In the wake of the devastating tornado that ripped through the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore, the Big 12 Conference has changed the time and format of the baseball tournament. The championships were originally set to begin on Wednesday at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in a double elimination tournament format. Now the games will begin on Thursday and will utilize a pool play format. This isn’t the first time that the conference has used a two pool format. Kansas State, Texas Tech, Baylor and Oklahoma will play in one pool and Oklahoma State, West Virginia, TCU and Kansas will be in the second pool.…
Author: KMAN Staff
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Negotiators from the Kansas House and Senate are moving closer to a deal on canceling all or part of a scheduled drop in the state sales tax. Three negotiators resumed their talks on tax issues Tuesday and plan to continue Wednesday. The sales tax is the key issue. It’s scheduled by law to decline in July from the current 6.3 percent to 5.7 percent. But the Senate has approved Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s plan to keep the tax unchanged. The House favored allowing the tax to decline as planned, but the chamber’s Republican leaders later proposed resetting…
HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) A deputy at a central Kansas jail is accused of having illegal sexual relations with a female inmate and bribing or intimidating two others. Reno County Sheriff Randy Henderson announced the charges Tuesday against Jonathan Diaz, 30. Henderson says he asked the Kansas Bureau of Investigation to get involved after learning of the allegations two weeks ago. District Attorney Keith Schroeder, who filed the charges, told The Hutchinson News the sexual contact charge involves a female inmate more than 18 years old. Schroeder says the two alleged victims of bribery and intimidation are also older than 18.…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A Tennessee pharmacist has admitted distributing a misbranded Chinese-made drug that was given to kidney dialysis patients in Kansas. The U.S. Attorney’s office says Robert Harshbarger Jr., 53, of Kingsport, Tenn., pleaded guilty Tuesday in Topeka to one count each of distributing a misbranded drug and health care fraud. Harshbarger admitted that from 2004 to 2009, he substituted a cheaper Chinese import for an iron sucrose drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The drugs were given to patients of Kansas Dialysis Services. Prosecutors say there were no reports of harm, but patients were put…
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) A former Internal Revenue Service agent has been spared any prison time after admitting she was paid for meetings with taxpayers that never occurred. The U.S. Attorney’s office says Becky L. Book, of Pittsburg, was sentenced on Tuesday to two years of probation and ordered to pay restitution of about $26,450. Book pleaded guilty in February to receiving more than $26,000 in salary and mileage payments that she didn’t earn. Prosecutors say Book claimed she worked 744 hours between March 2010 and April 2011, but she actually used those hours as unauthorized personal time. Book agreed…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A Shawnee County District Judge says a Topeka man committed indirect contempt by posting online comments while serving as a juror in a murder trial. James Reeder was ordered Monday to either pay a $1,000 fine within 30 days or serve three days in jail. Reeder was a juror in the summer of 2012 in the murder trial of Anceo Stovall. During the trial, he posted a comment on The Topeka Capital-Journal’s website, which disobeyed orders from the judge. Reeder’s attorney argued during Monday’s hearing that Reeder believed he did no harm by posting the comments. The…
SALINA, Kan. (AP) Salina’s city commission will consider allowing liquor sales in the city on Sunday. The possibility arose during a meeting Monday, when the commission approved an ordinance that allows microbreweries in the city. During discussion of that ordinance, commissioners considered whether to allow Sunday liquor sales. Current Salina law prohibits Sunday sales at liquor stores and other places that sell packaged alcohol. Commissioner Randall Hardy says he thought the current law was a restraint of trade. Other commissioners also indicated they would support Sunday sales. The Salina Journal reports the city’s staff will bring the issue before the…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Shawnee County officials say the death of a man whose body was found in a car on the campus of a Topeka school is not considered suspicious. A deputy found the man’s body in a car late Monday on the grounds of Washburn Rural Middle School. He was described as being in his mid-40s but his name was not released. Martin Weishaar, spokesman for the school district, says the man appeared to have died from a medical condition. The man was not associated with the school. The Shawnee County sheriff’s office also said the death didn’t appear…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A veteran employee of the Kansas Department of Corrections has been named to the state Prisoner Review Board. Corrections Secretary Ray Roberts announced Monday that Peggy Lero would fill an opening on the three-member board. Lero has been with the corrections agency since 2000 and has nearly 40 years of experience in corrections and criminal justice. She’s currently the parole director in the northern parole region in Topeka. The Prisoner Review Board has several responsibilities, including decisions on parole and the conditions of inmates freed on supervised release. Lero replaces Kathleen Graves, who was named deputy director…
It’s time to catch up on the City of Manhattan. Cathy sits down with City Manager Ron Fehr and Commissioner Wynn Butler. [mp3-jplayer]