HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) Kansas State Fair officials say a nearly 50-year-old barn and show ring is showing its age and needs to be replaced. The Hutchinson News reports the officials plan to ask the Legislature for money for the project. A contractor estimates that it would cost between $4.7 million and $5.5 million to demolish the building, known as the Expo Center, and replace it with one of similar size. Built in 1964, the Expo Center is one of the fair’s most-used buildings in the offseason. It’s often rented for horse shows, rodeos and other livestock events. Fair Board member…
Author: KMAN Staff
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) Douglas County officials are considering changes to a new policy that was designed to promote tourism in agricultural areas. County commissioners voted Wednesday to ask the Lawrence-Douglas County Commission to draft changes to the “agritourism” zoning codes. The commission also imposed a moratorium on new agritourism permits until April 30, 2014. The Lawrence Journal-World reports the zoning codes were enacted less than a year ago. They were intended to promote certain kinds of tourism businesses in land zoned for agriculture use. But the effort came under fire last month, when residents in southeast Douglas County objected to…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Wichita police say a 7-year-old girl was left at school while her parents allegedly were trying to buy drugs. The Wichita Eagle reports the girl was left at a south Wichita elementary school Tuesday while waiting to be picked up. When the parents didn’t show up, the child’s grandmother asked police to go to the girl’s home to check on the mother. Lt. Jeff Weible says investigators found indications the parents were out trying to buy drugs. The girl and her 4-year-old sister were placed in protective custody.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) Former Kansas football player Jeremiah Edwards was sentenced to three years of probation for his part in a home invasion robbery in Lawrence. Edwards, of Garland, Texas, was sentenced Wednesday. He was arrested in May along with former Kansas football players Chris Martin and Chris Omigie, and his brother, Joshua Edwards. Jeremiah Edwards never played for Kansas after being red-shirted for a heart condition in 2010. He kept his scholarship and will graduate in May. If Edwards violates probation, he would face up to 32 months in prison. He was also ordered to stay away from Martin…
GARDEN CITY, Kan. (AP) The trial for a Garden City man charged with stabbing another man to death will not begin until next year. Fred Schmidt Jr., 34, was scheduled to go on trial Monday for first-degree murder and other charges in the March 2011 death of Jeffrey Nichols. Finney County Attorney Susan Richmeier says the trial was delayed after Schmidt’s attorney, Kristi Cott, requested a continuance until the first of the year. The Garden City Telegram says Nichols was killed during a fight with Schmidt. Forensics reports indicated that Nichols was stabbed 45 times. Schmidt pleaded not guilty, claiming self-defense.
LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) Leavenworth police say a 26-year-old woman died when power lines fell on her after her car ran into a power pole. Police Chief Pat Kitchens says after the Leavenworth woman’s car hit a power pole Wednesday, she got out and was apparently trying to get two children out of the car when the power line touched her. The woman was unresponsive when police arrived. She was pronounced dead at a hospital. A 3-year-old boy and an infant girl were not harmed. Kitchens said an autopsy would be performed. The woman’s name was not released.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) A world-renowned opera singer and a Nobel Prize-winning economist will receive honorary doctorate degrees from the University of Kansas during graduation ceremonies next May. Mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato and economist Vernon Smith were chosen for the honors by a special selection committee. The Kansas Board of Regents approved the recommendations Wednesday. DiDonato will receive an honorary doctorate in the arts for her contributions to opera. The Prairie Village native studied vocal education at Wichita State University and has performed with major opera companies throughout the world. Smith is a Wichita native who holds a master’s degree from KU…
GARDEN CITY, Kan. (AP) Volunteers have a new plan to reduce the feral cat population in Garden City. The Garden City Telegram reports that the Finney County Humane Society is planning a trap, neuter and release program. The effort will use Humane Society volunteers to capture the cats and take them to participating veterinarians. Captured cats will be spayed or neutered, vaccinated against rabies, dewormed, tested for feline leukemia and treated for ear mites. After three days, the cats will be returned to the location where they were trapped. Kay Gillespie is leading the program. She says the effort will…
EUREKA, Kan. (AP) The Kansas Attorney General’s Office says a man wanted in connection with two slayings has been killed in a shooting with authorities. Kevin Robert Welsh, 35, of Toronto, Kan., was being sought after the shootings earlier this month in Greenwood County, near the southeast Kansas town of Eureka. The attorney general’s office says in a release that Welsh was wounded in a shooting with Kansas Bureau of Investigation agents Wednesday evening in Eureka. The release says he was later pronounced dead at a hospital in Eureka. Officials with KBI and the attorney’s general office did not immediately return…
On today’s InFocus, Cathy talks with Art DeGroat, Director of Military Affairs at K-State, and Pullitzer Prize winning journalist David Finkel on his most recent book “Thank You For Your Service”.
Steve Smethers, with A.Q. Miller School of Journalism and Mass Communications at K-State, and Presenters Ralph and Mary Ellen Titus, and Dave McFarland, Associate Professor Emeritus of Journlaism and Mass Communications, stop in as well to talk about the Great Plains Radio History Symposium at K-State.