WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A new clinic offering abortions and other women’s medical services has opened in the Wichita building where a slain Kansas abortion provider had practiced. The South Wind Women’s Clinic saw its first patient Thursday nearly four years after Dr. George Tiller was gunned down in his church by an abortion opponent. The building was purchased by the abortion rights group Trust Women Foundation. Group spokeswoman Kerry Townsend Jacob cited privacy rights in declining to say whether the first patient received an abortion. No abortions have been performed openly in Wichita since the death of Tiller, who was…
Author: KMAN Staff
OTTAWA, Kan. (AP) Authorities in eastern Kansas have evacuated a university residence hall and closed the campus after suspicious packages were found. The Franklin County sheriff’s department says a package was reported about 5:45 a.m. Thursday outside Tau Jones Hall at Ottawa University. University spokeswoman Paula Paine told The Kansas City Star that campus security found other packages at other buildings, and the campus was closed about 7 a.m. The buildings were evacuated and people have been warned to stay off campus. Paine says authorities are investigating the possibility that the packages could be related to a scavenger hunt that…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A bill that would reduce property taxes on boats and other watercraft is on its way to Gov. Sam Brownback. The House and Senate approved a bill Wednesday that would reduce the taxes from 30 percent of appraised value to 11.5 percent next year. Boat taxes would be reduced to 5 percent in 2015 and beyond. The bill was introduced after 54 percent of Kansas voters approved a change to the state Constitution last fall that allowed the Legislature to set up a new watercraft tax system. The Wichita Eagle reports supporters of the bill said the…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Federal prosecutors allege three Kansas men ran a worldwide synthetic marijuana operation that made them millions of dollars. U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom announced the indictment Wednesday against Bradley Miller, 55, of Wichita; his brother, Clark Sloan, 54, of Tonganoxie; and Sloan’s son, Jonathon Sloan, 32, of Lawrence. They are charged with conspiracy, distribution of misbranded drugs, mail fraud and smuggling. Prosecutors allege the men began by selling the synthetic marijuana known as K2 in Lawrence and then expanded to an international business. Federal officials say the men sold the products as incense but always intended that they…
HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) Hutchinson Community College will be the center of the forensic tournament world this weekend. The college is hosting the American Forensic Association-National Individual Events Tournament. It’s expected to bring 1,000 people to the city for the competition Saturday through Monday. The events will be held at the college, the Cosmosphere and the Ramada Conference Center. About 80 schools will participate. Travis Roberts, coach of forensics and debate at the college, says he didn’t expect the college to be named as host when he first applied. But Hutchinson met the requirements of being near a major airport and…
EMPORIA, Kan. (AP) About one-third of the employees at an Emporia soybean processing plant will be temporarily laid off because of a lack of a crop. Officials with the Bunge plant announced Tuesday that crush operations at the plant will be suspended, effective May 1. The company says crush operations are expected to resume with the fall harvest. A spokeswoman for the company says the drought depleted the available soybean crop. That combined with a strong export demand in Asia led to the layoffs. The remaining employees will work reduced hours, doing maintenance and other projects. The Emporia Gazette reports…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) The city of Wichita wants to hear residents’ ideas on how the region should respond to prolonged drought. Wichita is in the third year of drought, and it is unclear when it will end or how severe it will be. Officials have scheduled six public meetings around the city April 16-18 to hear how residents are affected by the drought and how they think the city might extend its water supply. The public feedback will be presented later to the City Council. Wichita gets about 60 percent of its water from Cheney Reservoir. Officials have predicted that…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The Kansas Senate has approved a modified version of Gov. Sam Brownback’s proposal to hold back young pupils who lack sufficient reading skills. The compromise measure worked out with House negotiators cleared the Senate Thursday on a vote of 29-11. A vote in the House was expected Friday. The bill would require low-performing school districts to retain first-graders who aren’t proficient in reading based on an assessment. Any decision to hold a child back would require consultation between parents and school officials. Brownback proposed in January that third-graders be held back if their reading scores were lacking.…
On today’s InFocus, Cathy talks with John Armbrust, Executive Director of the Governor’s Military Council. [mp3-jplayer]
Ideas have been thrown around, drawings have been made, and now it’s time to conduct some studies. The Fieldhouse project has been a talked about project in Manhattan for some time. A presentation was made during a previous Riley County commission meeting regarding the layout of the project and the impact it could potentially have on the economy. During Thursday’s commission meeting, Fieldhouse Advisory Group Chair, Gail Urban provided an update on the project, saying studies need to be done. With five potential locations for the facility, a study needs to be done to see which location is best. Besides that,…