A man already serving time in the Riley county jail now faces an additional 11 years with the Kansas Department of corrections for battery of a corrections officer. Daniel Weaver, 25, was sentenced in Riley County district court Monday to 132 months with the KDOC. Weaver entered a no contest plea to the battery charge last month. Weaver was charged last year in connection with an incident at the Riley county jail in December of 2010, involving the battery of a corrections officer at the jail, while being held on another charge.
Author: KMAN Staff
A grass fire in Clay County took several hours to extinguish, after an area farmer failed to report he was burning a field. Five different rural fire departments with 50 plus firefighters fought the blaze for five hours Monday. Sheriff Chuck Dunn tells KMAN the fire began at 9th and Frontier southwest of Clay Center, but jumped all the way to 12th street, two miles north of Steven Mildfelt’s property, where the blaze began. Dunn indicates Mildfelt reportedly started burning grass at 9:30 Monday morning, but did not call into the sheriff’s office to report he was burning. While Clay county does not operate under…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Kansas House members have given first-round approval to a proposed amendment to the state constitution aimed at blocking lawsuits over education funding. The measure advanced Tuesday on a 91-31 vote to final action, which is expected Wednesday. The amendment would declare that courts or the executive branch couldn’t direct the Legislature to appropriate money. The proposal is backed by Republican Gov. Sam Brownback and GOP leaders in both chambers. The Kansas Constitution currently says the state cannot spend any money unless the Legislature makes a specific appropriation. But in decisions in a school finance lawsuit in 2005…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A petroleum refinery and underground storage facility in McPherson County has agreed to pay $700,000 in penalties to settle violations of federal and state laws. Under a consent decree filed Monday in federal court in Kansas City, The National Cooperative Refinery Association agreed to pay $475,000 to the United States and $225,000 to the state. It also agreed to spend about $745,000 on environmental projects such as the purchase of emergency response equipment and services for agencies in McPherson County. The government alleged National Cooperative Refinery Association polluted the air, failed to implement a risk management plan…
FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) Attorneys for an Army sergeant charged with shooting five service members in Iraq in 2009 are concerned about the soldier’s medical treatment at the prison at Joint Base Lewis McCord, Wash. Sgt. John Russell, of Texas, was moved to Washington in January from Fort Leavenworth, Kan. James Culp, a civilian attorney, and military attorneys representing Russell filed a request with the I Corps headquarters that their client receive proper care. Culp said Russell is on depression and anti-psychotic drugs that are causing his health to deteriorate by elevating his heart rate, blood pressure and weight. The…
ARKANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) The City of Arkansas City has agreed to pay a former employee and her attorney $64,000 to settle a discrimination lawsuit. The employee, Mary K. Bartlett, will receive $35,502 as her part of the settlement of a 2010 lawsuit. Bartlett claimed she was fired as secretary in the Public Services Department after disagreements with her supervisor over accommodations for her medical conditions. She also claimed retaliation for reporting that her supervisor violated a city policy. The Arkansas City Traveler reports the settlement was reached a month ago but it was not signed by Bartlett until last…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The Kansas Court of Appeals didn’t bite on a man’s claim that his false teeth caused his arrest for driving while intoxicated. Gary Bolton, of Morris County, argued his dentures might have trapped alcohol in his mouth when he took a breath test in 2008. Court records show his blood alcohol level was 0.24, far above the 0.08 limit for driving under the influence. The Wichita Eagle reports (http://bit.ly/HdD2Jt ) Bolton was trying to stop the state from suspending his driver’s license. He argued police should have made him remove his dentures before the test. But the…
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) An Overland Park woman says she found more than 1,000 private abortion records dumped in a recycling bin outside an elementary school. The Kansas City Star reports the patient records are from a defunct clinic, Affordable Medical and Surgical Services in Kansas City, Kan. They show personal information such as names, birth dates, Social Security numbers and health history, including if the women had abortions. The clinic was run by Krishna Rajanna, who lost his medical license in 2005. He told the Star he thought the records would be recycled before anyone saw them. Local and…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A bill that would have created a tax break to allow students to attend private or parochial schools has been defeated. The House voted Monday to block a proposal to provide tax credits for contributions to scholarships for students in 18 struggling public school districts who wanted to attend private or parochial schools. Supporters argued the bill would give parents in low-performing districts the option of improving their children’s education. But opponents of the bill said most poor people would not have been able to use the program, in part because the $4,000 scholarships would not cover…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The head of the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services has named a permanent director for the agency’s Kansas City region. SRS Secretary Phyllis Gilmore announced the appointment of Mike Myers on Monday. Myers has been the interim regional director since February. The regional office covers Atchison, Douglas, Johnson, Leavenworth and Wyandotte counties. The region serves more than 97,000 clients. Myers has more than 30 years of experience in management, human resources, budgets and business administration.