WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Kansas farmers are planting fewer acres of thirsty crops like corn and soybeans this spring and more acres of drought-tolerant crops like sorghum. Kansas Agricultural Statistics Service reported Thursday that corn growers plan to plant 4.6 million acres. That would be down 2 percent from last year, but still the fourth highest corn acreage in Kansas since 1936. Soybean acreage is also expected to shrink 2 percent from last year with 3.9 million acres. It would be the fourth largest soybean acreage in Kansas history. By contrast, sorghum planting in Kansas is expected to climb 16 percent…
Author: KMAN Staff
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Police are investigating whether a body found in a south Wichita pond is that of a man who may have jumped while running from police. KAKE-TV reports a passer-by flagged down an officer Thursday afternoon after seeing what looked like a body in the water-filled sandpit. Crews later pulled the body from the water. It’s the same pond where a 27-year-old man disappeared from sight after running from police early on the morning of March 8. Officers had been trying to stop the man’s car for traffic violations. He crashed through a chain link fence, got out…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Gov. Sam Brownback says the reality of funding the state budget will push Kansas lawmakers toward approving his proposal to cancel a scheduled decline in the state sales tax. Brownback said Thursday that legislators have limited options for stabilizing the budget while they seek further cuts in individual income tax rates. Brownback hopes to follow last year’s income tax cuts with additional reductions over the next four years. The Senate has embraced both that idea and keeping the sales tax at 6.3 percent instead of letting it fall to 5.7 percent in July as scheduled by law.…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The Kansas Senate approved a bill that would change the length of time Kansans can receive unemployment compensation. The bill approved Wednesday links the compensation to the state’s jobless rate, and raises the surcharge employers pay into the unemployment trust fund. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports the bill would allow Kansans to claim unemployment for the current standard of 26 weeks only when the jobless rate is above 6 percent. That would drop to 20 weeks if the unemployment rate was 4.5 percent to 6 percent. Benefits would stop at 16 weeks when the rate was under 4.5…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The Kansas Senate has approved a bill that puts the Secretary of Transportation in charge of the Kansas Turnpike Authority. The bill approved Wednesday also prohibits the state from using toll revenue for anything other than operating the 236-mile Turnpike. Gov. Sam Brownback had proposed putting the independent Turnpike Authority under control of the state transportation department. He said it would save the state $30 million over two years and avoid redundancies. Opponents who worried the state would use turnpike toll revenue for other purposes pushed the amendment to prohibit that from happening. But they said the…
EMPORIA, Kan. (AP) Emporia State University has a new mobile application that allows students to look up details like their grades and class schedules. With a secure login, students also can use their smartphones or web-enabled devices to search course offerings and find out how much money is in their student accounts. The application also provides campus maps, access to news and events and faculty and staff directories. Staff in Emporia State’s Office of Information Technology developed the application. It’s currently available for Android and iOS devices. Emporia State plans to continue updating the app with new features based on…
SALINA, Kan. (AP) A 53-year-old Salina man who had sex with an underage girl more than 100 times is sentenced to life in prison for rape. Saline County prosecutors say Gary Flores Perales was sentenced Wednesday to life without eligibility for parole for 25 years for rape. He also was sentenced to nearly 27 years for other sex crimes. The Salina Journal reports that Perales was convicted of eight counts in October 2012. Authorities allege that the crimes occurred between 2006 and 2010 when the victim was between 12 and 16 years old.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Topeka police say an Indiana fugitive is jailed after leading police on two brief car chases. Topeka police Lt. Ron Gish says Jamie Allen Sigman, 38, of Topeka was arrested Wednesday and faces several felony and traffic charges. Gish says Sigman had a fugitive justice warrant issued for him in Indiana, and a warrant with the city of Topeka, but he didn’t know what the warrants were for. Gish says the chase began when officers tried to stop a pickup, which sped off and crashed into a curb. A passenger jumped out but the driver drove off…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Kansas lawmakers are taking a long weekend before what they hope is a final push to finish most of their business for the year. The Legislature is out of session Thursday and Friday, although small groups could still meet to negotiate differences between the House and Senate on legislation. Wednesday was the deadline for most measures to have cleared the other chamber. Lawmakers expect to work through April 5, their so-called “Drop Dead” deadline for passing legislation, then begin a wrap-up session May 8. Leaders want to limit the wrap-up to considering small budget revisions and vetoes…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Prosecutors have narrowed their case against a 66-year-old Kansas veteran after an appeals court tossed out key evidence in a case charging him with unlawful possession of unregistered destructive devices. Alfred C. Dutton, an Army and Marine veteran from Eureka, now faces a single federal count of unlawful possession of unregistered destructive devices. The charge filed Tuesday accuses Dutton of having one or more grenade bodies and the parts needed to convert them into destructive devices. He has been summoned to appear in U.S. District Court on April 14. An earlier count of possessing five jars of…