Author: KMAN Staff
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) State budget cuts have led to fewer teachers in Kansas schools, but student enrollment continues to increase. The Lawrence Journal World reports that state budget cuts to public schools have resulted in fewer teachers and more crowded classrooms. The Kansas Department of Education says the total number of teacher positions statewide in the current school year is 34,075. That’s down 256 from last year, and down 1,363 since the 2008-09 school year. But student enrollment is up from more than 473,000 in 2008-09 to nearly 483,000 in the current school year. That’s an increase of about 9,700…
QUINTER, Kan. (AP) A western Kansas business has been fined $217,000 by the federal government after an employee died at the facility. Brad Lovelady and Galen Huffman of Formation Plastics said the fine from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration comes six months after Mike Wente died when he was crushed by a massive plastics forming machine at the Quinter firm. Lovelady and Huffman said they were expecting a fine, but they were shocked by the amount of the OSHA fines. Lovelady told The Hays Daily News he had expected a fine somewhere between $80,000 and $100,000, and thought it…
PARSONS, Kan. (AP) A train hit a car this weekend in southeast Kansas, killing a 21-year-old Parsons man died and injuring another person. The Wichita Eagle reports that the accident occurred Saturday in Neosho County. Zachary Scott Harding was killed. The Kansas Highway Patrol said the car Harding was in failed to stop at a railroad crossing. Another 21-year-old man in the car was hospitalized.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Fifty-five public schools throughout Kansas are being honored for doing well on state tests despite serving disadvantaged students. The Confidence in Kansas Public Education Task Force identified the recipients of the 2011 Challenge Awards. The winners will be honored Wednesday at Junction City Middle School. The state education department says the certificate recognizes reading and math test scores that are higher than what students living in lower-income households normally achieve. Typically, students who qualify for free or reduced price lunches don’t fare as well on tests as their peers from more affluent families. Task force chairman Charles…
EMPORIA, Kan. (AP) The second of four finalists for the presidency of Emporia State University visits the eastern Kansas campus this week. University officials say Todd Diacon and his wife were scheduled to meet with campus and community groups Monday and Tuesday. Diacon is a native of Wellington, Kan., currently serving as deputy chancellor at the University of Massachusetts’ flagship campus. He previously spent 21 years in leadership positions at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Last week, Emporia State was visited by another finalist for the presidency Michael Shonrock, a senior vice president at Texas Tech. The university is…
HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) Most of Reno County Courthouse’s 10 elected officials with terms expiring in the 2012 election cycle say that, so far, they will likely run for re-election. The Hutchinson News reports that Reno County Register of Deeds Carol Sallee is the only Reno County officer last week who was undecided about the race. The 70-year-old Republican won her first term in 2000, and has won each election by a comfortable margin. The State Legislature this year moved up the candidate filing deadline by about 10 days, to noon June 1, 2012. All four congressional seats in Kansas will…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A Wichita woman charged with stabbing a friend to death is set to go on trial. The second-degree murder trial of 22-year-old Catherine Collins is scheduled to start Monday in in Sedgwick County District Court. She was arrested in September 2010 after the death of 20-year-old Boston Sicard. KFDI reports that Sicard was found lying in a parking lot of a Wichita gas station. Collins was arrested after police followed a trail of blood to an apartment. Detectives say Sicard was stabbed after arguing with Collins about another person.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Leaders of a Topeka church plan to pray without ceasing for 42 hours this weekend. The Topeka House of Prayer will host the event, which begins at 5 p.m. Friday and ends at noon Sunday at the Faith Family Life Centre. Organizers say the event will focus on praying for Topeka, the state of Kansas and the United States. The Rev. Mike Shinkle, pastor of Open Way Church and an organizer of the event, said people of all denominations are welcome to the event. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that 101 interns from the International House of Prayer…