Author: KMAN Staff
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Gov. Sam Brownback says he’s pleased with the direction of negotiations among Kansas legislators about cutting taxes, saying he sees the core of a plan he offered emerging. Brownback told The Associated Press on Thursday that the key elements of any tax plan must be reducing individual income tax rates and exempting 191,000 businesses from income taxes. A compromise plan has started to emerge from negotiations between the House and Senate over the final version of tax legislation. Three senators and three House members planned to resume their talks Thursday afternoon. The governor said any plan that…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A Kansas Senate committee’s chairman says the panel will sponsor a bill designed to attract a casino to southeast Kansas and bring slot machines to dog and horse tracks. Chairman Pete Brungardt, a Salina Republican, scheduled Thursday’s meeting of the Senate Federal and State Affairs to launch a push for the gambling legislation. He expects his committee to vote to sponsor the bill. A 2007 state law allows slots at now-closed tracks in Kansas City, Wichita and outside Pittsburg, as well as a state-owned casino in southeast Kansas. Gambling supporters say the law’s financial requirements are too…
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) Police in Kansas City, Kan., have been investigating the theft of several guns from an outdoor recreation store in a suburban retail development. Police said the guns were stolen early Thursday from the Cabela’s store in a retail area near the Kansas Speedway in Wyandotte County. Police said thieves broke into the business but did not say how many or what variety of guns were taken. Police say they have no suspects.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) The Kansas Underground Salt Museum plans to throw itself a 5-year birthday party next Monday. Organizers of the event say they want to note the anniversary as a way to thank everyone who helped make the museum possible. The museum offers tours in a still-functioning salt mine operated by the Hutchinson Salt Co. The Hutchinson News reports the museum opened in 2007 but no grand opening was ever held because the museum has been developed in stages. More than 46,000 people visited in the museum’s first eight months in 2007. In 2008, when the museum was named…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Cessna Aircraft is trying to fill about 150 jobs through recalling employees and hiring new workers Cessna spokesman Andy Woodward says the employees are needed because of an increase in production. The company also is increasing its sales force. He declined to say which production lines are increasing. The company has cut thousands of workers since 2008 during the recession. The Wichita Eagle reports Cessna posted $669 million in revenue in the first quarter of 2012, compared with $556 million for the same time a year ago. The company had $6 million in losses in the quarter,…
BONNER SPRINGS, Kan. (AP) A truck full of cattle drove off an embankment of an interstate near Bonner Springs, Kan., and burst into flames, killing several cattle and closing one lane of the interstate. The accident happened about 2:30 a.m. Thursday on westbound Interstate 70 near 110th Street in Bonner Springs. Police say one lane of the interstate could be closed for most of the day as cleanup continues. The driver of the truck has been hospitalized but the extent of his injuries was not immediately known. About 30 to 40 cattle either died in the accident or had to…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Kansas school children have responded to a legislative call to raise funds to help restore the cabin where the state song, “Home on the Range,” was written. Senate leaders say that students from Horizon Elementary in Shawnee and Jayhawk Elementary in Mound City are the first to turn in their money, raising the first $500 to restore the historic building. The cabin near the Smith County town of Athol in north-central Kansas is where Dr. Brewster Higley wrote the poem “My Western Home” in 1871. The poem began to circulate and was eventually put to music. Legislators…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The Kansas Senate has approved a bill to create a new Creative Arts Industries Commission by merging separate arts and film services panels. Wednesday’s 38-1 vote sent the measure to the House. Passage there would forward the bill to Gov. Sam Brownback, who proposed merging the two commissions. The Wichita Eagle reports the final version was drafted by House and Senate negotiators to reconcile differences over how many people would serve on the commission and who would appoint them. The new commission would have 11 members and be part of the state Department of Commerce. Brownback sought…