TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The two elephants living at the Topeka Zoo aren’t going anywhere. The Topeka City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to support the zoo’s decision to keep the elephants, 52-year-old Sunda and 42-year-old Tembo. The zoo and council had been pressured for weeks by critics who said the elephants weren’t getting proper care and should be transferred to a sanctuary in Tennessee. The council’s vote required the zoo to improve its elephant program. Zoo director Brendan Wiley says changes are planned, and zoo patrons will see improvements as early as February. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that Wiley says the…
Author: KMAN Staff
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has been both a rival of Mitt Romney and a boss of Romney’s running mate. Now, Brownback has served as a surrogate for the GOP presidential nominee in a crucial swing state. The Youngstown, Ohio, Vindicator reported that Brownback spent Tuesday on a five-city tour of northeastern Ohio stumping for the Republican ticket of Ryan and Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan. Brownback, elected governor in 2010, is a former U.S. senator. Ryan served on Brownback’s U.S. Senate staff in the 1990s. Brownback unsuccessfully sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2007, opposing both Romney and…
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) The Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas is presenting a special exhibit honoring the late Democratic Sen. George McGovern of South Dakota. McGovern, who was the Democratic presidential nominee in 1972, died Sunday at the age of 90. Dole, the former Republican senator from Kansas, worked with McGovern to create an international food for education and child nutrition program, for which they shared the 2008 World Food Prize. He issued a statement Sunday praising McGovern as a “humble, compassionate and caring man.” The Dole Institute exhibit traces McGovern’s life growing up during…
HOXIE, Kan. (AP) A public hearing takes place next month on a proposal to limit water withdrawals in part of northwestern Kansas. The Hays Daily News reports the Division of Water Resources is moving ahead with a local enhanced management plan. The plan seeks to limit irrigation in a 99-square-mile area of Sheridan and Thomas counties that’s considered a high-priority water use area because of declining water levels in the Ogallala aquifer. The plan calls for a five-year program limiting irrigation to 11 acre-inches of water per year. Water use for livestock would be limited to 12 gallons of water…
A vehicle was pulled out of the Big Blue River in East Manhattan Wednesday morning. Involved in the effort were the Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Department, U-S Army Corps of Engineers, and the Marysville search and rescue dive team. The 2002 GMC truck was recovered from the west side of the river near the channel. Valued at over $10,000 dollars, the truck was stolen from Cheney Construction during May of 2011. KMAN was at the scene and spoke to Detective Gerald Schmidt, who said the suspects are known and are currently confined in Junction City on unrelated charges. Upon investigation, Schmidt said it…
Manhattan was one of many stops for American Legion National Commander James Koutz Tuesday. Koutz had lunch with the local post and made comments about the number of issues pertaining to the more than 225-thousand military veterans living in Kansas. Commander of local Post 17 Harold Randa saysone issue of concern of the military is veterans who will soon be returning home, especially those who are wounded. CommanderKoutz commented to KMAN a main concern that has been brought up has been the backlog of claims in the VA. Koutz and his staff began their journey across Kansas on Monday and will be concluding on Thursday…
In Jamaica, residents are stocking up on non-perishable foods and reinforcing roofs on their homes and businesses ahead of the arrival of Tropical Storm Sandy, which is expected to hit the island as a hurricane with lashing rain and wind. <iframe width=”425″ height=”239″ src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/WMTRiK4DXo0″ frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>
With just two weeks until Election Day, President Barack Obama began a cross-country rush to hold onto office in tough economic times with a new booklet outlining his second-term agenda and a closing argument that the choice comes down to trust. <iframe width=”425″ height=”239″ src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/1_A_lIb3tBQ” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>
OTTAWA, Kan. (AP) A former cross-country truck driver has been found guilty for the second time in the 2000 kidnapping and rape of a Kansas teenager. A Franklin County jury on Monday convicted Ralph E. Corey, 53, of five charges for kidnapping a 16-year-old Ottawa girl as she left work. She was driven to several locations in Ottawa and sexually assaulted. After Corey was found guilty of the same charges in July, a juror admitted accessing information about the case from a smartphone during the trial. That violated the judge’s instruction, leading to a mistrial. The Lawrence Journal-World reports the case…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The ranks of Republican and unaffiliated voters are surging in Kansas, while the number of Democrats has plummeted since 2008. The Kansas secretary of state’s office says there are now 439,639 registered Democrats, a drop of more than 45,000 since the 2008 election. Democrats make up just over 25 percent of the state’s registered voters. Republican registrations increased by over 11,000 to 782,161 people. That’s nearly 45 percent of the state’s voter totals. Unaffiliated registrations reached 508,204, an increase of more than 25,000 since 2008. Unaffiliated voters now make up 29 percent of the state’s voters. The…