SALINA, Kan. (AP) A public hearing is scheduled for this week in Salina on Westar Energy’s proposed increase in electric rates. The Salina Journal reports the hearing is set for Thursday evening at the Salina College Center at Kansas State University-Salina. Westar has applied to the Kansas Corporation Commission for a 1.7 percent increase worth $31.7 million. The utility company says it needs the increase to meet federal requirements. Westar also wants to readjust rates so residential and small-business customers pay more while industrial consumers pay less. Under the proposal, residential bills will increase nearly 9 percent, or about $7.50…
Author: KMAN Staff
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A Kansas veteran accused of illegally possessing explosives faces trial next week while attorneys wrangle over what evidence jurors will hear. U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten on Tuesday set a hearing for July 16 in the case against Alfred Dutton. The Army and Marine veteran from Eureka faces trial later that day for unlawful possession of unregistered destructive devices. His attorney is seeking to bar evidence about computer documents and photos of fireworks, chemicals and firearms. Federal prosecutors say Dutton possessed one or more grenade bodies and the necessary parts to convert them into a destructive…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Kansas State Board of Education members are asking state legislators and Gov. Sam Brownback to increase school funding in the next state budget by more than $670 million. The request, approved by a 7-3 vote Tuesday afternoon, asks legislators to boost education spending starting next year by more than 20 percent. The request includes general state aid and money for professional development and school lunch programs during the fiscal year that starts in July 2014. A similar request was made by the state board last year. The board’s budget recommendations go the Republican governor and GOP-controlled Legislature.…
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) Kansas City, Kan., police say a bicyclist in his 30s has died after colliding with a car at an intersection in the city. Police say the man was riding north around 2 p.m. Tuesday when he went into the intersection and struck a westbound car. The victim, who is not being identified until family members have been notified, was transported to an area hospital where he died.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Wichita police have identified the type of car they suspect was involved in a collision that killed a horseback rider and injured a 6-year-old boy. Police say a silver or gray Mercury Grand Marquis likely struck the horse carrying Lloyd Ferguson, 49, and the child Friday night. Ferguson died, and the child has been hospitalized. The horse was reportedly euthanized. Capt. Brent Allred told The Wichita Eagle investigators are using parts of the car knocked off by the collision to identify the vehicle. Two witnesses who tried to help the man and boy also were hospitalized after…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback is considering releasing the names of applicants for a new seat on the state Court of Appeals. Brownback spokeswoman Eileen Hawley said Tuesday the Republican governor had not made a final decision, however. The governor’s office had said previously that it wouldn’t release the names. Then, Hawley said Tuesday that Brownback had changed his position because wants the focus to be on appointing a high-quality judge to the state’s second highest-court. Later in the day, Hawley revised that statement, saying she had been premature in announcing that the governor had decided to release…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A judge has set for resentencing the case of two Texas brothers who ran a Kansas hunting camp where hunters paid thousands of dollars to illegally shoot deer. U.S. District Judge Monti Belot on Tuesday set an Aug. 28 resentencing for James and Marlin Butler after an appeals court overturned their prison terms. Belot told attorneys he would hear testimony at the resentencing about the fair market price of wild deer parts. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals said last year that the district court made a mistake in 2011 in calculating sentences based on the full…
On today’s InFocus, Cathy talks with Wamego’s USD 320 Supt. Denise O’Dea and Rock Creek’s USD 323 Supt. Darrel Stufflebeam. [mp3-jplayer]
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The head of the railway’s parent company said Wednesday an employee failed to properly set the brakes of the train that crashed into a Quebec town, leaving at least 60 people missing including 15 dead.