TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The owner of two closed Kansas dog racing tracks is funding a new political action committee that is helping moderate Republican candidates for state Senate seats. A campaign finance report filed Wednesday by the Kansas Wins PAC showed it received more than $144,000 from Phil Ruffin. He owns Wichita Greyhound Park and Camptown Greyhound Park outside Pittsburg. A 2007 law allows slot machines at both tracks and the Woodlands dog and horse racing complex in Kansas City, Kan. But Ruffin has argued that the law isn’t generous enough to track owners to make the machines financially viable.…
Author: KMAN Staff
OLATHE, Kan. (AP) The Olathe fire department says a 3-year-old child was injured after falling from a third-floor window. The fire department says the incident was reported Wednesday morning, and when firefighters arrived they found the boy had fallen out of a window on the building’s third floor. The department says it appears the child fell when he leaned against a screened window and the screen gave way. The child was taken to an area hospital and was reported in stable condition later Wednesday.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Survivors of four people who died in a western Kansas house fire have sued the owner of the rental home and a home health care agency. The March 10 fire in Scott City killed Jackie Coberly, who was quadriplegic; her 4-year-old son, Brandon Carter; and two girls who were also in the home. The families filed suit Wednesday in state court, seeking damages for wrongful death. They claim Windsor Place At-Home Care failed to provide health care services because its provider was not present when the fire started. They also contend the rental house lacked smoke detectors.…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A Wichita man has admitted he stole copper inside nearly 70 air conditioners earlier this year. Forty-one-year-old Byron Stuckey will be sentenced Aug. 30 for felony theft and attempting to elude officers. Stuckey was captured July 11 after stealing copper from an air conditioner at southeast Wichita house. Police say they believe Stuckey stole at least 68 air conditioners, including from several churches. The cost of replacing the damaged units exceeded $100,000. Stuckey pleaded guilty last Friday in Sedgwick County District Court.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) A former Lawrence police officer says he plans to sue the city over his firing after he was accused of fixing traffic tickets. Michael Monroe was one of two officers the city alleged fixed traffic tickets in exchange for tickets to University of Kansas basketball games. City Manager David Corliss has said the person whose traffic tickets were fixed is in federal prison related to a broader Kansas ticket scandal. Police Chief Tarik Khatib fired Monroe in March, overruling a city employee grievance board’s decision that Monroe should be reinstated with a demotion. The Lawrence Journal-World reports…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A church in need of a permanent home has submitted the winning bid for a former elementary school in Wichita. The 21,000-square-foot Booth Elementary School has been used for storage since students were moved to a nearby school in 2003. The Wichita Eagle reports that a nondenominational Christian church called Hope International Fellowship submitted a winning bid of $83,000 for Booth Elementary during an auction Tuesday. The Wichita school board must approve the sale. Hope International has about 70 to 100 members who’ve been meeting for years in a school gymnasium rented from the Wichita district. Senior…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Kansas has launched a cost-sharing program to help farmers and ranchers increase water supplies for livestock as the state remains in severe drought. The State Conservation Commission voted this week to spend $500,000 from existing funds for water projects, mainly in pastures that have little or no water supplies. The state will provide up to $2,000 per project and up to $4,000 to each landowner. The Kansas Department of Agriculture is asking applicants to focus on restoring existing ponds, developing wells and springs or completing water storage projects. Officials say applications should be submitted through county conservation…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Attorneys representing Wichita aircraft maker Hawker Beechcraft in its bankruptcy proceeding are seeking more than $1 million for work they performed in June. The New York law firm of Kirkland and Ellis LLP filed a monthly statement Tuesday. The firm is seeking payment of 80 percent of the more than $1.75 million it says it ran up in attorney fees, plus a little more than $57,000 in expenses. The firm says 35 lawyers spent 2,444 billable hours on the Hawker Beechcraft case in June, with three partners billing as much as $1,045 per hour. Kirkland and Ellis…
The Badminton World Federation disqualified eight players at the London 2012 Olympics, after they were trying to lose matches to receive a more favourable place in the tournament.
Some are calling it the best moment at the Olympics so far: London Mayor Boris Johnson stuck on a zip wire. Crowds who gathered at a London park to watch the games on live screens were delighted Wednesday when the mayor provided a comic sideshow.