METAIRIE, La. (AP) The New Orleans Saints have hired a firm run by former FBI director Louis Freeh to conduct an internal investigation of the NFL club with the aim of getting to the bottom of allegations ranging from wire-tapping during games in the Superdome to the bounty scandal. Saints spokesman Greg Bensel said in an email that the team takes the allegations very seriously, and team owner Tom Benson “has spared no expense to get to the bottom of these allegations.” Bensel says the hiring of the Freeh Group, first reported Friday by NBC’s Pro Football Talk, is…
Author: KMAN Staff
NEW YORK (AP) “I’ll Have Another’s” bid for the first Triple Crown in 34 years ended shockingly in the barn and not on the racetrack Friday when the colt was scratched the day before the Belmont Stakes and retired from racing with a swollen tendon. “It’s been an incredible ride, an incredible run,” trainer Doug O’Neill said. “It’s a bummer. It’s not tragic, but it’s a huge disappointment.” “I’ll Have Another,” who won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes with stirring stretch drives, was the 4-5 favorite to win the Belmont and become the 12th Triple Crown winner…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Kansas state Sen. John Vratil says he’s not running for re-election this year, a decision that will leave moderate Republicans in the Legislature without one of their most visible leaders. The 66-year-old attorney from Leawood said Friday he wants to spend more time with his family. He has served in the Senate since 1998, and has been the chamber’s vice president since 2003. Vratil has also chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee. He has sparred frequently with GOP conservatives on budget, tax and social issues, and had been among the moderate incumbents targeted by conservatives for this year’s…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A lawsuit that alleges that St. John’s Military School in Salina allowed and encouraged abuse of cadets will go to trial in October 2013. The Salina Journal reports federal Magistrate Judge Kenneth Gale set the trial date earlier this week, along with several other deadlines. Seven former cadets at the school allege in the lawsuit that the school encouraged older students to discipline younger ones by beating and otherwise abusing them. The school has denied the allegations. Gale’s order gave plaintiff’s attorneys until Oct. 26 to propose a settlement. The school has until Nov. 23 to respond…
PITTSBURG, Kan. (AP) Via Christi Hospital in Pittsburg is planning a new $18 million surgery center. Hospital CEO Randy Cason said Thursday that the 40,000-square-foot center will be the hospital’s largest expansion since the hospital was built in 1969. Hospital spokesman Michael Hayslip says the plan is scheduled to be completed in 18 to 24 months. He says the expansion could bring jobs for about 20 surgeons, physicians and specialists. The Joplin Globe reports the new surgery center is the latest in a string of improvements at the hospital, which has spent nearly $56 million on new projects since 2004.…
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) A Kansas man has pleaded not guilty to charges that he tried to hire a man to kill his wife. Thirty-seven-year-old Lee D. Smith of Basehor entered the plea Thursday in federal court in Kansas City, Mo. Prosecutors allege Smith agreed to pay a man $1,800 to murder Smith’s wife. They say Smith drove the man in May to an office in Overland Park where his wife worked to plan the murder. The Lawrence Journal-World reports the man was a confidential law enforcement informant and Smith’s wife was never in danger. A motive for the alleged…
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) A Topeka couple left the University of Kansas $1.7 million to encourage study in Germany. The university announced the gift Thursday from the late Dean and Elisabeth Collins. Dean Collins was a Kansas native who graduated from the University of Kansas in 1955. He met his wife while serving a residency in West Germany. The university says the endowment will be used to support Kansas students who want to study in Germany. University officials say the scholarship is intended primarily for music students but will be open to students in many majors. The Topeka Capital Journal reports…
SALINA, Kan. (AP) The Rolling Hills Wildlife Adventure park near Salina has a new addition. The Salina Journal reports that the baby addax was born Monday. Zoo curator Peter Burvenich said the addax is also known as the screwhorn antelope. It’s a critically endangered species of Saharan desert antelope that has a pale coat and long, twisted horns. Burvenich said the species has been hunted close to extinction, but it’s slowly coming back. Mother and baby addax are on view to the public in the addax exhibit at the zoo west of Salina.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Industry leaders say the winter wheat harvest in western Kansas has been disappointing so far because of dry conditions. The assessment comes in the latest harvest update from the Kansas City Board of Trade in cooperation with state wheat groups. Kansas Wheat Commissioner Ron Suppes says yields in the first two days of harvest in the Dighton area have been just 10 to 12 bushels per acre, although test weights are good at about 61 pounds per bushel. Gary Millershaski of Lakin is vice president of the Kansas Association of Wheat Growers. He describes the harvest in…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Three federal judges have set new political boundaries for Kansas, making a change in congressional districts that many Republican legislators have opposed. The panel issued an order Thursday night in a federal lawsuit filed last month. The judges drew new boundaries for congressional, state House, state Senate and State Board of Education districts because the Republican-dominated Legislature failed to do so. A key change in the state’s congressional map will expand the 1st District of western and central Kansas so that it takes in Manhattan, home to Kansas State University. Many Republicans wanted it stay in the…