TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Long lines and delays caused by an upgraded computer system are still being reported at Kansas offices that process vehicle registrations and driver’s licenses. Jeannine Koranda, spokeswoman for the Department of Revenue, says Division of Vehicles had issues Monday and Tuesday with its system, causing delays at locations statewide. The agency is working with its computer vendor to get the system working. The state spent $40 million to implement the new system, which eventually will combine vehicle registrations and driver’s license records into one system. The agency was closed for one week to move records to the…
Author: KMAN Staff
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A Topeka pastor says he plans to challenge U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins for the 2nd Congressional District seat. Democrat Tobias Schlingensiepen announced Tuesday that he would run against Jenkins, a Republican from Topeka. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that Schlingensiepen has been pastor of Topeka’s First Congregational Church for six years and a police chaplain for 12 years. Jenkins will be seeking a third term in the House. The scope of the 2nd district might change after federal judges rule on new redistricting boundaries.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) Drivers around Hutchinson shouldn’t rely on their friends to alert them to sobriety checkpoints. For the first time in the city, the Hutchinson Police Department and Kansas Highway Patrol teamed up for a moving checkpoint. Police Sgt. Brian Hirt says the sobriety checkpoint was set up in five locations in Hutchinson Saturday evening. Hirt says the idea is to fool drivers who use cellphones and Facebook to warn others about the location of a checkpoint. Kansas Highway Patrol Lt. Jason Hoffman says the moving checkpoints are a good way for law enforcement to keep up with changing…
HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) Wild horses and burros will be up for adoption at an event in Hutchinson on June 1-2. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the Hutchinson Correctional Facility are co-sponsoring the event. The Wichita Eagle reports eight saddle-trained horses, a two-horse driving team and several untrained horses and burros will be up for adoption. The BLM occasionally removes animals from wild herds in the West to protect the herds’ health. Inmates will conduct training demonstrations throughout the day on June 1, with a competitive bid adoption June 2. To qualify for an adoption, a person must be…
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) Memorial Park Cemetery in Lawrence will not have its traditional “avenue of flags” on Memorial Day because thieves stole a trailer full of flagpoles. The Lawrence Veterans of Foreign Wars reported the theft of the trailer with 300 flagpoles to police last week. The trailer was stored on the post’s property. Post commander Fred Shockey says the VFW will still have its traditional Memorial Day ceremony and put flags on gravestones. The post will try to raise money in the next year to replace the flagpoles. Shockey says some of the poles included brass plaques honoring veterans.…
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) The University of Kansas says 149 employees have expressed interest in a buyout offer. The university offered buyouts last month to 655 of its nearly 4,800 employees in Lawrence and Overland Park. Spokesman Gavin Young says about a quarter of those who applied for buyouts were faculty. He says another quarter were unclassified staff and about half were university support staff. The Lawrence Journal-World reports those who are approved for the program will receive a lump-sum payment equal to one year’s salary, up to a maximum of $100,000. University deans and vice provosts will review the applications…
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) An alternative energy company is the latest tenant at a new University of Kansas incubator facility. Midwest Energy Solutions specializes in conversion technologies. Its focus includes converting vehicles to compressed natural gas, and it carries products that let drivers refuel with natural gas in their garages or driveways. The company also builds and installs equipment for commercial fueling stations. Midwest Energy is the fifth tenant at the Bioscience Technology Business Center. The center opened in September at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kan. It’s part of a four-facility incubator system. The other three…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A 19th-century church in eastern Kansas is one of 10 sites nominated by the state Historical Society for placement on the National Register of Historic Places. The Congregational Church was built between 1858 and 1861 in Osawatomie, a town was settled in 1854 by abolitionists from Ohio and New York. Services were held in the building until 1898. Other Kansas nominees are the Arvonia School and Calvinistic Methodist Church in Osage County, and the Norden Bombsight Storage Vaults at the former Pratt Army Airfield in Pratt. The bombsights were considered essential to the Allied victory in World…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt says legislators took important steps this year to protect children from sex offenders. The Republican attorney general says the GOP-controlled Legislature approved a package of initiatives he outlined in January. One bill awaiting Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s signature would give prosecutors more time to file criminal charges over violent sex crimes against children. Prosecutors now have five years after a crime is committed to bring charges. The bill says that if a victim was under 18 when a crime such as rape occurs, prosecutors have until the victim’s 23rd birthday to file…
An early morning accident that occurred just northwest of Aggieville sent one Manhattan man to the hospital on Wednesday. Alexander Handspike, 22, was traveling eastbound on Anderson Ave. when he starting speeding in an effort to beat a yellow light at the 14th Street intersection. After clearing the intersection, Handspike attempted to negotiate a gradual bend in the road as he approached N. Manhattan Ave. but lost control of his 2008 Volkswagen Passat in the process, crashing into a stone post at the western most tip of Triangle Park. Handspike was transported to Mercy Regional Health Center for minor injuries. Captain Kurt Moldrup says…