Author: KMAN Staff

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Kansas farmers have now cut all but 20 percent of the state’s winter wheat crop, with most of the fields left to be harvested located in western Kansas. Kansas Agricultural Statistics Service reported Monday in its weekly update that the harvest was more than two weeks ahead of last year. Usually just 7 percent of the Kansas crop is cut by this time in the year. Northwest Kansas had cut only a quarter of its wheat acreage as of Sunday, but wheat harvest across most of the state was better than 90 percent finished. Meanwhile, the agency…

LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) A Kansas Boy Scout has done something only about a dozen others accomplish each year by earning all 132 merit badges offered by the organization. Curry McWilliams of Leavenworth earned his Eagle Scout patch in 2008 and just kept going. Only 21 badges are required to earn the rank of Eagle Scout. The 18-year-old told The Kansas City Star he didn’t set out to earn every badge until he realized in 2010 he was within reach. The Boy Scout organization doesn’t encourage collecting all of the badges, so it doesn’t keep track of how many do it…

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Federal regulators have fined National Beef Packing Co. a $32,500 civil penalty as part of a consent agreement stemming from the company’s practices with livestock sellers. The Agriculture Department’s Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration, or GIPSA as it is more commonly known, has also issued cease and desist orders to the Kansas City, Mo.-based company over the allegations. GIPSA ordered the company to give livestock sellers an accurate accounting of the cattle purchased and to correct freight charge deductions. It also ordered the company to tell sellers about data errors that affect prices paid for cattle,…

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) When the threat of flooding prompted a North Dakota zoo to send most of its animals to a wildlife park in Wichita last year, the animals were expected to stay in Kansas for four to six weeks. A year later, the lions, leopards, giraffes and several other animals are still at the Tanganyika Wildlife Park. No one at the wildlife park or at Roosevelt Park Zoo in Minot, N.D., knows when the animals will be returned to the zoo. The Wichita Eagle reports the animals’ old home in Minot is undergoing a major renovation after the Souris…

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) An investigation into private dinner meetings between Kansas legislators and Republican Gov. Sam Brownback is winding down. A spokesman for Shawnee County District Attorney Chad Taylor said the office has finished interviewing legislators for an investigation into whether dinners at the governor’s mansion violated the Kansas Open Meetings Act. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that spokesman Lee McGowan says he believed investigators were currently talking to some of the governor’s staff. Brownback hosted Republican members of 13 committees at seven dinners at his official residence during January. The governor has said he’s confident the open meetings law wasn’t…

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Teams from three United Methodists conferences are working to combine two Kansas conferences and one from Nebraska into a single conference that will be based in Wichita. Members of the Kansas West, Kansas East and Nebraska United Methodist conferences voted earlier this month to unify the three conferences into one conference, beginning in January 2014. The conferences are regional bodies that supervise churches and clergy within a geographic area. The Wichita Eagle reports that members of the South Central United Methodist jurisdiction in late July will elect the new bishop for the Kansas-Nebraska conference. The new bishop…

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Gov. Sam Brownback has until July 12 deadline to pick one of three attorneys nominated to fill a district court judge’s position in northeast Kansas. There’s a vacancy on the bench in Shawnee County because Judge Charles Andrews retired in March. Eleven attorneys applied for the position, and a local nominating committee narrowed the field to three after interviews earlier this month. State law gives a governor 30 days to make the final selection. The nominees include Jason Geier, a senior assistant Shawnee County district attorney, and Mary Mattivi, a judge pro tem for both the district…

FORT RILEY, Kan. (AP) A bit of Kansas life from the 1850s will be re-enacted Saturday at the First Territorial Capitol State Historic Site at Fort Riley. The celebration of Territorial Governor’s Day will take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. with presentations, food vendors and activities for children. The event is free, but admission to the Army post requires photo identification. The site was designated a capitol in June 1855 by Andrew Reeder, the first territorial governor of Kansas, near a small settlement known as Pawnee close to the Fort Riley boundary. Territorial legislators met for five days…