WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A federal judge has dismissed much of a lawsuit by a former Kansas City, Kan., police detective alleging authorities retaliated against him for refusing to conceal a motorist’s beating by federal agents. Max Seifert sued last year. Seifert alleges he was forced to retire in 2005 in retaliation for investigating Drug Enforcement Administration agents involved in a 2003 “road rage” incident that left a man with permanent brain damage. He sued the sheriff, undersheriff and Unified Government of Wyandotte County, which covers the county and Kansas City, Kan. U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten on Tuesday granted…
Author: KMAN Staff
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) The Environmental Protection Agency has awarded Kansas State University $60,000 to help ease pollution in the Old Smoky River channel. The EPA announced the Urban Waters grant to Kansas State’s Salina campus on Tuesday. Forty-six organizations nationwide received Urban Waters grants, which are intended to fund research and training to help restore urban waterways. The Kansas State-Salina grant will be used for developing a program to teach the public about ways to reduce pollutants in the Old Smoky River channel. The EPA says the program will include workshops on such topics as water quality sampling, storm…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Kansas family planning clinics have asked a federal judge to issue another injunction to prohibit the state from cutting off their funding. Dodge City Family Planning Clinic filed the request Tuesday just days after Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri filed a similar motion. Planned Parenthood operates clinics in Wichita and Hays. The dispute concerns a Kansas law requiring the state to first allocate some federal family planning money to public health departments and hospitals, which leaves no funds for specialty clinics. U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten ordered Kansas last year to keep funding the clinics…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The Kansas Department of Transportation has restructured its top management and hired two high-ranking administrators from other state agencies. Secretary Mike King says Kent Olson is KDOT’s new director of fiscal and asset management. Wade Wiebe (WEE’-bee) will oversee dealings with groups inside and outside of state government as director of partner relations. Olson is filling an existing position that was vacant, but KDOT is adding some duties. He’s a former inspector general at the state Department of Administration. KDOT created Wiebe’s job by adding responsibilities to a deputy secretary’s position that had been vacant. Wiebe formerly…
Sunday, marks the starting date for fireworks to be bought and discharged in the Manhattan area. With that in mind, firework safety practices must be put into practice. Pat Collins, Riley County Emergency Management Director, says with the current high temperatures present there could be precautions about their relation to fireworks if the heat continues. “We have talked with some of the City of Manhattan Fire officials,” Collins says. “We are a little concerned about the fireworks, if we continue to have this hot, dry weather with very windy conditions.” Collins adds that those who shoot off fireworks should avoid…
WASHINGTON (AP) A large portion of college football fans have been screaming for a playoff system since the BCS was created 14 years ago. Those fans are about to get their wish. A committee of university presidents has approved the BCS commissioners’ plan for a four-team playoff to start in the 2014 season. The move completes a six-month process in which the commissioners have been working on a new way to determine a college football champion. Instead of simply matching the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the country in a championship game after the regular season, the way…
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) University of Missouri curators quickly approved a request to borrow $72 million to add 6,000 seats to the football stadium in Columbia. The move comes as Missouri prepares to enter the Southeastern Conference, where eight schools have stadiums that hold at least 80,000. Memorial Stadium has a capacity of 71,004. The university’s governing board approved the 30-year debt financing plan on Tuesday. The expansion will consist of 5,200 bleacher seats on the stadium’s east side and 800 to 900 premium seats, along with new restrooms, lounges and concession stands. The financing plan will also allow Missouri…
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) Bruce Chen went seven innings in another workmanlike start, Jeff Francoeur and Yuniesky Betancourt both went deep and the Kansas City Royals beat the Tampa Bay Rays 8-2 on Tuesday night. Betancourt hit a two-run shot during a four-run third inning against Chris Archer (0-2), and Francoeur added a three-run homer during a four-run eighth to give Kansas City some breathing room. Alex Gordon and Billy Butler also drove in runs to pace a Royals offense that was outscored by St. Louis 30-14 over the weekend, but has trumped Tampa Bay 16-2 so far this…
Even though he’s just 21 years old, K-State’s Erik Kynard will high jump in the London Olympics later this summer. Kynard stamped his ticket for the Summer Games on Monday night with a leap of 7′ 5 3/4″ at the US Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon. With rainy and cold conditions, nobody jumped higher than Kynard. He finished as the runner-up in the competition with the second least amount of earlier missed jumps. Kynard is the first K-State athlete with eligibility remaining to compete in the Olympics since Nathan Leeper in 2000, also a high jumper. Kynard will high jump in…
DALLAS (AP) A former Baylor basketball player is facing federal extortion charges for allegedly threatening to release “derogatory information” about Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III. Richard Khamir Hurd’s bond was set at $25,000 after his first appearance Monday in federal court in Waco, Texas. A person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press that Griffin, the Baylor quarterback who was the No. 2 overall draft choice of the Washington Redskins, was the target of the alleged extortion attempt. Court documents say Hurd contacted a representative from a St. Louis agency, threatening to publicize derogatory information about one of…