Author and playwright Gore Vidal died in Los Angeles on Tuesday. He wrote hundreds of essays and many best-selling novels in his long career.
Author: KMAN Staff
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Senegal on Wednesday, the first stop of her 11-day Africa tour. She plans to visit at least seven nations, including the world’s newest country, South Sudan.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Kansas revenue officials say payments of corporate income taxes helped push state revenue above expectations for the first month of the new fiscal year. The Revenue Department reported Tuesday that overall receipts in July totaled $457.8 million about $2.7 million better than the official forecast. Corporations paid nearly $14 million in state income taxes last month, compared with an expected $10 million. Payments of individual income taxes were on the mark at $205 million. The department says use tax receipts were about $1 million more than expected, suggesting businesses are buying more equipment. The overall July receipts…
VALLEY CENTER, Kan. (AP) Residents of south-central Kansas town have paid their respects to a 26-year-old soldier who died in Afghanistan. The funeral for Army Sgt. Erik May took place Tuesday at a church in Valley Center, followed by a procession to Greenwood Cemetery in Wichita. KWCH-TV reports the streets of Valley Center were lined by dozens of people holding signs and waving flags to support May’s family. May died July 14 in eastern Afghanistan. The cause of death remains under investigation. May joined the Army in September 2007 and was assigned to Fort Riley in February 2009. He was…
ULYSSES, Kan. (AP) A southwest Kansas man killed in a rollover accident has been identified as a longtime employee of the state transportation department. KAKE-TV reports that 43-year-old Jeffery Harris, of Hugoton, suffered fatal injuries in the crash Monday about 11 miles south of Ulysses. The Highway Patrol says Harris was driving a Kansas Department of Transportation tractor-trailer when it veered off Kansas 25, overcorrected and rolled over in a ditch. He later died at a Wichita hospital. KDOT says Harris was a 14-year agency employee. He worked as a senior equipment operator out of the Hugoton office.
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) The parents of a Nebraska teen who died at the 2010 Country Stampede music festival in Manhattan have filed a lawsuit over his death. Kristina and Mark Kreutzer of Beaver Crossing, Neb., are seeking damages in excess of $75,000 on two counts. The lawsuit was filed in late June against Country Stampede, the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism; Robin Jennison, secretary of the state agency, and two employees of a company that provided security at the music festival. The Kreutzers’ suit alleges the defendants did not provide timely aid to their son, 19-year-old Jacob D.…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Topeka police say one man is suspected of committing four robberies in one day in the city. The robberies occurred Monday at a Taco Tico, Prize Package restaurant, Dollar General and Smokes for Less. WIBW reports the suspect in all cases was described as a black male, possibly in his 30s, about 6 feet tall and 200 lbs. The suspect carried a small semi-automatic handgun. Police say the suspect was wearing sunglasses and dark-colored shorts. In the Dollar General robbery, he had on a white tank top and a gray shirt on top of his head.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Inmates in the Sedgwick County jail who allege they were sexually assaulted by a deputy are seeking $20 million from the county. The Wichita Eagle reported Monday that attorneys for the inmates filed the two notices of claims with the county commissioners. Prosecutors allege that six inmates were assaulted by jail deputy 21-year-old David Kendall, who resigned in late June. Kendall faces 12 charges, including aggravated criminal sodomy and misdemeanor sexual battery. It wasn’t clear how many inmates are included in the claims because the county redacted the names from the notices. The inmates allege Sheriff Robert…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The man accused of breaking into at Topeka television station and injuring four employees will stand trial on seven charges. After a preliminary hearing Monday, 48-year-old Ray Anthony Miles was bound over for trial. He faces three counts of aggravated battery and one count each of aggravated burglary and making a criminal threat, as well as two misdemeanor charges. Miles is accused of breaking into the WIBW-TV on May 23 because he was upset that the station would not do a story on problems he was having with the Veterans Administration. Testimony during the hearing revealed that…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A new company begins work this week on a high-capacity transmission line it says will create an energy “superhighway” between eastern and western Kansas and bolster the state’s wind energy potential. Prairie Wind Transmission plans to break ground Wednesday in Colwich on a 108-mile line that will extend from Wichita to Medicine Lodge and south to the Oklahoma border. The high-capacity line carries about 345 kilovolts. Prairie Wind is a joint venture of Westar Energy and Electric Transmission America. The line is expected to be finished and energized in December 2014. The company says it will provide…