Scheduling was a main topic at Wednesday’s Manhattan Ogden school board meeting as both the high school and elementary schools schedules was again on the agenda, but this was followed by the tentative upcoming calendar year. The elementary schedule had a bit more discussion as the issue of communication was brought up on how the board had gone about working on this issue over the past few months. The board referenced an email, which caused some strong reactions. “There was one negative email I responded very aggressively to,” said Dave Colburn, board president, during Wednesday’s meeting. “It hit me hard. I…
Author: KMAN Staff
On today’s InFocus, Cathy talks with Brad Starnes, USD 378 Superintendent, and Brady Burton, Blue Valley Randolph USD 384 Superintendent. [mp3-jplayer]
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A new national study says Kansas could see an increase of nearly 19 percent by 2017 in medical claims costs for individual insurance policies under the federal health care overhaul. That’s better than the nationwide figure of nearly 32 percent forecast by the Society of Actuaries study. Kansas legislators from both parties said Wednesday they’re not surprised some costs could rise under the 2010 federal health care law championed by President Barack Obama. Medical claims costs are a major driver of health insurance premiums. The study assumes all states expand Medicaid coverage under the federal health care…
OBERLIN, Kan. (AP) A northwest Kansas man has been convicted of fatally shooting another man and wounding a woman as the couple slept. Dylan Coryell, 25, of Oberlin, will be sentenced in June following his conviction Wednesday on charges of intentional second-degree murder and aggravated battery. It was the first murder trial in Decatur County in more than a decade. Coryell was charged with shooting Corey Cook, 22, also of Oberlin, and a female acquaintance as they slept the morning of Oct. 16, 2011. The Salina Journal reported last week that witnesses testified Coryell had recently begun a relationship with…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The Kansas Senate’s top negotiator on taxes says canceling a scheduled decrease in the sales tax is vital to allowing future reductions in income tax rates. Wichita Republican Les Donovan defended the Senate’s proposal to keep the sales tax at its current 6.3 percent rate as his chamber opened talks Wednesday with the House. The tax is set to decline to 5.7 percent in July by law. Republican Gov. Sam Brownback and many GOP legislators want to follow up on personal income tax cuts with more cuts in income tax rates. But the state also must stabilize…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The Kansas House has approved a bill that would require the University of Kansas Medical Center to start a center to promote research and use of adult stem cells, cord blood and related stem cell therapies. The bill would prohibit the center from using embryonic stem cells or cells taken from aborted fetal tissue. It also would require the medical center to appoint a director of the center to oversee patient treatment and research. However, the bill does not include any state funding for the proposed center. The Lawrence Journal-World reports the Midwest Stem Cell Therapy Center…
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) A 41-year-old Lawrence man was sentenced to more than 36 years in prison for death of his girlfriend, who died of an infection after she was beaten with the leg of a table. Christopher Belone was sentenced Tuesday in the 2006 death of Linda Begay of Lawrence. It was the second time he had been sentenced in the case. Belone was first convicted in 2006 but the Kansas Supreme Court ordered a new trial, ruling a jury should not have been allowed to hear a taped interview Begay gave investigators before she died. The Lawrence Journal-World reports…
MINNEAPOLIS, Kan. (AP) The third of four inmates who escaped in April 2012 from a north-central Kansas jail was sentenced to 11 more years in prison. The Kansas Attorney General’s Office says Alberto Barraza-Lujan, 24, was sentenced Tuesday for aggravated escape from custody. He’ll serve the sentence after finishing a sentence of 11 years and four months for previous convictions. Barraza-Lujan and three others escaped from the Ottawa County jail in Minneapolis. They were being housed at the county jail to relieve overcrowding at the state prison. Barraza-Lujan was serving time for attempted aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A 22-year-old Topeka man was sentenced to nearly nine years in prison for his role in the shooting death of a woman and the wounding of her partner. Ronald Wakes was sentenced Tuesday in the July 2011 death of 40-year-old Natalie Gibson and the wounding of Lori Allison, 43. He was one of nine people charged in the shooting, which occurred during a botched robbery at the women’s home. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports Wakes pleaded no contest in February to involuntary manslaughter, aggravated robbery, aggravated battery and attempted aggravated intimidation of a witness. Chris Biggs, assistant district…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback is preparing to sign legislation altering the way judges are appointed to the state Court of Appeals. The bill gives the governor authority to make the appointments, subject to confirmation by the state Senate. The measure does away with the special commission that screens applicants for the Court of Appeals and nominates three finalists from whom the governor makes the appointment, with no role for the Legislature. Brownback scheduled a bill-signing ceremony Wednesday. The Republican governor has also indicated an interest in changing how Kansas Supreme Court justices are selected, which currently follows…