A Manhattan man’s first degree murder trial has been continued, following a motions hearing in Riley County district court Wednesday afternoon. Michael Layne, 20, is now set for a September jury trial in connection with the December 2011 murder of Steve Freel, whose body was discovered on a dirt road north of Manhattan. Layne had faced a May first trial, but Judge Meryl Wilson agreed to continue it with defense attorney Jillian Waesche-Seaton asking for a waiver to Layne’s right to a speedy trial. Waesche-Seaton indicated a need for more time to prepare Layne’s defense. Layne had entered a plea…
Author: KMAN Staff
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A mistrial was declared in a Topeka murder case after a newspaper reporter sent a courtroom photo via Twitter that showed a juror. The trial for 20-year-old Austin Tabor will be rescheduled. Tabor is charged with killing 20-year-old Matthew Mitchell in 2010 near a Topeka high school. Shawnee County District Attorney Lee McGowan says the photo sent with a cell phone by a Topeka Capital-Journal reporter showed one or more of the jurors. The judge had allowed camera phones in the courtroom but ordered that no pictures be taken of the jurors. Topeka Capital-Journal publisher Gregg Ireland…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Attorneys for a gentlemen’s club near Topeka told The Kansas Supreme Court that dancers at the club are not club employees subject to state labor laws. The issue before the court Wednesday is whether dancers at Club Orleans are under its control or are independent entertainers. The Department of Labor wants the club to pay a tax based on the dancers’ wages to help finance unemployment benefits. The club contends the dancers rent its stage and control their own performances. The club doesn’t pay the dancers, but the state considers their tips to be wages. According to…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Steady rain over the past few months has dramatically eased the drought in Kansas. Larry Ruthi, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Dodge City, told The Wichita Eagle that the recent rain in southwest Kansas has lessened the drought considerably. Less than one-half of 1 percent of Kansas in the southwest corner remains in extreme drought, compared to more than 28 percent of the state in late September. Dodge City has recorded 7.39 inches of rain since Dec. 1, the third-highest total over that stretch since records began more than 100 years ago. Medicine Lodge logged…
HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) Recent rain in Kansas has been good for the state’s wheat crop, but agriculture officials say they’re still concerned that a late freeze could hurt the harvest. The lack of rain in Kansas last year was rough on the state’s wheat crop. But this year, thanks to spring rains the crop has potential. State Climatologist Mary Knapp told The Hutchinson News that since September, some southwestern Kansas farmers have recorded nearly 9 inches of rain on their thirsty fields well above the nearly 7-inch average for the period. John Holman, an agronomist with Kansas State Extension based…
HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) Reno County commissioners have made public shooting illegal along much of the Arkansas River in the county. Tuesday’s vote came after a stray bullet believed to be fired from along the river went through a window and landed near a mother and her baby last month near Nickerson. No one was injured. The county will ban shooting within the banks of the Arkansas River or from public or private property when the target is within the river banks. A violation would be a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail and/or a fine up to…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Shawnee County Sheriff Richard Barta will resign next week, after a 44-year law enforcement career. Barta, who has been sheriff for 12 years, had planned to stay on the job until next January. But he announced Tuesday that he will retire on April 20. He said he was retiring to help his current undersheriff, Herman Jones, who has announced that he would run for sheriff this year. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports federal law would require either Barta or Jones to vacate their positions to allow Jones to legally run in the election. The Republican precinct committee will…
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) An employee in a manufacturing plant in the Fairfax area of Kansas City, Kan., died after he was hit by a falling piece of equipment. The Kansas City Star reports emergency crews were called to the Harlan Corp. Tuesday afternoon. They found a man in his early 60s pinned underneath equipment he had been assembling. The man, whose name was not released, was declared dead at the scene. Harlan makes tractors used for towing aircraft.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts will be meeting Wednesday with aviation industry leaders in Wichita. The Kansas Republican is holding an off-the-record discussion with general aviation manufacturers at the Double Tree Hotel in Wichita. Roberts planned to talk to reporters at 11:30 a.m. following the closed discussion. He will later address the Aero Club. The roundtable discussion is similar to others Roberts has been holding with community leaders on health care and agriculture throughout Kansas.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Four Kansas Democrats seeking the nomination in the state’s 4th Congressional District are scheduled to debate Wednesday morning at Wichita State University. Esau Freeman, Kent Rowe, Robert Tillman and John Willoughby are vying in the Democratic primary to run for the U.S. House seat now held by Republican Mike Pompeo. The debate is scheduled from 9:30 to 10:45 a.m. in Lindquist Hall on the Wichita State University campus.