TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A state board that represents residential customers and small businesses in Kansas is recommending an $11.6 million cut in the electric rates charged by Westar Energy. The Citizens’ Utility Ratepayers Board filed its proposal Thursday with the Kansas Corporation Commission, which regulates utilities. Topeka-based Westar is the largest electric utility in Kansas, and it’s seeking a rate increase of nearly $91 million. It says it needs the increase to retain its employees, upgrade its transmission grid and provide the service customers expect. But CURB said the regulatory commission should hold Westar’s profits to less than 9 percent,…
Author: KMAN Staff
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) The U.S. Department of Labor has sued a Wichita restaurant alleging it failed to pay its workers minimum wage. The lawsuit filed Thursday against the owners of China Star seeks unspecified wages and additional damages for nine named employees for their work between January 2009 and March 2010. It also seeks an injunction restraining the owners from further violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. Named in the lawsuit are co-owners Hank Luc and Xin G. Chen, doing business as China Star of Wichita. Luc told The Associated Press that the employees were lying to…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A bipartisan group of Kansas state senators is supporting creation of a reserve account to serve as a so-called rainy day fund for the state budget. The proposal would amend the Kansas Constitution to require that one-quarter of 1 percent of all state revenue be placed in the account each year. Money could only be used if authorized by a super-majority vote in the House and Senate. If the total in the account exceeds 5 percent of the state’s budget, the excess could be used for funding government programs. Senators will introduce the proposal when the legislative…
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) The Kansas Department of Transportation says it will not charge tolls on any part of the South Lawrence Trafficway. The Lawrence Journal-World reported Thursday that the agency said a survey found even a small toll would reduce the number of drivers who would use the bypass. The agency says the survey found the number of drivers would be so low that a new environmental impact statement would be required for the western half of the trafficway. Acting transportation secretary Barb Rankin says the new environmental study would put the project on hold indefinitely. The proposed trafficway would…
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) An Overland Park couple who had recently filed for divorce was found dead in an apparent murder-suicide. Police say 56-year-old Debra Beaver was found shot to death insiide a car in a southern Overland Park subdivision. Officers later found the body of 58-year-old Barry Beaver inside a truck not far from where his wife’s body was found. Court records show the couple had filed for divorce in October and had been going through mediation. They were scheduled to attend a mediation hearing as recently as Tuesday.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Topeka fire officials say a fire that destroyed the former WIBT-TV and Radio building was arson. The fire was reported Thursday evening at the vacant building. One firefighter was hospitalized with injuries that were not considered life-threatening. Fire investigators say the fire started in the attic or exterior roof of the building. WIBW-TV aired its first broadcast from the building when it went on the air Nov. 15, 1953. WIBW-AM began using the building e a few years later, when the TV and radio operations were purchased by Stauffer Communications. In2001, WIBW-AM-FM moved to a new building…
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) Kansas State is planning a $75 million expansion project at its football stadium. Athletic director John Currie said Thursday that the six-phase project on the west side of the stadium will replace the press box and add concession areas, restrooms, luxury seating and an expanded ticket office. Currie announced the plans during a pep rally in Arlington, Texas, as the Wildcats prepare for Friday’s Cotton Bowl game against Arkansas. The project is the most ambitious athletics facility upgrade in the school’s history. Currie says Kansas State has raised roughly one-third of the money needed to start the…
Riley County may end up leaving the City of Manhattan on its own in terms of educating the public regarding its portion of a proposed sales tax, which is expected to be on the ballot later this year. County commissioners expressed some frustration and concern Thursday, with city commissioners wanting to change the language for their portion of the sales tax. County commissioners have several times expressed plans to keep the county portion worded as it is currently, with money going toward road and bridge projects. Commissioners Dave Lewis and Karen McCulloh questioned how often the city language might need to…
At Thursday evening’s redistricting committee meeting, three maps, Q1, Q4 and Q5 were presented. After discussion from the committee and from public comments, the committee rated each map. After tallying the votes, the committee agreed that Q4 will be the map presented to the Manhattan-Ogden school board on January 18, 2012. This concluded almost three months of work and about thirty different map designs.
An arrest has been made in the fatal drive by shooting on New Years Day that left a Manhattan man dead, though police officials aren’t releasing any details until a press briefing Friday morning. The arrest stems from the early morning shooting of National Guardsmen Frederick Beverly, 21, at 1827 Fairlane Road, the clubhouse for the motorcycle group known as the Assasin Street Rydaz. Several vehicles in the area were also damaged as a result of the drive by shooting. Riley County Police had been searching for a blue, newer model Chevy, possibly an Impala, in connection with the case.…