Firefighters are holding the line on a wildfire near Colorado Springs that has destroyed 379 homes and may have killed two people as they tried to escape.
Author: KMAN Staff
Newtown held a moment of silence Friday for the victims of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School at a remembrance event that doubled as a call to action on gun control.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Officials with the Veterans Affairs say a new building expected to open in November will allow improved mental health services in the Wichita region. The $4.6 million building is expected to open by Thanksgiving on the campus of the Robert J. Dole VA Medical Center in Wichita. A spokeswoman for the agency says the building will provide about 18,000 square feet, with offices, conference rooms and a briefing room. The Wichita Eagle reports the Wichita medical center now has about 100 staff working in behavioral health services, an increase from about 25 five years ago. And officials…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Department of Agriculture officials are asking all licensed scale service companies to attend a meeting to discuss the low accuracy rate of heavy-capacity scales. The meeting will be June 27 at the department’s Topeka headquarters. Tim Tyson, director of the department’s Division of Weights and Measures, said in a letter that large scale accuracy rates are lower than in recent years. Thbe state also has a new policy requiring a third party to place scales on new scale installations. The Topeka Capital-Journal reported this week that state inspectors approved only 19 of the 72 heavy-capacity scales between…
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) Members of a political action committee say they want more women to seek political office in Kansas. The PAC, called Kansans Advancing Women, was created last November. One of its creators, Laurel Maslowski of Lawrence, says women have experiences and voices that need to be a bigger part of the political process. Maslowski says the PAC is recruiting progressive female candidates of the Democratic and Republican parties. She noted only 39 of the 165 people in the Kansas Legislature this session were women, the lowest number in 15 years. She says the state has a history of…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Concealed weapons will not be allowed in public buildings in Shawnee County for another six months. The council commission voted Thursday to seek a delay in a new state law that allows concealed-carry permit holders to bring weapons into public buildings, beginning July 1. The law permitted local governments to seek a six-month delay until Jan. 1, 2014. Before Thursday’s vote, Commissioner Kevin Cook said county leaders need time to consider all options. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports Earl McIntosh, the 2nd Amendment chairman for the Kansas Libertarian Party, asked the commission not to seek the delay, which…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt is urging Gov. Sam Brownback to veto provisions in a proposed state budget for each of the next two years. Schmidt said in a statement Thursday that he and county prosecutors object to two provisions that would take funds from his agency. Both Brownback and Schmidt are Republicans. Schmidt opposes a provision diverting $600,000 in fees from applications for concealed carry permits, saying the money shouldn’t be used for general government programs. He also opposes a salary cap for state agencies. Brownback has until Sunday to act on the budget bill. The…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Kansas health officials are cautioning people to stay out of three lakes where toxic blue-green algae has been confirmed. The Department of Health and Environment issued warnings Thursday Logan City Lake in Phillips County, Memorial Park Lake (Veteran’s Lake) in Barton County and the Marion Reservoir in Marion County. The agency says people, pets and livestock should not drink or have contact with water in the lakes. Any fish caught in the lakes should be cleaned and rinsed with clean water, and only the fillet portion should be eaten. KDHE says boating and fishing may be safe,…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Police in Topeka are searching for a shirtless man spotted running from an apartment building where another man was found dead. Officers were called to the building in central Topeka shortly before 2:30 p.m. Thursday on a report of a shooting. They found the victim inside an apartment, where he was pronounced dead. The victim has been identified as Benjamin D. Jackson, 24, of Topeka. The shooting is being investigated as a homicide. Police were looking for a man in his late teens or early 20’s who ran from the area wearing red shorts and no shirt.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A federal agency has rejected Wichita-based Beechcraft’s protest of the award of an Air Force contract for light air support planes to Sierra Nevada Corp. and its Brazil-based partner, Embraer. Both companies issued statements Thursday announcing the decision by the Government Accountability Office. It’s the latest development in a high-stakes competition that has taken nearly three years with legal challenges from both sides. The contract for 20 planes for use in Afghanistan is worth more than $427 million. It could be worth as much as $1 billion, depending on future orders. Sierra Nevada and Embraer lauded the…