Author: KMAN Staff

SALINA, Kan. (AP) It’s early, but initial returns from the Kansas wheat harvest near Salina are giving farmers some hope. West of Salina in central Kansas, farmers are reporting surprisingly good yields. The Salina Journal reports Tuesday that test weights at one spot were at 60 pounds to the bushel and moisture content was nearly 14 percent. One farmer guessed his yield would top 50 bushels per acre about 10 bushels above his original estimate. But it’s too soon to know if such early numbers can be sustained and reverse the fortunes predicted earlier this month. Agriculture experts have said…

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) A Kansas City, Kan., man has admitted in federal court that he took a 16-year-old girl across state lines to work as a prostitute. The U.S. Attorney’s office says 26-year-old Otis Warren pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count of transporting a minor for illegal sexual activity. He faces a maximum 30 years in prison at sentencing, scheduled for Sept. 25. Warren was arrested after undercover police investigators from Prairie Village agreed last November to pay $250 an hour to have sex with the girl. Prosecutors said Warren drove the girl from Kansas City, Mo., to a…

GARDEN CITY, Kan. (AP) High heat is headed to southwest Kansas, and one of the world’s largest swimming pools is ready. Saturday’s opening day for the “Big Pool” in Garden City drew an estimated 1,200 people, and business figures to pick up this weekend as temperatures are forecast to hit the 90s. Billed as the world’s largest outdoor municipal concrete swimming pool, the pool is about the size of a football field and holds more than 2.5 million gallons of water. More than 40 lifeguards work at the Big Pool, with about 20 on duty at any given time. Officials…

EL DORADO, Kan. (AP) The theft of 185 pounds of explosives from a southeastern Kansas company nearly four years ago has been partially solved. Burglars made off with the explosives in September 2008 from a Martin Marietta facility in Butler County. The company used the explosives in its gravel-mining operations. KWCH-TV reports that a pair of turkey hunters called authorities after spotting the tubes of explosives Monday night near Towanda. Sheriff Kelly Herzet says cardboard boxes containing the tubes apparently deteriorated over time. He says the explosives weren’t dangerous because they lacked detonators, but he’s glad they’ve been recovered. The…

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) The first morning of a federal court trial over the redrawing of Kansas political boundaries was mostly filled with procedural issues. Attorneys for legislators, business leaders and voters presented evidence Tuesday to three federal judges in Kansas City, Kan. The judges must adjust boundaries for congressional, state House and Senate and State Board of Education districts to account for population changes in the past decade. The maps became the judges’ responsibility after the Legislature could not settle a feud among Republicans over the districts’ boundaries. Robyn Renee Essex, a Republican precinct committee member from Olathe, filed…

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Kansas will now give preference in awarding state contracts to companies where 20 percent of the disabled employees have disabilities. Gov. Sam Brownback says the bill he signed Tuesday will help disabled Kansans find steady work and get off aid programs. The bill requires the state to give preferences for state contracts to certified businesses if their bids are no more than 10 percent higher than the most competitive bid. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports the companies must meet three criteria to take part in the program. The businesses must work mostly in Kansas and have a workforce…

MCPHERSON, Kan. (AP) A multi-million dollar upgrade is planned at the oil refinery at McPherson. The National Cooperative Refinery Association refinery is the largest buyer of oil in Kansas. More than half of the 115,000 barrels of oil produced in the state every day goes through McPherson. NCRA is owned directly by three farm cooperatives, the majority of it by CHS of St. Paul, Minn. The Wichita Eagle reports that the company is planning a $550 million replacement of its coker unit. That unit is used to process crude oil, mostly into gasoline and diesel oil. Construction is expected to…

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A Wichita State University study projects that most of the state will continue to lose population for decades. The university’s Center for Economic Development and Business Research found that the population decline will continue at least through 2040. The Hutchinson News reports the study projected that if migration was not considered, 37 counties would lose population in that time period. When migration is factored in, 83 counties would continue to lose population through 2040. Most of those counties are in western Kansas. The center’s director, Jeremy Hill, says any potential growth is likely to occur around the…

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) Attorneys for Kansas officials, business leaders and voters are heading to federal court for the trial of a lawsuit over the Legislature’s failure to redraw the state’s political boundaries. Three federal judges must adjust congressional, state House, state Senate and State Board of Education districts to account for population changes over the past decade. The judges hope the trial in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan., wraps up in two days. The lawsuit was filed earlier this month by Robyn Renee Essex, a Republican precinct committee member from Olathe, against Secretary of State Kris Kobach,…