WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Wichita State University has hired a media historian to lead the Elliott School of Communication. The university announced Friday that Matthew Cecil will begin work as the school’s director on June 30. Cecil is currently an associate professor at South Dakota State University’s department of journalism and mass communication. Cecil will succeed Lou Heldman, who has served as the school’s interim director since 2011. The new director will oversee 30 faculty and staff members and courses for more than 2,000 students at the university’s communications school. The university said Cecil is the author of a forthcoming book,…
Author: KMAN Staff
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Gov. Sam Brownback is proposing to cut the budget of the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission by 9.3 percent. The commission’s executive director, Carol Williams, says the $65,000 cut would prevent the agency from doing random, in-depth audits of candidates or political groups. Williams said Friday the commission has held one of its two auditing positions vacant for more than a year, anticipating that its budget could decrease. Brownback is proposing to reduce the commission’s budget to about $632,000 in the fiscal year that starts July 1. His recommendation would cost the agency a full-time employee, leaving it…
BALDWIN CITY, Kan. (AP) An 8-year-old northeast Kansas girl with a history of health problems apparently drowned while bathing in what authorities believe was an accident. The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office says the girl was found unconscious just before 10 p.m. Thursday at a home east of Baldwin City. She was later pronounced dead at a hospital in Lawrence. Sheriff’s officials say a neighbor and emergency responders unsuccessfully performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the girl. The girl lived with her grandparents. Her name was not being released until relatives could be notified.
DODGE CITY, Kan. (AP) A 28-year-old Dodge City man has been arrested in the 2008 death of his girlfriend’s daughter. The Dodge City Globe reports that Brock W. Cunningham was charged Thursday with first-degree murder and one count of felony child abuse in the death of 3-year-old Natalie Pickle. The child was severely injured in Dodge City on Nov. 19, 2008, and died the next day at a Wichita hospital. The child was in Cunningham’s care while her mother was at work. The case has remained open since authorities ruled the child’s death a homicide in December 2008. Ford County…
HOLTON, Kan. (AP) Two people wanted for questioning in a northeast Kansas homicide were arrested after being found in a car trunk in Iowa. Jackson County Sheriff Tim Morse says a man and woman were captured Thursday evening in Urbandale, Iowa. Details of their arrest were not immediately available. They are suspects in the January 10 death of 29-year-old Kevin Stanley at his home in Mayetta. The female suspect was the former fiancie of David Tiscareno, who shot and killed two Topeka police officers Dec. 16 and was shot to death the next day. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that a…
HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) A Hutchinson man was sentenced to two years of probation for his role in burglaries at four churches and attempting to burglarize a fifth. A judge departed from state guidelines while sentencing 24-year-old Justin Branscom, who was also ordered to apologize to each church and pay more than $3,000 in restitution. Branscom’s probation through Community Corrections won’t start until he finishes serving a two-year prison term for previously violating probation in a 2008 arson at a jewelry store in Hutchinson. The Hutchinson News reports Reno County District Attorney Keith Schroeder asked the judge to sentence Branscom to…
SALINA, Kan. (AP) Salina County authorities say an autopsy confirms that a man who was involved in a standoff with police last September killed himself. Nineteen-year-old Marijan Gadson died by shooting himself in the head after hiding in the basement of a home for several hours while police tried to negotiate with him. The autopsy showed he had drugs and alcohol in his system. Salina police officer Chuck Huen was shot in the eye by Gadson when he and four other officers went to a home to investigate a possible stolen car or domestic case. Huen lost his sight in…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Gov. Sam Brownback’s new budget proposal supports plans to build a forensic laboratory for the Kansas Bureau of Investigation at Washburn University. The budget unveiled Tuesday by the governor includes using $3.5 million from the Kansas Department of Transportation budget to pay for architectural, engineering and finance planning of the laboratory. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports the proposed $40 million lab would be built on land donated by Washburn and financed through bonds issued by the university. While providing KBI with a state-of-the-art facility for DNA testing and other procedures, the laboratory also would allow Washburn to create…
SHAWNEE, Kan. (AP) A $3,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest of vandals who damaged at least 31 headstones at three cemeteries in a Kansas City suburb. The Catholic Cemeteries of Northeast Kansas and the city of Shawnee announced the reward Thursday. The vandals hit St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery, Pleasant View and Shawnee cemeteries sometime between Friday evening and Saturday morning. The city of Shawnee owns Pleasant View and Shawnee cemeteries.
GARDEN CITY, Kan. (AP) Officials in Finney County say plans are moving forward to renovate the historic Windsor Hotel in downtown Garden City. The Garden City Telegram reports that Don Harness, president of the Finney County Preservation Alliance, said at a meeting Wednesday that the process of renovating the 93-room hotel continues. Harness also says there will likely be more activity this year. The Windsor was built in 1887. The $12 million renovation includes senior living apartments, retail shops and offices, as well as a restaurant and banquet facilities. The project will use both state and federal historic tax credits,…