TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The Democratic leaders of the Kansas House and Senate are renewing concerns about the effects of new cuts in state income taxes. Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration has asked agencies to cut 10 percent of their spending in their budget requests for the fiscal year that starts next July. House Minority Leader Paul Davis and Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley said Friday they’re concerned those cuts will be just the start. They said essential services, including public schools, will face cuts while the state relies more on property and sales taxes. Brownback’s spokeswoman, Sherriene Jones-Sontag, says agencies…
Author: KMAN Staff
On December 4th, new flood plain maps will take effect for Pottawatomie County. Zoning Administrator, Gregg Webster, explained the original maps were made in 1988, and updated in 1998. With new technological advances, and a better understanding of the area, new maps have been created. The flood of 1993 caused a lot of damage to farms, but very few homes were directly affected by the flood waters. However, with recent developement in rural areas, many more homes could be impacted. With the new maps going into effect, Webster suggests anyone who lives in the flood zones should acquire flood insurance before the maps…
The city of Wamego held it’s eighth annual Oztoberfest event on Saturday, and there were witches, munchkins, and of course…lots of Dorothys everywhere. The Wizard of Oz museum is located in Wamego, and it is at the heart of the festival. Wamego Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Mary Lynn Barnett explained that since the city had the museum, why not have a festival to go with it? She states that “Over thirty thousand people come to the museum every year, so why not have a festival around that idea”? In recent years, at least a few of the munchkins from…
92-year-old Zulma Blanco has been skiing the slopes of Cathedral Mountain in Argentina since about the age of 20. The grandmother of five says she has no plans to stop anytime soon.
President Barack Obama says other nations want to be like the U.S., touting the country’s workers, universities and scientists. ‘We’ve got the best stuff,’ he told an audience in Washington. The challenge is bringing it all together, he said.
On Friday afternoon K-State president Kirk Schulz gave his state of the university speech, and proudly told those gathered of the university’s triumphs over the past year. K-State generated a total of $27.8 million dollars and new funds, and had $121 million dollars in gift activity. Schulz praised faculty, staff, and students for their efforts during the year. The push for becoming a top research institution was a major part of the presentation, and Schulz outlined new facilities and plans to improve university infrastructures. Some of the future infrastructure improvements include rebuilding the Purple Masque Theater, and a new Grain…
September sales tax numbers reflecting July retail sales are in and after looking at the numbers, the sales tax totals $736,335, which is down from last year by $47,536. This is also down compared to the budget by $78,832. Bernie Hayen, Manhattan director of Finance, said that “most of the larger community retailers, including auto dealers, reported sales tax remittances that were down from 3% to 10% compared to a year ago.”
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) Defense attorneys for two of five people sentenced to life for a 1988 explosion that killed six Kansas City firefighters say they have new information a grand jury should hear. Olathe, Kan based attorney Cheryl Pilate and Midwest Innocence Project legal director Laura Sullivan said Friday that their clients should be exonerated. They wouldn’t elaborate on the new information other than to say it comes from people who drove by the blast site before and after the explosion. The attorneys are asking for anyone else who remembers anything related to the explosion to come forward. Five…
SALINA, Kan. (AP) One man has been killed and a Salina police officer is hospitalized after a shooting at a home. Police Chief Jim Hill says officers went to the home late Thursday on a report of a man with a gun. The Salina Journal reports when police arrived and weren’t able to contact the suspect, five officers entered the house early Friday, announcing their presence. Hill says the suspect, Marijon Gadson, 19, responded by firing multiple shots, striking Officer Charleton Huen in the face. Hill said police then returned fire, retrieved Huen and called for an ambulance. Police re-entered…
TREECE, Kan. (AP) Residents of a former mining town in southeast Kansas said an official farewell to the lead-contaminated town. A ceremony on Thursday marked the official end of a buyout for Treece, which has been mostly empty for the last two years. Treece is officially off the map, after being disincorporated by the state Legislature earlier this year. The Environmental Protection Agency allocated $3.5 million in 2009 to buy out residents after the town was found to be unsafe because of the tons of remains from decades of lead and zinc mining. Treece and nearby Picher, Okla., produced much…