Author: KMAN Staff

Recent unemployment numbers have been released. For the Manhattan Metropolitan area, which includes Geary, Pottawatomie and Riley Counties numbers have decreased from 6.3 percent in July to 5.9 in August.  This is also down from August of last year, which was also 6.3 percent. For the City of Manhattan, August numbers were at 4.9 percent, which is down from the 5.2 in July and the 5.3 percent from August of last year. Clay County is sitting at 4.9 percent, Geary County is at 8.0 percent, Pottawatomie County is at 5.6 percent and Riley County is at 5.1 percent. The Manhattan Metropolitan area continues to compare…

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The Wizard of Oz museum in Wamego is getting to be pretty well known for it’s annual Oztoberfest event. Vistitors from all over flock to the museum to experiance the magic that is Oz, decades after the release of the move. Margaret Pelligrini, one of the original Munchkins in the 1939 MGM motion picture “The Wizard of Oz,” will be the featured guest   “Margaret has been with us nearly every year of our festival,” states Oz museum manager Salina Morgan. “She will have celebrated her 89th birthday just a few days before our festival, but she is determined to come and be…

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After several months of investigation, a Manhattan man has been arrested in connection with a May fatal accident on K-18. Miles Theurer, 24, was taken into custody Thursday on charges of DUI, two counts of involuntary manslaughter while DUI, and two counts of aggravated battery, with a total bond of $50,000. His name appears on the Riley County Police arrest report released Friday morning. The accident involving Theurer occurred in mid-May , with two fatalities involved. According to the Kansas HIghway patrol at the time of the accident, Elizabeth Young, 31, of White City and Michael Stanley, 30, of Ogden…

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Space shuttle Endeavour returned to its California roots Thursday after a wistful cross-country journey that paid homage to NASA workers and former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and her astronaut husband. (Sept. 20)

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WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has created a new committee charged with promoting ecotourism in the state. Wildlife, Parks and Tourism Secretary Robin Jennison will lead the 16-member Kansas Ecotourism Steering Committee. Brownback said Wednesday the panel’s mission is to provide direction, guidance and marketing strategies to help grow the industry. Brownback’s office says ecotourism combines conservation and travel to include such as activities as hiking, biking, camping, wildlife-watching and river floats. The administration says tourism overall is Kansas’ third largest industry, with an economic impact of $5.4 billion. In the ecotourism niche, the state estimates that 790,000…

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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A new report shows lobbyists are spending almost 9 percent more this year than last year to try to influence Kansas officials. The Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission’s report says lobbyists disclosed spending nearly $709,000 through August. That’s $57,000 more than they spent during the same period last year. Lobbyists have ramped up spending on newsletters and other communications designed to get people to pressure lawmakers. Such spending totaled $105,000 through August, compared to $15,000 for the same period last year. This year’s biggest-spending group has been the Kansas Association of Realtors, which disclosed expenses of $152,000 on…

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WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A Canadian man who was found earlier this year in Michigan with a 12-year-old Kansas girl he met on the Internet has had his trial delayed. Stewart Kenneth Cody McGill, of Bewdley, Ontario, had been scheduled for trial next week in U.S. District Court in Wichita on a charge of transporting a minor out of state to have sex. But a judge on Wednesday granted a defense request for a delay. The trial is now set for Nov. 14. Authorities say McGill traveled in May to El Dorado to meet the girl. They were found a few…

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OLATHE, Kan. (AP) A man charged with killing a South Carolina doctor in suburban Kansas City is being held in the Johnson County jail after he was extradited from South America. The Kansas City Star reports that John Meredith Hodges, 44, of Ladson, S.C., was booked into the jail late Wednesday after authorities brought him back from Colombia. Hodges was being sought on a first-degree murder charge in the death of Franchesca Brown, 39, a pediatrician from Myrtle Beach, S.C. Police say she was attending a medical conference in Overland Park and was last seen Sept. 3. Her body was…

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