Author: KMAN Staff

A mill levy increase is projected in the city of Manhattan’s 2014 budget.  The Manhattan city commission received a briefing on the 2014 city budget, capital improvements, economic development, and utility rate forecasts during Tuesday’s work session. Manhattan Director of Finance Bernie Hayen says overdue capital improvements is one of the factors leading to the increase . Hayen says current property taxes are already heavily leveraged towards such items as the state mandated funding of the Riley County Police department. Local businessman Tim Schultz joined with other community business leaders in expressing his discontent with the mill levy increase. Schultz…

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Updated: 9 p.m. Tuesday night The unofficial final results from Tuesday night’s special election regarding a USD 378 bond proposal shows the defeat of that proposal by a more than two to one margin. With 100 percent of the precincts reporting, 764 voted no and 358 said yes. In percentages, that’s 68 percent saying no to about 32 percent saying yes. The voter turnout for the special election was nearly 42 percent of registered voters in the USD 378 voting district. Results will not be official until the June 17th canvass. KMAN news will be speaking with USD 378 Supt.…

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KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) A northeast Kansas man is going to prison for nearly 20 years for traveling into Missouri to have sex with a child. The U.S. Attorney’s office says Robert Poe III, 39, of Kansas City, Kan., was sentenced Tuesday in federal court. Poe pleaded guilty earlier to three counts of crossing state lines to engage in sex with a child. The charges stemmed from a complaint to Kansas City, Kan., police in November 2000 by the mother of a 7-year-old boy. The mother said Poe was a friend of her boyfriend and sometimes babysat her son. The…

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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The Kansas state school board has approved new science standards for public schools that treat both evolution and climate change as key concepts to be taught from kindergarten through the 12th grade. The board voted 8-2 on Tuesday for standards developed by Kansas, 25 other states and the National Research Council. The new guidelines are designed to shift the emphasis in science classes to doing hands-on projects and experiments and blending material about engineering and technology into lessons. Past work on science standards in Kansas have been overshadowed by debates about how evolution should be taught. The…

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KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) Police in Kansas City, Kan., are investigating a double homicide in a basement hallway at an apartment building. KCTV reports callers reported hearing shots fired shortly before 9 a.m. Tuesday at the Suntree Plaza Apartments. Officers found two men dead of apparent gunshot wounds in a hallway leading to a laundry room. A third man was found wounded in one of the apartments, where two women were taken into custody for questioning. Police say that man was expected to make a full recovery. It wasn’t clear if or how he was involved in the fatal shootings…

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KINGMAN, Kan. (AP) The former Kansas lawman convicted in the death of his wife could face a punishment that would keep him in prison for decades. Jurors found Brett Seacat guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting death of his 34-year-old wife, Vashti Seacat, in their home just days after she filed for divorce in 2011. Sentencing was set for Aug. 5, and prosecutors say they intend to seek a “hard 50” sentence, which means Seacat would have no chance for parole for at least 50 years. Investigators found Vashti Seacat’s body among the charred remains of the Kingman house…

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