An accident in Geary County shortly after 10 Tuesday morning led to at least three injuries and a disruption in traffic for part of the morning. Kansas Highway Patrol Trooper Greg Harkrader tells KMAN the two vehicle crash was reported on I-70, about a mile and a half west of K-177. The road was completely shut down for about 15 or 20 minutes, and was reduced to one eastbound lane until about 11. Lt. Harkrader says it looks like one of the vehicles was merging onto the interstate trying to gain speed, when the other vehicle came over a hill and had to brake.…
Author: KMAN Staff
MANHATTAN, Kan. – The most well attended Country Stampede Music Festival actually turned out to be one of the calmest as far as the Riley County Emergency Medical Services team is concerned. Riley County commissioners received a statistical recap of the four-day event during a meeting on Monday. Encounters for Riley County EMS increased from 100 in 2011 to 141 this year but that spike can be attributed to larger crowds. “Our busiest year in the last four years was 2009 and that year we had 148 contacts,” Larry Couchman, Riley County EMS Director, said. “This year was similar to 2009, but…
A Monday afternoon status hearing for Domingo “Diablo” Soto resulted in a trial date being set in Riley County District courts. Soto is charged with aiding and abetting the 1st degree murder of Steven Freele in December of 2011. Judge Meryl wilson set the trial date to begin on October 29th at 0900 am, and a motions hearing will be held on September 14th at 0900 in the morning. TR
WINFIELD, Kan. (AP) Authorities have captured the second of two inmates who escaped earlier this month from the Winfield Correctional Facility in south-central Kansas. The state corrections department said 52-year-old Robert Cook was apprehended without incident Monday morning in Byers, a Pratt County town about 110 miles northwest of Winfield. No details of the arrest were immediately available. Cook and 48-year-old Frank Crutchfield escaped from the Winfield prison June 16 in a state-owned truck that was found abandoned the following day about 15 miles away. Authorities believe the pair then stole a pickup truck. A tip led authorities to Crutchfield…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A party is planned to wish a cabin a happy 140th birthday. The cabin on Beaver Creek in Smith County is where Brewster Higley wrote a poem in 1873 that became the words to “Home on the Range.” The July Fourth party will include music, food and plenty of gratitude to Kansans who have helped save the cabin. The event will give Kansans a chance to see the cabin before a major restoration project starts. Contract bids for the project will be let this summer. The cabin is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. An…
CHASE, Kan. (AP) A 3-story cactus that has brought national attention to a small central Kansas town is blooming for the first time in decades. And then it’s expected to die. The Agave americana plant has been owned by Ed and Joyce Ward of Chase for 36 years. It was featured on a national news show and has drawn thousands of visitors to Chase. The plant normally grows in the southwest. It is popularly known as the century plant because it lives about 30 to 40 years, blooms, and then dies. The Wichita Eagle reports the plant has begun to…
DODGE CITY, Kan. (AP) Dodge City is preparing to welcome 16 physically challenged veterans who are riding bicycles across the country to show people that they aren’t defined by those challenges. The Sea 2 Shining Sea ride started in San Francisco on Memorial Day. It is scheduled to end in Virginia Beach on July 28. The riders will be in Dodge City Tuesday through Thursday. The Dodge City Daily Globe reports that the city has several events planned to welcome the riders. They include a welcoming line when the riders arrive, dinners and admission to some of the city’s Wild…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Law enforcement agencies are looking for an inmate who didn’t return to his work release facility during the weekend. The Kansas Department of Corrections says Pete Vazquez was due back from his job with a construction company Saturday evening. He was declared an escapee early Sunday. Corrections spokesman Jan Lunsford says employers often call the facility to ask that release inmates stay longer. He says somebody called on Vazquez’s behalf but it wasn’t his work supervisor. KAKE-TV reports Vazquez was serving a sentence in a Finney County theft case. He had been at the work release facility…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The first of nine defendants charged in a crime spree that resulted in one woman’s death is scheduled to go on trial. Twenty-six-year-old Anceo D. Stovall of Topeka goes on trial Monday. He faces numerous charges, with the most serious being first-degree murder in the death of 40-year-old Natalie Gibson. She and 42-year-old Lori Allison was shot outside their home last July 21. Stovall’s trial will be followed by a series of trials of other defendants scheduled from July through October. Stovall’s attorney, Jonathan Phelps, says he will present evidence that his client was not present when…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A Kansas state school board candidate who thinks the state should stop teaching evolution in its public schools also attends Westboro Baptist, the Topeka church known for anti-gay protests worldwide. Jack Wu told The Topeka Capital-Journal that he decided to run for the State Board of Education after learning that Democratic incumbent Carolyn Campbell would otherwise be unopposed for a second term. She is also from Topeka and represents the 4th District of eastern Kansas. Campbell supports the state’s current science standards, which treat evolution as a well-established, core scientific concept. But Wu’s link to the Rev.…