PITTSBURG, Kan. (AP) An extremely close call with one of the deadliest tornadoes on record has led officials at a southeastern Kansas hospital to invest in a special film to protect staff and patients against flying glass in case of another window-smashing storm. Virtually every window at St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Joplin, Mo., was shattered when an EF-5 tornado slammed the city last May 22. Winds of more than 200 mph propelled millions of shards of glass into rooms and hallways. The tornado sirens also sounded that day about 25 miles away in Pittsburg, where registered nurse Miranda…
Author: KMAN Staff
HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Monday for two men charged with killing a 27-year-old Hutchinson woman. The Hutchinson News reports that the hearing for 48-year-old Billy Joe Craig Jr. and 32-year-old Charles Christopher Logsdon is scheduled to begin Monday in Reno County court. Craig and Logsdon are charged with first-degree murder in the death last June of Jennifer Heckel. The judge in the hearing has to determine if there’s probable cause that Craig and Logsdon committed the crime. If he finds probable cause, the case moves to trial and a date is set for arraignments, when…
LEBO, Kan. (AP) State health officials have been investigating a strong scent of gasoline in a southeast Kansas town. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment says it’s trying to determine the cause of the odor in Lebo. Coffey County emergency departments have also been working on finding the cause of the odor. KDHE says the odor is not a health hazard. The smell was reported Jan. 26 by Lebo’s city superintendent. KDHE says the department planned to cap an old sewer line that could be the pathway for the odor to get into buildings. The agency says crews have…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) The Kansas Agricultural Statistics Service says a variety of wheat called TAM 111 is the most popular of all those planted in Kansas. The agency says TAM 111 has been seeded on 12.6 percent of the state’s 2012 wheat acres. Coming in second in Kansas is the variety known as Everest, which is planted on 8 percent of the acreage. The variety called Armour moved up to third place, accounting for 7.5 percent of the state’s acreage. Varieties of hard white wheat accounted for 2.2 percent of the state’s acreage. Most of the white wheat in Kansas…
OLATHE, Kan. (AP) Olathe had six homicides last year, setting a record for the Kansas City suburb. The Kansas City Star reports there were 11 homicides in Johnson County in 2011, and six were in Olathe, which the 2010 Census said is also the fastest growing city in Kansas. The most homicides in Olathe since 1996 the oldest records available were four in 2010 and four in 2002. Officials say seven of the 11 Johnson County homicides, including five in Olathe, involved domestic violence. Olathe Police Sgt. Grant Allen said none of the six killings in Olathe was the random…
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) Kansans who were denied pardons by Gov. Sam Brownback in 2011 ranged from convicted murderers to alleged traffic law violators. Brownback denied all 39 pardon requests last year. The Lawrence Journal-World submitted an open records request to Brownback’s office, which provided the letters from the governor’s office to pardon applicants. The Kansas Prison Review Board, which reviews pardons before sending them to the governor, denied the open records request for the full pardon applications, citing an exemption in the Kansas Open Records Act. The pardon requests include 10 people convicted of murder or manslaughter and a 63-year-old…
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) Google is scheduled to begin construction Monday on its long-awaited super-speed Internet service in Kansas City, Kan. The Kansas City Star reports that Kevin Lo, the Google executive heading up the project, announced the start of construction on the company’s Google Fiber blog. Google plans to install the fiber infrastructure first and then connect Google Fiber into homes across Kansas City. Work to erect a network had been held up over issues about where Google would attach its fiber optic cables on utility poles owned by the Kansas City Board of Public Utilities. The 1 gigabit-per-second…
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) Douglas County judges have been getting a lot of use out of their new iPads. The Lawrence Journal-World reports that a main reason the county’s six judges began using the iPads is because county prosecutors have cracked down on suspected drunken drivers who refuse to submit to tests. Prosecutors now have law enforcement automatically seek a judge’s search warrant to draw blood from the suspect within two hours of the traffic stop. In the past, officers brought the paperwork to the judge to sign. But that created problems because officers would often have to find another officer…