WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A Kansas rancher has filed suit claiming the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association is improperly using “beef checkoff” funds to influence government action and policy. The federal lawsuit by Michael Callicrate names the U.S. Agriculture Department, the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board and three other defendants. It seeks to bar the USDA from giving any checkoff dollars to the Cattlemen’s Beef Association. The filing was announced Friday in Kansas City, Mo., at a conference of the Organization for Competitive Markets. The organization has been critical of the checkoff program and supports the lawsuit. The checkoff program generates…
Author: KMAN Staff
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has selected Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan to be his running mate.
Hundreds of people streamed into a Wisconsin high school Friday to pay their final respects to six worshippers gunned down by a white supremacist at a Sikh temple in suburban Milwaukee.
A man in an Afghan army uniform shot and killed three American service members on Friday morning in southern Afghanistan, the U.S. military command said, the third attack on coalition forces by their Afghan counterparts in a week.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) A Lawrence officer says a 7-year-old girl found bound at a Walmart told him she was hitting her siblings and asked to be tied up. Officer James Miller testified Friday about his conversation with the girl during a preliminary hearing for the girl’s parents, Adolfo and Deborah Gomez. The suburban Chicago couple was arrested in June after the 7-year-old and her bound 5-year-old brother were found outside the family’s vehicle. Three older children weren’t restrained. The Lawrence Journal-World reports that another officer, Charles Stewart, testified that the 5-year-old said Adolfo Gomez told the boy not to take…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Gov. Sam Brownback is warning Kansas residents against lighting outdoor fires because of the state’s ongoing severe drought. Brownback spoke at a meeting Friday on responding to what he describes as a historic drought. All 105 counties are now covered by a drought disaster declaration, and most have imposed burn bans. Brownback says the conditions are so dry that any outdoor burning could set off a widespread blaze. Adjutant General Maj. Gen. Lee Tafanelli and Kansas Agriculture Secretary Dale Rodman were also at the meeting, where Brownback announced a new website providing information on the drought.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A junior at Topeka High School is on a mission to make school a more pleasant place for special education students. Jack Hishmeh recruited fellow students and adults to help paint the special education room this week. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that’s the latest project Hishmeh began to befriend the nearly 20 special education students at the high school. Last year, he formed a group called “Lunch Buddies,” who lunched with special education students in the cafeteria. Previously, the students rarely left the room set aside for them, not even for lunch. Lunch Buddies eventually became “Special…
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) Federal prosecutors are questioning child support payments of nearly $100,000 that a former University of Kansas employee made before pleading guilty in a ticket scheme. Prosecutors have been pursuing assets of former assistant athletics director Rodney Jones and other defendants who pleaded guilty last year to stealing more than $2 million in football and basketball tickets from the university. Jones is serving a 46-month prison sentence. His personal take from the ticket scheme was believed to be $359,000. The Lawrence Journal World reports that the U.S. Attorney’s office says in court documents that about $100,000 in child…
BALDWIN CITY, Kan. (AP) Baldwin City officials are negotiating to bring a dinner train to town from Nebraska. The Baldwin City Council this week gave City Administrator Chris Lowe authority to discuss incentives the city might provide to move the Fremont Dinner Train to Midland Railway. The council was told the cost of moving the dinner train to Baldwin City would be about $220,000. The owners have secured all but $25,000. Bruce Eveland, manager of the dinner train, says it draws 8,000 to 9,000 riders a year to Fremont, Neb. He says more than twice as many people live in…
MULVANE, Kan. (AP) The Kansas Star Casino in Mulvane is looking for 400 more workers as it prepares to open a permanent casino and hotel. The casino’s general manager, Scott Cooper, says 80 to 85 percent of the jobs will be full-time positions. The casino currently has 600 employees. The jobs will include 40 dealers and 150 food and beverage workers, along with various other positions such as housekeeping, office staff and security. The Wichita Eagle reports Cooper says the permanent casino and hotel is likely to open before the end of the year. The current casino is housed in…