At the national level there was a big debate to witness, but here in our local Manhattan community another took place Wednesday as the USD 383 school board had their public meeting as to whether the high school should continue to have open lunch at the west campus or to close it. Prior to the meeting, the administration sent out a couple of surveys, one to the parents another to staff. The numbers were talked about prior to opening the meeting for those in attendance and also comments were read from those surveys. Points were made on both to keeping…
Author: KMAN Staff
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A court hearing has been delayed for a former Sedgwick County corrections officer accused of sexually assaulting jail inmates. The preliminary hearing to determine if there’s enough evidence to send former deputy David Kendall to trial had been set for Thursday. It’s now scheduled for Nov. 14. Kendall resigned in late June and is facing 12 criminal charges ranging from felony aggravated criminal sodomy to misdemeanor sexual battery. Eleven of the charges accuse him of sex crimes against six inmates from April to June. Kendall is free on bond. His lawyer has attacked the credibility of the…
LEAWOOD, Kan. (AP) A moderate GOP Kansas state senator has endorsed the Democratic candidate over a conservative Republican in a Kansas City-area district. Sen. John Vratil, of Leawood, has served in the chamber since 1998 but isn’t seeking re-election. He’s the Senate vice president. Vratil said Wednesday he supports Democrat Mike Delaney of Overland Park in the 11th Senate District race because he views Delaney as a strong supporter of public schools. Delaney is running against conservative Republican Jeff Melcher of Leawood, who has the backing of Gov. Sam Brownback and the Kansas Chamber of Commerce. Melcher said Vratil’s action…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The director of the Topeka Zoo says the zoo is considering four different options for continuing its elephant program. Critics have been pressuring the zoo to send its two aging elephants to an elephant sanctuary in Tennessee. But zoo director Brendan Wiley told the city council Tuesday consultants are working with zoo officials to determine the best way to continue the elephant program. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports the four options are: continuing the current program, adding one elephant to maintain the program for 10 to 15 years, replacing the current elephants or making a long-term commitment and…
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) The University of Kansas is looking for 64 new faculty members. Provost Jeff Vitter said Tuesday it’s the first large hiring effort at the university since the early to mid-2000s. The Lawrence Journal-World reports the university plans to hire 30 new faculty members in the School of Engineering, 22 other various positions and 12 positions called “Foundation Professor.” Those 12 jobs will be for high-profile, established faculty members from other institutions. Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little said the current hiring effort would return the university’s faculty to the size it was in the previous decade before hiring slowed down.…
MCPHERSON, Kan. (AP) Preliminary hearings for two suspects in the death of a Tabor College football player have been rescheduled. The hearings for Alton Franklin and DeQuinte Flournoy, both 19, were scheduled this week in McPherson County District Court. The hearings have been rescheduled for Monday. Franklin and Flournoy are each charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder in the death last month of 26-year-old Brandon Brown. The redshirt defensive lineman for Tabor died Sept. 22 from injuries he suffered after a fight Sept. 16 in McPherson. The Salina Journal reports Franklin and Flournoy, former McPherson College football players, have…
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) A University of Kansas chemistry professor has received a $1.38 million federal grant to help with research into HIV vaccines. Heather Desaire will use the money from the National Institutes of Health to investigate several HIV vaccine candidates. The University of Kansas says she will conduct her work in collaboration with researchers from Duke University Medical Center and Harvard Medical Center. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 1.1 million people in the U.S. were infected with HIV at the end of 2009. About 50,000 people are newly infected each year.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Economic researchers at Wichita State University are preparing to release their 2013 employment forecast for Kansas. The forecast being released Wednesday online is produced by the university’s Center for Economic Development and Business Research. The center’s analysts look at signs of economic stability and weakness, then use those indicators to predict employment by industry in the coming year. The center’s annual Wichita Economic Outlook Conference will take place Oct. 11 at Century II. This year the center has added four more such conferences around the state. Those are set for later this month in Pittsburg, Hays, Emporia…
ABILENE, Kan. (AP) Several events are scheduled in Abilene this month to celebrate Dwight D. Eisenhower’s 122nd birthday. Eisenhower was born Oct. 14, 1890, in Texas but moved to Abilene as a boy, where he graduated from high school and went on to accept an appointment to West Point. After leading the Allied forces in Europe in World War II, he was elected president in 1952 and 1956. Seventh-graders from schools in Abilene and Chapman will visit the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum on Oct. 10-11 for special programs on Eisenhower’s life and 1950s culture. Members of the Kansas Veterans…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The Kansas attorney general’s new chief spokesman is a former state Board of Regents official who also previously served as a top aide to former Gov. Bill Graves. Don Brown joined Attorney General Derek Schmidt’s office this week. He replaces Jeff Wagaman, who was promoted to lead the office’s new Division of Crime Victims Compensation. Brown was Graves’ chief spokesman from November 1999 to February 2002. He was also communications director for the state Department of Health and Environment. Most recently, Brown was a project manager for the regents’ Kan-ed program, which brings high-speed Internet service to…