HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) Bardo the Clown, a longtime fixture at the Kansas State Fair, has died. State Fair General Manager Denney Stoecklein says Bardo, also known as J.B. Holdren, was found dead in his trailer on the fairgrounds Tuesday evening. He was 93 years old. The Hutchinson News reports that Holdren was a sign painter, clown and artist at the fair for 67 years. For years, Holdren drove his camper to Arizona after the fair and did sign work at the Pima County Fairgrounds. But he had lived and worked year-round at the Kansas fair for the last decade. Stoecklin…
Author: KMAN Staff
SALINA, Kan. (AP) A Saline County man is the fourth person sentenced to prison for a methamphetamine distribution ring. Thirty-three-year-old Shane Curtis Sheets of New Cambria was sentenced Wednesday to more than 11 years in federal prison for methamphetamine trafficking. Sheets pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. The Wichita Eagle reports investigators discovered that another co-defendant, Kevin Dale Ashcraft, regularly gave a quarter pound of methamphetamine to Sheets, who sold it to other dealers and users. Ashcraft and two other defendants are already in prison, with sentences ranging from 54 months to 240 months.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) A Hutchinson man who came within eight votes of winning a primary election for the Kansas House of Representatives has been charged with domestic battery. Erich Bishop is in the Reno County jail on charges that include battery against a Hutchinson police officer. Bishop pleaded not guilty during a court appearance last week. A pre-trial hearing is set for Jan. 16. The 28-year-old Bishop nearly unseated Democratic Rep. Jan Pauls, D-Hutchinson, in the August primary. She won re-election in November. The Hutchinson News reported Wednesday that police responded to a domestic violence call involving a man and…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Trials for a mother and son charged in the death of the man’s wife will start on the same day in different Topeka courtrooms. Thirty-two-year-old Manuel Campos Alcala of Topeka was bound over Wednesday on first-degree murder and other charges tied to the Oct. 18 shooting death of his wife, 34-year-old Ashley Alcala, at her Topeka home. His trial was scheduled to start March 25. That’s the same day his mother, Manuela Alcala, of El Paso, Texas, is scheduled for trial on the same charges. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports prosecutors said they would shuttle witnesses from one…
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) The University of Kansas Hospital has transplanted its 1,000th liver followed soon after by the 1,001st transplant. The hospital announced Wednesday the recipient of the 1,000th transplant was 60-year-old Brenda Higgins of Kansas City. Thirty-nine-year-old Deborah Ellerbusch of Newton received the 1,001st liver. The hospital’s liver transplant program started in 1990. Hospital officials say the program is among the 25 largest in the nation.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The State Board of Education will hear updates next week on progress in writing new standards for teaching history, government and social studies in Kansas. The board’s agenda for its Jan. 9 meeting also includes a status report on a national project to draft new science standards. The guidelines are similar to the Common Core standards that were adopted by states for reading and math. Four new members who won election to the 10-member board in November will be sworn in. The board will also reorganize for the next two years, choosing a chairman with the retirement…
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) The fate of the Farm Bill after its one-year extension by Congress will be examined this month at a gathering of the major farm commodity groups in Kansas. The annual Kansas Commodity Classic takes place Jan. 16 at the Hilton Garden Inn in Manhattan. The event brings together the state’s corn, wheat and grain sorghum industry groups. Sessions include an overview of trends in grain markets and a discussion of the weather outlook. A panel of academic and industry leaders is also expected to discuss research and technology advances in the major Kansas grain crops. Kansas State…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Two Kansas professors are making the case that a major solar burst may have happened more than 1,200 years ago. Brian Thomas of Washburn University and Adrian Melott of the University of Kansas became interested after reading that tree samples from the years 774 and 775 showed a spike in the amount of carbon-14 in the atmosphere. The Japanese scientists who made the discovery ruled out a major solar event based on their calculations. Thomas and Melott noticed that those calculations assumed the solar event would emit energy evenly. But Thomas is an associate professor of physics…
At Thursday’s Riley County Commissioners Meeting, a bid was approved for the Lakeside Heights Sewer Benefit District. Residents around the area are pushing for the project because of inadequate spacing for lateral fields when the developments were first put in during the 1960’s. Currently the district has three residents who want to tie in to University Heights Sewer district. Karen McCulloh, County Commissioner, says this will enable more houses to be built in the area. Larson Construction was the only group bidding on the project. Their base bid was $49,428 which was considerably less than the $59,280 cost projected by the engineers.…
The New Year’s Baby at Geary Community Hospital in Junction City has been announced. J’Shawn Deonte Wedlow was born to Ivory and Jasmine Wedlow of Junction City. J’Shawn was born Wednesday at the Martha K. Hoover Women’s Health Center in Junction City. J’Shawn weighed 7 pounds, 5 ounces, and was 21 ½ inches long. The maternal grandparents are Grant and Teresa Felton of Junction City. The paternal grandmother is Floydia Wedlow of Mississippi. #### Mercy Regional Health Center has reported its first birth for the New Year. Maria Noel was born at 8:17 Wednesday morning, weighing four pounds, 11 ounces. Maria’s…