TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A new report says Kansas continued to gain jobs in March, even though the unemployment rate edged higher. In its monthly jobs report, the state Labor Department said Friday the Kansas economy sent mixed signals in March. The jobless rate rose to 6.2 percent from 6.1 percent in February, but was down from 6.8 percent in March of last year. The report also says private-sector jobs rose by roughly 2 percent over the past year, to a total of nearly 1.1 million in March. Kansas Labor Secretary Karin Brownlee describes the growth as steady, but says there…
Author: KMAN Staff
Security was very tight Friday morning as 19-year-old Micheal Layne was back in court on a motion from the prosecution to allow interviews conducted by Riley county police as evidence in the upcoming September murder trial. Layne is charged with the murder of Steven Freele in December of 2011. Defense Attorney Jillian Waesche argued that the interviews were inadmissible due to the way the Miranda rights were read without initials being placed beside the individual rights to indicate Layne fully understood. Riley County Police Detective Sonia Gregoire testified that Layne’s understanding of his rights were backed by his signature at the…
While somewhat higher than the month before, the Manhattan metro area’s unemployment rate is still the lowest in the state compared to the five other metro-areas in the state. However the 5.9 percent rate for March is just a tenth of a percentage point behind the Lawrence metro area, which had a six percent unemployment rate. Manhattan’s metro area includes Riley, Pottawatomie, and Geary counties. The city of Manhattan’s rate was 5.1 percent, the fifth lowest in the state… with Dodge City, Garden City, Leawood, and Shawnee all having numbers in the four percentages. Other area counties were mixed, with Riley…
Fixed route public transportation for the Flint Hills is now a reality, with a grand opening and ribbon cutting on the Kansas State campus Friday morning. ATA bus director Ann Smith addressed the crowd, gathered at the Bosco Student plaza, saying this endeavor represents about 10 years of hard work. She says they have transported more than 20,000 rides in the last two months and they expect to be transporting a whole lot more now with fixed routes on board. Several other officials were present for the ceremony, including Riley County Commissioners Dave Lewis and Karen McCulloh, Pottawatomie County Commission…
“Laying the groundwork” is the way Manhattan Parks and Recreation Director Curt Loupe described a dedication of a special picnic table at Manhattan’s new Blue Earth Plaza on Third Street. Loupe was part of a ceremony organized by the Flint Hills Regional Leadership program. The 2011-2012 class invited high school students from area schools such as Riley County, Wamego, and Rock Creek, for the ceremony. Loupe says the picnic table dedicated is somewhat unusual, as it is handicapped accessibl Branden Mann is just one of the members of the 2011-2012 program, and he says the plan is to bring local…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Kansas prison officials have removed all inmates housed at a county jail after four inmates escaped, including a convicted murder who remains at large. Department of Corrections spokesman Jeremy Barclay said Thursday that the remaining 18 prison inmates who were being held in the Ottawa County Jail because of prison overcrowding have been returned to the state prison in Ellsworth. Barclay says the temporary decision was made after four inmates escaped Wednesday morning from the jail in Minneapolis, a small town about 120 miles west of Topeka. Two of those men, including a convicted killer, were still…
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) A former Lawrence man who long believed his mother died of natural causes has learned she was killed. Brian Torres made the discovery last week when he stumbled across a Lawrence Journal-World article detailing his mother’s unsolved 1989 killing. He had been searching for information needed for a replacement birth certificate at the time. The Journal-World reported that the Dallas construction worker called the discovery “a bit of a shock.” Torres was 7 years old when his 37-year-old mother’s strangled body was found stuffed into a culvert west of Lawrence. At a foster care home in Lawrence,…
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) Douglas County Sheriff’s officers are asking the public for help identifying a man who apparently was hit by a train north of Lawrence. The Lawrence Journal World reported that the man’s body was discovered Tuesday morning near Riverfront Park. Sheriff’s spokesman, Sgt. Steve Lewis, said officers’ initial investigation indicates the man was struck by a train. But authorities are working with Union Pacific Railroad officials to try to determine exactly when that happened. Anyone with information is urged to call the sheriff’s office.