The Air Force is grounded the seven C-130 cargo planes that it was using to fight western wildfires. The decision follows a fatal crash in South Dakota.
Author: KMAN Staff
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback plans to celebrate a reorganization of state social services agencies prompted by the administration’s efforts to overhaul the state’s Medicaid program. The Statehouse ceremony on tap for Monday morning comes a day after the reorganization took effect. Kansas now has a Department of Children and Families, replacing the former Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services. The new agency is smaller than SRS, shedding involvement in Medicaid to focus on services for families. The former Department on Aging has been expanded into the Department on Aging and Disability Services, picking up former SRS programs…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Wichita police say it’s lucky nobody was hurt when a homemade “sparkler bomb” destroyed a mailbox and damaged a home. Lt. Doug Nolte says a woman who lives in the south part of the city heard a loud explosion around 9:15 p.m. Sunday and went outside to investigate. The Wichita Eagle reports she found her mailbox destroyed and debris from it had struck the side of her house. Nolte says the department’s bomb squad determined someone had built an improvised explosive device using sparklers and set it off inside the mailbox. He says the force of sparkler…
SALINA, Kan. (AP) A 41-year-old central Kansas man has been found guilty in the 2010 death of his wife. A Saline County jury on Monday convicted Michael Andrew Paulson of second-degree murder in the July 6, 2010, death of Valerie Paulson. The Salina Journal reports that Paulson, who uses his middle name, also was found guilty of attempted second-degree murder in connection with injuries inflicted on his sister-in-law, Jessie Putman. Prosecutors said Paulson was facing the prospect of divorce and took a knife upstairs with him when he hid in the loft of their Assaria home as his wife was…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A Wichita teenager has launched a multi-million dollar campaign to renovate the city’s long-closed amusement park. The Wichita Eagle reports that 18-year-old Alex East’s project to restore the Joyland amusement park has raised about $6,000 from public donations. But that’s a fraction of the $10 million East estimates will be needed to buy and renovate the 40-acre park. His organization, Restore Hope Inc., recently got a boost when it was granted nonprofit status, which will allow it to apply for grants and accept tax-deductible contributions. Joyland owner Margaret Spear ran the park for decades with her husband…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Fireworks are getting the blame for a Wichita fire that seriously injured a woman and her young child. The Wichita Eagle reported that the blaze started early Sunday in a plastic trash can near the house where people had dumped fireworks remnants. The trash smoldered for hours before sparking a fire that spread to the house. Fire Lt. Kelly Zane says a 37-year-old woman and her 2-year-old son were the only ones in the home at the time of the fire. They were able to escape. The mother and son have been taken to the burn unit…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) High levels of toxic algae are closing several Kansas lakes heading into the Fourth of July holiday. The Kansas City Star reported that lake management officials have posted warning signs prohibiting recreational activities at four lakes. They are the Marion Reservoir in Marion County, Old Herington City Lake in Dickinson County, Logan City Lake in Phillips County and Memorial Veterans Lake in Barton County. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment also has also issued health advisories for South Lake in Overland Park and Lowell Reservoir in Jewell County. Under an advisory, fishing and boating may be…
As earlier reported, a car accident took the life of Richard Sandoval, a 21-year-old soldier, when he was attempting to flee and elude officers, when the vehicle struck a tree and caught fire. It has been confirmed that Sandoval was a Fort Riley Soldier. Spc. Sandoval was a Petroleum Supply Specialist assigned to the 2nd General Support Aviation Battalion, 1st Aviation Regiment, Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kan. Sandoval was a native of Indio, California. Sandoval was assigned to Fort Riley in June 2011.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) A maintenance worker has been critically injured in an explosion at the General Motors’ Fairfax Assembly Plant in Kansas City, Kan. The Kansas City Star reported that the explosion occurred around 10:30 a.m. Sunday at the auto plant. The blast happened while the man was working on an electrical substation breaker box. The man was rushed to a hospital with burns on his torso.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) The federal government has awarded more than $500,000 to law enforcement agencies in five Kansas communities for new equipment, staff and services. The largest grant about $363,000 goes to Sedgwick County prosecutors, the sheriff’s department and the Wichita Police Department. The money will go toward investigative equipment, computers and software for court hearings and other purposes. Police in Kansas City, Kan., are getting $93,000 for a unit that takes reports on non-emergency offenses such as shoplifting and minor property damage. The other grants are $47,000 for video equipment in Douglas County; $32,000 for technology upgrades in…