ST. FRANCIS, Kan. (AP) A northwest Kansas county commissioner says he’ll keep campaigning despite losing a tie-breaking coin toss in his bid for re-election. The Hays Daily News reports that incumbent Andy Beikman and challenger Brett Poling both received 179 votes in last week’s Cheyenne County Commission District 3 race. The tie stood after Monday’s canvassing. County Commission chairman Dale Patton decided to break the tie with the toss of a gold coin, which he got from a bank. Poling called “heads” and won the toss. Despite the loss, Beikman says he’ll wage a write-in campaign to keep his seat…
Author: KMAN Staff
HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) A South Hutchinson Planning Board rejected a permit to build housing near Hutchinson for inmates just released from prison. The board’s vote came after more than 100 residents attended a meeting Monday night to discuss the proposal to build the housing just west of Hutchinson. Those attending spoke in favor and against the proposal. The Hutchinson News reports the planning board’s recommendation goes to the city council, which will vote on the issue Aug. 20. Prairie Lighthouse Inc., a nonprofit group, wants to renovate a closed nursing home into housing and mentor ex-inmates from the Hutchinson Correctional…
GALENA, Kan. (AP) State health officials say pollution from a former southeast Kansas smelter operation is scheduled to be cleaned up next year and the site could eventually be redeveloped. The former EaglePicher plant began operation in 1878 and operated for much of the following century. The Joplin Globe reports the 68 acres of the former smelter will be cleaned up using $6.5 million from EaglePicher’s 2005 bankruptcy settlement. The project also will include cleaning up sediment from Short Creek, which flows across the back of the property. It is expected to begin next summer. The Kansas Department of Health…
HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) Hutchinson voters in November might face ballot issues that would either repeal gay rights or broaden them. In June, the Hutchinson City Council added protections against discrimination in housing and employment for gay, lesbian and bisexual people. After the vote, opponents began gathering signatures on petitions to require a November vote to repeal that ordinance. On Tuesday, the Kansas Equality Coalition announced it would gather signatures on a ballot question asking voters to approve wider protections for gays, lesbians and bisexuals. The Hutchinson News reports the KEC, which has about 170 Hutchinson members, will need 327 valid…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Wichita teachers and the district’s school board have approved a tentative contract that includes the first raise for teachers in four years. The teachers and board both approved the contract on Monday, after months of negotiations. Union officials said Monday that about two-thirds of the district’s 4,000 teachers voted, with 88 percent approving. The agreement includes a 4 percent increase in salary, benefits and reduced work time. Superintendent John Allison said the $8.6 million cost of the contract has already been factored into the district’s budget.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) The fate of a local option budget increase in the Andover school district is still up in the air. Residents in the district, which lies in two counties, voted last Tuesday on whether to raise the Andover local option budget by 1 percentage point, with a mill levy decrease from 2.5 mills instead of 3 mills. Canvassing on Monday found Butler County voters rejected the increase, 856 to 744. But when those results were added to Sedgwick County’s votes, the issue was tied 1,575 to 1,575. The Wichita Eagle reports Sedgwick County still has to canvass its…
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) The Spencer Museum of Art on the University of Kansas campus will reopen after repairing damage from a water main break. The Lawrence Journal-World reports the museum is scheduled to reopen Tuesday. The museum closed Aug. 1 after the water main break sent water into the building’s lower floors, which house the Murphy Art and Architecture Library. The museum’s artwork, which is displayed on the upper floors, was not damaged. Officials have said an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 of the museum’s 170,000 volumes were damaged.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) The woman who called police to report seeing a child bound in a Lawrence parking lot said she thought the child may have been abducted. Linda Baranski testified Tuesday in a preliminary hearing in Douglas County Court in the case of Adolfo and Deborah Gomez, of Northlake, Ill. The Gomezes were charged in June with child abuse and aggravated endangerment after police found the couple’s 7-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son tied up outside a Lawrence Walmart. The family stopped there after their SUV broke down during a trip. Three other children, ages 12, 13 and 15, were…
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) Biotechnology and U.S. farm policy will be the focus of an upcoming conference of the Kansas Agribusiness Retailers Association. More than 100 people are expected to attend the Aug. 21 conference in Manhattan. U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican, is scheduled to talk about the election season and his vision and role in agricultural policy in Washington. Also on the agenda is Cathleen Enright, executive vice president of food and agriculture for the Biotechnology Industry Organization. Enright is expected to share the latest technology and policy issues related to crop protection.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Gov. Sam Brownback has named the CEO of a Wichita construction company to the board that oversees operations of the Kansas Turnpike. The appointment of Mark Hutton to a four-year term on the Kansas Turnpike Authority Board was announced Monday. Hutton founded Hutton Construction Co. in 1992. The firm’s website says it specializes in office, hospital, church and community buildings. On the Turnpike board he succeeds former Lt. Gov. Paul Dugan, also of Wichita. Dugan, a Democrat, served as lieutenant governor from 1979 to 1983 under Gov. John Carlin. The five-member authority board already includes Brownback’s secretary…