HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) After fireworks ignited several grassfires and destroyed a home during the July Fourth weekend, Hutchinson city officials have had enough. The city council has directed the city staff to prepare an ordinance to ban aerial fireworks and other fireworks that shoot sparks more than 6 feet in any direction. Fire Chief Kim Forbes says he is nearly 100 percent sure that fireworks started a fire that did $500,000 damage to a home on July 5. The department also extinguished 33 grass fires on July 4. Representatives of two fireworks dealers asked the council not to impose the…
Author: KMAN Staff
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) The drought that has hit Kansas this year has also taken a toll on the Bartlett Arboretum outside Wichita. But arboretum officials have taken the drought as an opportunity to dredge Euphrates Creek, which often floods the arboretum in Belle Plaine when it rains. The creek has only been dredged twice in its 102-year history. The Wichita Eagle reports that dredging the creek will alleviate flooding and will also help the ecosystem and minimize blue-green algae. Owner Robin Macy says the drought is the best time to clear out ponds and creeks. She says the dredging is…
HAYS, Kan. (AP) Hays officials have declared a “water watch” to encourage residents to conserve water. The city said on Tuesday that a water watch means the city’s well fields have deteriorated and peak water consumption is abnormally high. The Hays Daily News reports a water watch is the first level of the city’s water operations plan. Some of the restrictions include no street sweeping or hydrant flushing, reduced watering of ball fields and no new permits for newly seeded or sodded lawns. City Manager Toby Dougherty says the voluntary restrictions are intended to stabilize well field levels and lower…
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) Construction will begin next week on a new cable median barrier on Kansas Highway 10 east of Lawrence. The $1.15 million project was prompted by a fatal crossover collision in April 2011 that killed 5-year-old Cainan Shutt near Eudora. Residents along the busy highway between Lawrence and Kansas City had pushed for the cable barriers for years before that accident. The Kansas Department of Transportation said Tuesday that the project will begin next Monday. The Lawrence Journal-World reports workers will install a 2.3-mile stretch just west of the Church Street exit and a 2-mile section on both…
PLAINVILLE, Kan. (AP) Voters in a north-central Kansas school district recalled a school board member over a confrontation with a former school principal. By a vote of 524-284, voters on Tuesday recalled Plainville School Board member Darlene Jones, who served for 33 years. The recall petition accused Jones of verbally assaulting and committing battery on former Plainville High School principal Troy Keiswetter during a confrontation at the high school. Recall organizers said such confrontations should not be allowed on school grounds. The Salina Journal reports Jones denied the claims. Keiswatter left Plainville to work at McClouth High School.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Juror misconduct is being alleged in the trial of a man accused in the death of a Topeka woman and the wounding of her life partner. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports attorneys for Anceo Stovall filed a motion Tuesday saying a Shawnee County juror accessed an online news story about Stovall’s trial while the jury was deliberating. The attorneys say that violated the judge’s instructions and would be a basis for a new trial. The jury in late July could not reach verdicts on the nine of 11 charges against the 27-year-old Stovall, including first-degree murder in the…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The conservative chairman of the Kansas House’s pensions committee has ousted a veteran moderate state senator in a Republican primary race. Rep. Mitch Holmes of St. John received 53 percent of the vote Tuesday against Sen. Ruth Teichman, of Stafford, in the 33rd District of central and western Kansas. There is no Democratic candidate running. Holmes has been chairman of the pensions committee the past two years, when lawmakers approved legislation designed to improve the long-term financial health of the state pension system for teachers and government workers. However, Kansas stopped short of moving to a 401…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A conservative Kansas House member is leading Senate President Steve Morris in the state’s Republican primary. Rep. Larry Powell had almost 52 percent of the vote against Morris in final, unofficial results from Tuesday’s election in the 39th Senate District in southwestern Kansas. Powell’s lead came amid conservative victories in other races that moved them closer to controlling the Senate. Powell, from Garden City, is chairman of the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee and has served in the House since 2001. Morris is a moderate Hugoton Republican who has served 20 years in the Senate. Campaign…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A conservative Kansas House member has succeeded in unseating a moderate state senator, the second time the two have faced off in a Republican primary in the Salina area. Freshman Rep. Tom Arpke received 56 percent of the vote Tuesday against Sen. Pete Brungardt in final, unofficial results from the 24th District. Both candidates are from Salina. Brungardt narrowly won a primary race against Arpke in 2008. Arpke, an energy consultant, was elected to the House in 2010. He served as treasurer that year of conservative Republican Kris Kobach’s successful campaign for secretary of state. Brungardt has…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A conservative Wichita City Council member has unseated the Kansas Senate Education Committee’s chairwoman in the state’s Republican primary. Michael O’Donnell defeated Sen. Jean Schodorf, a veteran moderate Republican, receiving 59 percent of the vote Tuesday in the 25th District. Schodorf has held the seat since 2001 and served 12 years on the Wichita school board. But O’Donnell had the backing of the Kansas Chamber of Commerce and benefited from independent advertising by the anti-tax, small-government group Americans for Prosperity. O’Donnell was elected to the city council in 2011, and he also works as communications director for…