Author: KMAN Staff

It’s Pottawatomie County Day, as Cathy sits down to talk with Pat Weixelman, Commission Chair, Robert Reece, County Administrator, and Lois Schlegel, County Appraiser. [mp3-jplayer]

Read More

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A Wisconsin man has been charged with joining a cyberattack on Wichita-based Koch Industries organized by the computer hacker group Anonymous. The U.S. attorney’s office said Tuesday that Eric J. Rosol, 37, of Black Creek, Wis., was indicted on one count each of damaging a computer and conspiracy to damage a computer. The indictment alleges that Anonymous asked conspirators in February 2011 to launch a so-called Low Orbit Ion Cannon that sent a high volume of repeated requests to a Koch website. Numerous conspirators complied, and the company’s website crashed. Rosol also is accused of sending a…

Read More

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Police in Wichita are looking for a gunman suspected of robbing four people, including one who died of an apparent illness several hours later. KFDI-FM reports the 73-year-old man told police he was driving out of a parking lot in southwest Wichita about 8:30 p.m. Monday when the robber opened a passenger door and pointed a gun. The victim handed over some money and the robber left in another vehicle. The 73-year-old died several hours later of what was described as a sudden illness, but police don’t believe the death and the robbery were related. The same…

Read More

DERBY, Kan. (AP) The state’s biggest electric utility is cautioning residents in south-central Kansas town about a man posing as one of its workers. Topeka-based Westar Energy said Tuesday it received a report of a man knocking on doors in the Derby area and asking to enter homes. The company says the man claimed to be a Westar employee performing home electricity audits. The utility says the man doesn’t work for Westar or any of its partner companies. Westar workers carry company identification, and many wear clothing with its logo.

Read More

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The Kansas Senate is preparing to take up legislation blocking tax breaks for abortion providers, but some lawmakers want to go further by pursuing a ban on most abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected. The measure on the Senate’s agenda for debate Tuesday or Wednesday not only deals with tax exemptions and credits for abortion providers but bars them from providing materials or instructors for sex education classes in public schools. It also includes a statement that life begins at fertilization and is worth protecting. The measure has passed the House. But a House committee heard…

Read More

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Wichita police say 2-year-old twins are fine after they were found outside in freezing weather wearing only their pajamas. The Wichita Eagle reports that the children were found outside Monday in 27-degree weather with no shoes and wearing pajamas but nothing else. Police Lt. Doug Nolte said Tuesday that the children had been living with their mother when they were found Monday, and that they have been released to their father. He says the children’s mother has a medical condition that contributed to the situation, and that police did not suspect child neglect or endangerment.

Read More

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Kansas House and Senate negotiators have started meetings to settle differences over the 2014 state budget, a process expected to continue over the next two weeks. Two Republicans and one Democrat from each chamber met Tuesday morning to hear an offer from the House on resolving several hundred line items. The House and Senate have both approved $14 billion spending plans for the 2014 fiscal year, which starts July 1. Leaders have said the negotiations could last several weeks. The work is tied to progress on tax legislation pending in both chambers. The House and Senate’s budgets…

Read More

HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) Rocket engine parts that were recovered last week from the ocean will be preserved by a division of the Cosmosphere and Space Center in Hutchinson. The F-1 engine parts arrived Monday at the SpaceWorks division of the Cosmosphere. They were part of the Saturn V rocket that boosted Apollo moon missions in the 1960s and 1970s. The engines broke up after falling back into the ocean. The Hutchinson News reports parts from two of the engines were raised last week from the ocean about 360 miles off the coast of Florida. Cosmosphere officials say the goal of…

Read More