WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Authorities say two children were present when a drug-fueled celebration of a $75,000 winning lottery ticket resulted in an explosion at a south-central Kansas duplex. Wichita police Lt. Doug Nolte said Tuesday the 10- and 6-year-old girls weren’t injured. The Wichita Eagle reports that the explosion happened Friday after a man refueled butane torches that he and his brother planned to use to smoke drugs. Eventually, butane vapor reached the pilot light in the furnace. One of the brothers was treated at a hospital after sustaining second-degree burns on 10 percent of his body. He hasn’t been…
Author: KMAN Staff
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A new government report shows that the United States now has 2.2 million farms after losing 11,630 farms last year. The National Agricultural Statistics Service’s annual snapshot of farms released Tuesday also pegs the total land in U.S. farms at 914 million acres. That is 3 million acres fewer acres when compared to the previous year. The average farm size is 421 acres. But the numbers for the nation’s biggest farms with $500,000 or more in sales jumped by 8.6 percent to 145,190 farms. The agency said that higher commodity prices contributed to the increase in that…
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) A Kansas, City, Kan., man arrested as part of an international child pornography crackdown admitted that he traveled from Kansas to Missouri to have sex with a minor. The Kansas City Star reports Robert Poe III entered his plea Tuesday in federal court. Poe was charged in August with three counts of traveling to entice a minor to engage in sex. He was accused of using a gun to force two boys to perform oral sex on him. Poe, on Tuesday, denied using a gun but said prosecutors had enough evidence to convict him. Poe was…
SALINA, Kan. (AP) Police have arrested the brother of a man who briefly escaped from jail while facing sentencing for killing his girlfriend’s young son. Saline County authorities arrested Joshua Danny Brown, 30, of Wichita Monday on a charge of obstructing apprehension or prosecution. Brown’s brother, Antonio Brown, 29, escaped Feb. 11 from the Saline County jail. He was scheduled to be sentenced the next day on murder and child abuse charges for the October 2011 death of his girlfriend’s 14-month-old son. Brown turned himself in to Wichita police Feb. 13. The Salina Journal reports a second man, Eric Terry,…
President Barack Obama said Tuesday he accepted Marine Gen. John Allen’s request to retire rather than proceed with the White House’s previous plan to make him commander of NATO forces in Europe
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) Lawrence school district officials have told an 8th grade teacher to change a lesson on slavery that included having some of the students wear mock shackles. Mike Wormsley at Liberty Memorial Central Middle School has taught the lesson for years. The two-week role-playing exercise is designed to show students the roles of slaves and slave owners. Part of the lesson required some students, including black students, to wear mock shackles in school. District officials this year told Wormsley they understood the value of the exercise but wanted him to end the use of shackles because it isn’t…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A bill introduced in the Kansas House would require the state’s schools to provide evidence in classrooms questioning the existence of climate change. The bill, introduced last week, says instruction about scientific controversies should include evidence for and against the theory. The only controversy identified in the bill is “climate science.” The Topeka Capital-Journal reports no hearings have been scheduled for the bill before the House Education Committee. The bill comes at the same time the Kansas State Board of Education is preparing to vote on new science standards, which are still being developed. Another bill currently…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Kansas leaders have kicked off a month-long food drive with the goal of bringing in 50,000 meals for needy families in the state. Gov. Sam Brownback and Agriculture Secretary Dale Rodman on Monday launched the “Neighbor to Neighbor” statewide food drive that will end March 19, which is Kansas Agriculture Day. Donations to the drive can be left at Dillon’s Food Stores and other locations across the state. The grocery store chain made an initial donation of 8,000 pounds of nonperishable food items Monday at the kick-off event in Topeka. Brownback says the food drive won’t end…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Kansas senators have advanced a bill aimed at preventing children from seeing obscene or harmful images while using the Internet in schools and public libraries. The measure received a brief debate Tuesday before advancing to final action, set for Wednesday. The Senate Education Committee had endorsed the bill Monday. The bill initially would have required schools and libraries to install technology, such as filters or content blockers, to prevent children from viewing all forms of pornography or other obscene or harmful material. The committee amended the bill so that in addition to technology, schools and libraries can…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The Kansas Senate has given first-round approval to a bill prohibiting doctors from terminating a pregnancy solely because a woman doesn’t want a baby of a certain gender. The bill advanced on a voice vote Tuesday. The Senate is expected to give the measure final approval Wednesday and send it to the House. The bill makes a misdemeanor the first time a doctor is convicted of performing a sex-selection abortion and a felony each time afterward. A woman’s husband could sue a doctor over such a procedure, as could a parent or guardian of a girl under…