Author: KMAN Staff

Discussion on Lot 9 of the downtown entertainment district is ongoing, and last night’s Manhattan City Commission moved the process forward a bit with an amendment to the planned unit development. The plan calls for two new hotels and a multi-use building which will be used for a restaurant or coffee shop as well as loft apartments. While voting in favor of the change, Commissioner John Matta had an issue with the whole situation. “I’m not really a fan of the City getting involved in development work,” he said. “For me, someone who’s come on where we’re at, we had…

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The Manhattan Fairfield Inn just completed the process of upgrading all of their room’s televisions to high definition quality. But what happens to their old sets? Dennis Peterson, Riley County Noxious Weed/Hazardous Waste Director, says his department took them in and now has the available to the public. “We’ve checked them all out and they work fine,” Peterson said. “We have quite a lot of people who wanted TVs during our last run to stick in their child’s room to play Playstation on.” The Noxious Weed/Hazardous Waste facility is located at 6245 Tuttle Creek Boulevard and is open weekdays from 7:30am…

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Not many details, but two people reportedly required hospitlization following an alleged drug-related incident at Manhattan High school. Larry Couchman, Director of Emergency and EMS Services for Mercy Regional Health Center confirmed one individual was taken by ambulance and another by private vehicle. He indicated the two were being treated and evaluated Tuesday morning. USD 383 Communications Coordinator Michele Jones told KMAN news she had no information at this time and high school principal Terry McCarty could not be reached for comment.

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The 2nd Battalion, 34th Armored Regiment, 1st Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division will hold an uncasing ceremony at 11 Friday morning at building 727 on Fort Riley’s Marshall Army Airfield. The “Dreadnaughts” recently returned from a yearlong deployment in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Throughout the duration of the deployment the unit conducted numerous combat air-assaults in the Kandahar Province region alongside their Afghan National Army partners. The uncasing ceremony signifies the brigade’s official return to Fort Riley. The ceremony is open to all friends, Family members and community leaders who wish to formally welcome the Dreadnaughts home as they re-enter…

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A roll over accident has sent one person to the hospital and halted traffic on Anderson Avenue. RCPD Lieutenant Josh Kyle reports the wreck occurred around 9:04 A.M. this morning on the corner of Lee Street and Anderson Avenue, near Lee Elementary,  and involved multiple vehicles.  Kyle says a crosswalk light was damaged, and there was contact with a fixed object though no further specifics were available at the time. One person was extracted and transported by EMS and the traffic was still closed off as of 10:00 a.m. KMAN will have more information as it becomes available.

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Concealed carry legislation is being considered by the Kansas legislature again this year. And that concerns Chief Ronnie Grice, with the Kansas State university police department. “We’ve always been concerned with it, even when it was introduced last year,” Grice told KMAN. “And, along with the other Regents chiefs, we feel having that many weapons on campus, whether you have a license to carry, is not advisable.” In fact, Grice says he and others will be working on the matter, just as they did last year. “There’s a good possibility we could be called to testify Thursday afternoon,” he said. “We’re going…

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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…

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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.…

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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…

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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…

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