The Pottawatomie County Commission met on Monday to go over a few updates and to take care of a couple of budget concerns. Updates came from a number of departments including County Attorney Sherri Schuck, County Treasurer Lisa Wright, County Appraiser Lois Schlegel and a transportation update. The construction team on the new Justice Center also made a report on the progress being made. At this point, most of the walls and part of the basement floor concrete have been poured, though there is some concern with the temperatures. “Concrete and heat don’t work well together on curing,” said Gary Yenzer, Chairman of the…
Author: KMAN Staff
A Manhattan asphalt plant employee has now been upgraded to serious condition after surgery at a Wichita hospital. As KMAN news first told you in breaking news over the noon hour Monday, emergency officials responded to the plant located at McDowell Creek Road at about 12:30, with an employee caught in a conveyor belt. That employee was later identified as 24 year old Willie Hegwood of Manhattan. Hegwood was transported to Mercy Regional Health Center, and then airlifted to Via Christi Hospital in Wichita. Hegwood was found trapped in what responders called an inverted cruciform position. Hegwood complained of arm and leg pain,…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A new government report is painting a grim snapshot of the drought’s effects on farms across Kansas. Kansas Agricultural Statistics Service reported Monday that more than half of the state’s corn crop is in poor to very poor condition. Soybean and sorghum crops are faring only slightly better with more than 40 percent of both those Kansas crops also in poor to very poor condition. The misery extends beyond the field crops as livestock producers struggle with dried up pastures and shrinking hay and stock water supplies. The agency estimates 78 percent of the range and pasture…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The Kansas attorney general is opposing efforts by environmental groups that want new regulations on farm runoff that flows into the Gulf of Mexico. Attorney General Derek Schmidt said Monday he’s seeking to intervene in opposition to a lawsuit filed in federal court in Louisiana earlier this year. The lawsuit aims to force the Environmental Protection Agency to impose new regulations on runoff that flows into the Gulf from farms, ranches and sewage systems in Kansas and other states in the Mississippi River basin. The lawsuit filed by the Sierra Club and other environmental groups says the…
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) The former owner of a minor league basketball team has been sentenced to about four years in federal prison for tax evasion and bank fraud in Kansas. Federal prosecutors say 52-year-old James Clark of Overland Park, was sentenced Monday to four years and three months after pleading guilty earlier to federal charges. He’s accused of withholding employees’ payroll taxes, but then failing to pay the money to the Internal Revenue Service. Clark also admitted submitting false information to a bank when he applied and received a line of credit worth more than $1 million. Clark owned…
GOODLAND, Kan. (AP) Goodland’s landmark reproduction of Vincent Van Gogh’s Sunflower picture is getting a facelift. Canadian artist Cameron Cross is repairing the damage caused by more than a decade of Kansas weather to the reproduction “Three Sunflowers in a Vase.” Cross installed the 24-foot-by-32-foot reproduction, on top of an 80-foot easel, near Interstate 70 in 2000. The Wichita Eagle reports that since then, the reproduction has become one of the most well-known pieces of public art in Kansas. People traveling nearby on the interstate often stop and take pictures. Cross’ goal is to reproduce all seven of van Gogh’s…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A discrimination lawsuit filed against the Topeka Zoo by a veterinarian goes to trial this week. Veterinarian Shirley Yeo Llizo alleges in the lawsuit that she was fired from the zoo in 2009 because she is a female of Chinese ancestry who is a naturalized U.S. citizen. She alleges the city did not fire American-born employees of different race and/or gender. The city has denied the allegations. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports Llizo got her job back in 2010, after an arbitrator ruled the city should not have dismissed her. Former Topeka city manager Norton Bonaparte and former…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A Wichita couple is probably wishing their basset hounds could tell them where they’ve been for the last five years. Brenda Travis and Tom Shields gave up hope of ever seeing their dogs after they were stolen five years ago from their home in Murfreesboro, Tenn. But on Saturday, the dogs, called “Allie” and “Bama” were back with their owners in Wichita. Travis says she got a call last Wednesday from the Paulding County animal shelter in Dallas, Ga. The dogs had been turned into the shelter and, fortunately, Bama had been microchipped. That allowed the shelter…
WINFIELD, Kan. (AP) Cowley County authorities say they believe burglaries at one church in Arkansas City and three churches in Winfield during the weekend are connected. Investigators say cash was stolen from all four churches and the thieves did significant damage to the buildings. The thieves hit Hillcrest Baptist Church in Arkansas City on Friday, stealing electronic equipment and money intended to send youths to camp. Winfield police are investigating a burglary on Saturday at the Nazarene Church. Burglaries also were discovered Sunday morning at Trinity Lutheran Church and First Christian Church.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A new Kansas Army National Guard unit has been activated to give the guard additional communications capabilities. The 369th Brigade Signal Company, which held a formal activation ceremony Saturday, is the first signal company in the Kansas National Guard. The 39 soldiers of the unit are commanded by Capt. Gabriel Brockman and are based in Kansas City, Kan. According to the adjutant general’s department, the unit’s mission is to provide high-speed digital voice and data networks to support the communication needs of the 287th Sustainment Brigade, headquartered in Wichita. The signal company will assist subordinate units, through…