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…
Author: KMAN Staff
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…
The Riley County Republican Party hosted a free breakfast featuring Kansas Governor Sam Brownback as the featured speaker on Saturday morning. Governor Brownback gave a presentation focused around his future plans to grow the Kansas economy, and moving forward with less funding from the federal government after what he calls the “federal bubble” bursts. Governor Brownback also talked briefly about the redistricting issue saying “we’re over the first hurdle, but we’ve got a long ways to go”, and went on to predict that the fight for redistricting would be a long one. The Riley County Republican breakfast also hosted many…
The final modifications are being made to a bill that is intended to help property owners throughout the state of Kansas. There are four areas targeted by Senate Bill 348, the main focus being tax appeals. “This legislation is primarily targeted at preventing tax rep situations that have become a waste of everyone’s time and money,” county appraiser Greg McHenry said. Tax representatives and some of their practices have created issues in Riley County over the past few years according to McHenry who added, “We’re asking that when they come they bring any evidence that they have or want to discuss…