick Lubrano. Defense Attorney, Larry McCrell began his closing statement by saying, “There is no doubt Michael needs to be punished”. He commented that Dominick needs to be remembered, but it was clear that “logical” thinking was suspended the day of the incident, as Dechant was possibly under the influence of drugs and very young. “Six month old Dominick’s life was taken,…
Author: KMAN Staff
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Kansas health officials say the state continues to search for ways to improve its infant mortality death rate. The state’s overall rate in 2012 was 6.3 infant deaths per 1,000 live births. That’s above the national rate of 5.9 out of 1,000 live births. The Wichita Eagle reports Kansas also has historically high rates of mortality for black infants, which is three times higher than whites, even though all of the rates have declined in the last 20 years. State statistics also show that rural and densely settled rural areas have higher infant mortality rates than urban…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A Topeka high school has been testing students’ hair to determine if they’ve been using drugs. Hayden High has been testing students for drug use for more than a year. Under the program, the school takes hair samples from randomly selected students once a month. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports in the 2012-13 school year, only about 2 percent of drug tests came back positive. The tests cost $39 per sample. Michael Monaghan, dean of students, says if a sample comes back positive for drug use, the school contacts parents and refers the student for a professional evaluation.…
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) Officials say at least five house fires in the Kansas City metro area over the weekend were caused by problems with fireplaces. The Kansas City Star reports no one was injured in any of the fires. A fire at a Shawnee, Kan., home Sunday started in a fireplace and caused $130,000 in damage. Kansas City, Kan., firefighters responded to two fires Saturday night that started in chimney flues or around fireplaces. On Friday night, a fire in an unattended fireplace damaged a Kansas City, Kan., home that was being remodeled. Also Friday night, Lee’s Summit, Mo.,…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Fire officials are investigating the cause of a house fire in Wichita that killed an elderly man. Firefighters found the man’s body Sunday while fighting the blaze in east Wichita. Fire Capt. Stu Bevis says the man’s son was in the yard of the house when firefighters arrived. The man told officials he tried to rescue his father but the heat and smoke became too dangerous. It was the 10th fire death in Wichita this year. Last year, the city had five fire deaths.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) Lawrence police are searching for a 23-year-old University of Kansas student from Peru who hasn’t been seen since early Saturday. Gianfranco Villagomez, an industrial design student from Lima, Peru, was last seen walking near 9th and Michigan streets in Lawrence about 2:30 a.m. Saturday. His girlfriend, Donna Jo Harkrider, reported him missing about Saturday. Villagomez is about 5-foot-8 and 165 pounds. He has dark brown eyes, black hair and glasses. He was last seen wearing a blue shirt with a KU Jayhawk logo on it, a long sleeve gray shirt, a black jacket, jeans and white tennis…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Kansas State Board of Education members will decide this week whether the state’s new handwriting standards will encourage schools to make sure that fifth- and sixth-graders can write legibly in cursive. The handwriting standards are on the board’s agenda for a Tuesday meeting. State law requires the board to regularly update academic standards. Multistate academic standards adopted by Kansas in 2010 would require schools to teach young students cursive. Some educators question whether it’s a necessary skill, when people are using computer and cellphone keyboards more in communicating. But cursive has its advocates, and a handful of…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The Kansas Supreme Court is taking up an appeal of a minimum 50-year sentence imposed on a man convicted of premeditated first-degree murder. The case of Matthew Astorga on Monday’s docket is the second appeal of a so-called “Hard 50” sentence since legislators rewrote the law this fall in response to a June ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. Kansas previously allowed judges to sentence people convicted of premeditated first-degree murder to 50 years before they can seek parole. But the nation’s highest court ruled that juries should have the final say on the facts triggering mandatory…
On today’s InFocus, Cathy talks with Dr. April Durant, Asst. clinical Professor of Small Animal Surgery at K-State’s College of Veterinary medicine, followed by Ken Lange, Don Thomson, Mike Shepherd on “Harmony for the Holidays,” featuring the Little Apple Chorus, and ending with Kathy Dzewaltowski, Rhondi Dale, Jim Sharp, Daniel Vaughn, Chris Boxberger on holiday fund raiser for Peace Memorial auditorium.
The next step is a go ahead for the Belvue Bridge as both Pottawatomie and Waubunsee County have agreed to the engineering estimates and the testing to come with it. During Monday’s Pottawatomie County Commission meeting, the commissioners decided to phone Waubunsee to get an idea of where to go with the project. Wabunsee County Commission Chair Ervan Stuewe gave the go ahead stating that they would contribute their percentage share. Pat Weixelman, Pottawatomie County Chair, asked about traffic control and Stuewe gave the approval of his county helping with that as well. The estimated cost for the engineering testing…