WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A man who scoured homeless shelters for people willing to sell their food stamps to Wichita grocery stores for cash has been spared from federal prison after cooperating with prosecutors. Wally Mikhael Gaggo was sentenced Monday to time served plus three years of probation, and was ordered to pay $580,000 along with other defendants in a conspiracy. He served a few days behind bars after his arrest. Gaggo has admitted scheming with the owners of two small grocery stores who gave food stamp recipients about 50 to 60 cents on the dollar for the stamps and pocketed…
Author: KMAN Staff
SALINA, Kan. (AP) The failure of a Saline County Jail inmate to return from a furlough could mean fewer grants of temporary freedom for others being held in the same Kansas county. Scott Cordell was granted a court-ordered furlough Jan. 13 to attend his mother’s funeral. Cordell was supposed to return within eight hours. He was finally located one week later in McPherson County and taken back to Saline County. The Salina Journal reports the county’s policies for granting furloughs from the jail are being changed. Sheriff Glen Kochanowski says there will probably be very few furloughs in the future.…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The former president of the Kanas Bioscience Authority destroyed computer files, misused agency funds and misled the authority’s board of directors about the nature of a relationship with a female assistant whom he later married, according to an outside audit that cost taxpayers nearly $1 million to complete. Investigators from BKD Forensics and Valuation Services also found that former president Tom Thornton lied about the nature of a trip he took to Ohio in January 2011 to visit with the Cleveland Clinic about the KBA’s business model. The audit found that Thornton earned $1,868,299 during his four…
MISSION, Kan. (AP) Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt has criticized a so-called “driveway tax” adopted by a Johnson County community that ties collections to how much traffic a specific property generates. The Kansas City suburb of Mission adopted what it calls a “transportation utility fee” in 2010 to raise revenue for road repairs. It’s based on the number of vehicles coming and going from a property, including homes and businesses. Schmidt issued a non-binding advisory opinion last week at the request of a state lawmaker. The attorney general concluded the fee amounts to an excise tax that he says the…
HAYSVILLE, Kan. (AP) Residents of Haysville might get a reprieve after being shocked by high water bills. After hearing from several angry residents Monday, the Haysville City Council gave city staff three weeks to devise a plan to deal with errors made on meter readings last fall. One resident said her bill, which had never been more than $100, was $713 in January. KAKE-TV reports the problem started late last year when the city realized that several meter readings were wrong. Updated bills were sent to residents in January, but several of those were wrong as well. Haysville councilman Keith…
SALINA, Kan. (AP) Salina city officials will ask a federal agency to use new review panel as the city continues its appeal of proposed floodplain maps. Officials believe the maps proposed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency contain several errors, particularly in one area of Salina. The Salina Journal reports that city commissioners voted unanimously Monday to ask FEMA to use a Scientific Resolution Panel, which considers conflicts between the agency and communities. City engineer Dan Stack said the panel is an independent group of engineers and hydrologists. Stack said FEMA told the city in August that it will delay…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A federal judge has denied the city of Topeka’s request that the trial in a federal discrimination lawsuit be held in Topeka. Topeka Zoo veterinarian Shirley Yeo Llizo alleges in her lawsuit that the city discriminated against her when she was fired in October 2009 after federal regulators found several violations at the zoo. Llizo is a naturalized U.S. citizen of Chinese ancestry. She says other American-born employees of different races and/or genders weren’t fired after the violations were found. The city gave Llizo her job back in August 2010 after an arbitrator ruled the city was…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Despite pleas to slow down, Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration says it is unlikely to change plans to shift all state Medicaid services to managed care. The Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee wrapped up several days of testimony on the plan Monday. Several advocates for the developmentally disabled said the Brownback administration is moving too quickly with its Medicaid reform efforts. Currently, many of the state’s developmentally disabled are served by a Medicaid waiver system for home and community-based care. The administration is already accepting bids to contract three managed care companies to supply all state Medicaid…
Manhattan continues to have impressive unemployment numbers, with a 4.7 percent rate reported for the metro area in December, which includes Riley, Pottawatomie, and Geary counties. That compares to five percent in November and 4.9 percent the year before. Manhattan’s metro numbers were also the lowest of the six listed. The city of Manhattan had a 3.6 percent rate, also down from 4.1 percent in November and four percent last year. This year’s figure was also the lowest of 16 cities listed by the Kansas Department of Labor. Riley County’s 3.7 percent was down from the month before and last year.…
Suspended indefinitely this past Thursday, K-State’s Jordan Henriquez could be close to returning to the team. Wildcats coach Frank Martin said Monday night that Henriquez met with him earlier in the day, and could rejoin the team as soon as Tuesday. Henriquez had seen his playing time dwindle as of late, and is avering 7.1 points and 5.1 rebounds in 18.9 games this season for K-State. Martin went on to say that Henriquez is among his favorite players to coach in his 27-year career, but wanted to send a message to the 7′ 0″ junior center. K-State makes the trip…