The Manhattan – Ogden school board had a lot to discuss at their regular business meeting Wednesday night. First on the list was a change order for the Manhattan High school asbestos abatement . This passes unanimously with a 6-0 vote. Next up was the bid for the Manhattan High School East project, which was awarded to Farrell Construction of Topeka. This also passed with a unanimous vote. All of the technology bids were passed unanimously after Dr. Mike Ribble, director of technology, explained why the equipment was needed. The items up for discussion included a storage area network, classroom projectors, networking hardware…
Author: KMAN Staff
The Manhattan Housing Round Table Follow- Up session was held Wednesday night at the Manhattan Conference center. Manhattan City Commissioners and Mayor Jim Sherow met with contractors, city staff, and concerned citizens to address housing concerns facing the city. Some of the challenges found from the housing round table are the lack of affordable housing for low to moderate income families. Participants said that many of these families, and individuals are finding homes in Wamego and Pottawatomie County instead of Manhattan. Suggestions for improvement in the Manhattan Housing Round Table document include working together with nearby communities to better use…
GARDEN CITY, Kan. (AP) A North Carolina developer’s plan for a $67 million shopping center in southwestern Kansas has moved another step forward. The Garden City Commission on Tuesday approved a resolution of intent to create a redevelopment district on roughly 61 acres on the eastern side of town. The Garden City Telegram reports that establishing the district is the first step toward creating a tax-increment financing district a method of paying for infrastructure improvements for the project. Commercial real estate company Collett Associates, of Charlotte, N.C., is proposing to build 400,000 square feet of retail space, to include at…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Kansas House Speaker Mike O’Neal has named three Republicans and three Democrats to review a complaint filed by legislators against a Wichita Democrat accused of misleading the chamber during floor debate. A group of 26 Republicans filed the complaint against Rep. Jim Ward. They allege he intentionally misled legislators about the true meaning of an amendment he made to a property tax bill last month. The potential punishments that the panel could consider include removing Ward from the Legislature. O’Neal, a Hutchinson Republican, named Republican Reps. Clark Shultz of Lindsborg, Joe Patton of Topeka and Lance Kinzer…
LENEXA, Kan. (AP) Republican presidential Newt Gingrich is scrapping plans for a campaign stop ahead of the Kansas caucuses to focus his efforts on key Southern states. State Rep. Scott Schwab, an Olathe Republican who is a member of Gingrich’s Kansas leadership team, says Wednesday that the former House speaker had decided to cancel stops in the state. Gingrich was to have made stops in Topeka, Wichita and Kansas City, Kan., ahead of Saturday’s GOP caucuses. He was to appear Saturday in Wichita and Hutchinson during the caucuses. Gingrich won Tuesday in his home state of Georgia and is turning…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Wichita police are searching for suspects after a homemade bomb exploded and sent shrapnel onto the bed of a sleeping 2-year-old. No one was injured in the blast early Wednesday in northwest Wichita. Police say a fire extinguisher filled with black powder exploded at an apartment complex in northwest Wichita. Capt. Max Tenbook of the Wichita bomb squad said shrapnel from the blast broke an apartment window and landed on the bed of a sleeping 2-year-old. Officers said the device is similar to one that exploded in downtown Wichita last year.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) When a young Valley Center mother drowned in 2003, police believed she was trying to rescue her daughter from a pool. Now, prosecutors must show a judge they have enough evidence to prove that her death was premeditated murder. They allege Patricia Hughes’ death was perpetrated by the leader of a commune that lived off life insurance payouts of dead members. A preliminary hearing is tentatively set Thursday for Daniel U. Perez in Hughes’ 2003 death. He is also charged with lying on life insurance applications, rape and other crimes. His 31-year-old daughter, Windy Aleman, told The…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) House members have approved a bill that would reinstate happy hour at Kansas bars, restaurants and clubs. The vote Wednesday was 80-41, sending the bill to the Senate, which has already approved a similar measure. The intent is to repeal a law that prohibits businesses that sell alcoholic drinks from setting different prices at different times of the day. The ban on happy hour dates to 1985 when legislators worried about increasing alcohol abuse. Legislators are considering more than a dozen liquor bills this year to loosen state laws that dictate who can sell beer, wine and…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Energy and environmental advocates are in an unusual alliance to support of a bill that would give state regulators the authority to oversee hydraulic fracturing of natural gas in Kansas. The Kansas Corporation Commission currently regulates the state’s oil and gas industry. The proposed bill had a hearing Tuesday before the Senate Utilities Committee. It would specify that the KCC have authority over fracking regulations. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that a succession of attorneys general have said the agency does not have the authority to write rules specifically concerning hydraulic fracturing, called “fracking.” Currently, the only way…
DODGE CITY, Kan. (AP) The Dodge City Commission has agreed to contribute up to $20,000 to lobbying efforts to keep an Amtrak rail line running through Kansas. The Dodge City Daily Globe reports the commission voted Tuesday to contribute the money only if other cities along the Southwest Chief passenger line also contribute. The lobbying is aimed at securing federal funding to repair the railroad lines from Chicago to Los Angeles that stops in Dodge City, Garden City, Hutchinson and Newton, along with Lamar and La Junta, Colo. Amtrak uses BNSF Railway lines. Because of dispute over rail maintenance, Amtrak…