STOCKTON, Kan. (AP) A former northwest Kansas sheriff has been sentenced to four years and one month in prison for distributing methamphetamine. KWCH-TV reports the sentence given Tuesday to former Rooks County sheriff Randy Axelson was shorter than the five years and four months requested by prosecutors. Axelson was arrested December 2011 following an investigation by Kansas authorities. He was accused of distributing meth over a period of four months at the Rooks County Fairgrounds and within 1,000 feet of Stockton High School. He pleaded guilty in July 2012 to four counts. Prosecutors dropped five other counts in exchange for…
Author: KMAN Staff
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) A woman who was abandoned as a newborn in Lawrence almost 50 years ago says she’s had a happy life. A cleaning woman found the baby at what was called the Grover Bungalo Launderette in November 1964. She was likely no more than three hours old. Nurses at a Lawrence hospital named her Baby Amy. Her parents were never found. The Lawrence Journal-World reports she was adopted and spent the first seven years of her life in Kansas. The family moved to New York state. After earning two college degrees, she has traveled the world as an…
COLUMBUS, Kan. (AP) Penn National Gaming is proposing a $7.25 million settlement with Cherokee County in a dispute over a casino that was never built. Cherokee County sued Penn National for $53 million in 2008 after the company decided not to build a casino in southeast Kansas. The company cited competition from a resort just south of where it planned to build the casino. A Shawnee County judge in November accepted the county’s argument that the company backed out after deciding it could make more money elsewhere. Penn National has the state contract for a casino in Kansas City, Kan.…
HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) A suspect in a fatal Hutchinson shooting will be arraigned Feb. 4, after he waived his right to a preliminary hearing. Twenty-year-old Isaac D. Beltran of Hutchinson is charged with second-degree murder in the November 2012 death of 26-year-old Dustin Brooks. The Hutchinson News reports Beltran’s case was transferred after Monday’s hearing to Judge Tim Chambers. Beltran will enter a plea at the Feb. 4 hearing. Brooks died at Hutchinson Regional Medical Center after being shot outside a Halloween party. Police say the shooting occurred after Brooks and Beltran argued.
HAYS, Kan. (AP) Searchers found the body of a missing Hays high school student who had been missing for two days. Police say a group of searchers found the body of 18-year-old Citlatli Adilene Armendariz Monday afternoon in a creek about a mile south of Hays. She had been missing since she left a party Saturday night in Hays. Ellis County Sheriff Ed Harbin said an autopsy will determine the cause of death. Armendariz was a senior at Hays High School.
PRATT, Kan. (AP) A new owner plans to reopen an ethanol plant in Pratt that’s been closed since 2008. Officials with Scoular Co. of Omaha, Neb., announced Monday that it sold most of its interest in the plant to Pratt Biofuels Investors. That’s a new company formed by investors in a California ethanol plant, Calgren Renewable Fuels. Calgren plans to reopen the Pratt plant by spring. The plant, which can produce 55 million gallons of ethanol a year, closed in 2008. The Wichita Eagle reports Scoular will continue to procure feedstock and will market and ship the ethanol and distillers…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Gov. Sam Brownback wants Kansas lawmakers to cut individual income taxes even further. In the prepared text of his State of the State speech Tuesday night, Brownback also says his ultimate goal is abolishing the state’s individual income tax altogether. For now, the Republican governor said he wants to lower the top rate on individual income taxes to 3.5 percent from the current 4.9 percent. For low-income families, Brownback wants the rate reduced to 1.9 percent from the current 3 percent. The current rates were adopted in 2012 and took effect Jan. 1. The state also exempted…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The city of Topeka is teaming up with Kansas State University students to make a vehicle powered by compressed natural gas, an alternative fuel created from the methane extracted from human waste. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports mechanical engineering students will convert a city vehicle to compressed natural gas in a bid to find a use for methane gas from a Topeka wastewater treatment plant. Don Rankin, public works utilities infrastructure division director, says the plant wastes the methane equivalent of about 440,000 gallons of gasoline. Topeka expects to spend no more than $10,000 to supply the vehicle…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The chairman of the Kansas House Rules Committee says he expects the chamber to vote next week on a final set of rules for the next two years. McPherson Republican Clark Shultz said Monday his committee may revise a rule that limits House debate on spending proposals. The House adopted temporary rules Monday that mirror ones in place for 2011 and 2012. The Rules Committee will propose revisions for the House to consider. Shultz said one issue is the budget rule, which says that if members want to propose higher spending for particular programs or agencies during…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The capital murder trial of a Topeka man charged with kidnapping, raping and killing an 8-year-old girl has been postponed for several months. Billy Frank Davis Jr. is accused of kidnapping Ahliyah Irvin on March 13 while she slept in her Topeka apartment, where Davis was a neighbor. Her body was found within hours inside a clothes dryer in the same apartment complex. The Topeka Capital Journal reports a Shawnee County judge on Monday granted a defense request to delay the trial from March 4 to Oct. 7. A motion to move the trial to another county…