Author: KMAN Staff

2002’s Roads and Bridges tax is set to expire in 2012, a fact that has sent the Manhattan City Commission searching for an alternative to replace it. One idea that was presented at Tuesday night’s Manhattan City Commission meeting was to discontinue the interlocal agreement for the tax between the City and County. Commissioners discussed the idea of instead using state statutes for the distribution of the tax, an idea that four Commissioners were in favor of. Mayor Jim Sherow was the sole dissenter, stating that he wished that more notice had been given that a vote was going…

A Manhattan man has been bound over in Riley County district court on a second degree murder charge, in connection with the  beating death of an Army veteran this past August. Justin Taylor, 24,  is set for a November 14 arraignment following Thursday’s preliminary hearing. Taylor was arrested in connection with the August 11th death of Kevin Cockrum, 31. During the hearing, coroner Dr. Erik Mitchell took the stand, as well as Levertis Horne,20,  also of Manhattan, who was with Taylor the night of death. Horne alleges he struck Cockrum once after he was grazed in the arm by a…

NEWTON, Kan. (AP) A tombstone that turned up in a south-central Kansas ditch more than decade ago continues collecting dust in a sheriff’s department garage. The Newton Kansan reports the stone is that of David Eitzen. The engraving says the deceased was born in Russia in 1858 and died in 1917, although it doesn’t say where. The tombstone was found in June 2001 in a ditch close to Eastlawn Cemetery, between Newton and Hesston. But Harvey County Sheriff’s Deputy Scott Perkins says Eitzen wasn’t buried at that cemetery, and authorities have been unable to determine where the stone was taken…

BUCYRUS, Kan. (AP) Authorities in northeastern Kansas say one person has died in the rollover crash of a trash truck. The Miami County Sheriff’s Department says the accident happened shortly before 1 p.m. Monday in rural Bucyrus, about 30 miles southwest of Kansas City. The sheriff says the truck went off a road and overturned, coming to rest on its top and pinning two people inside. One person was pronounced dead at the scene. The other was flown to a Kansas City area hospital. Names were being withheld while relatives were notified.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A new report says Kansas farmers have just 4 percent of their 2012 winter wheat crop left to plant. Monday’s report from the Kansas Agricultural Statistics Service also says 81 percent of the winter wheat has now emerged. The crop’s condition is rated 4 percent excellent, 40 percent good, 44 percent fair, 9 percent poor and 3 percent very poor. Only 7 percent of the corn was left to be harvested by Sunday. The soybean harvest is 86 percent complete, and 60 percent of the sorghum has been cut. The effects of the dry Kansas summer and…

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A group of state senators from southeastern Kansas will hold economic development forum to discuss strategies for creating jobs. The event is planned for Nov. 17 at St. John’s Catholic Parish Hall in Iola. Scheduled speakers include Gov. Sam Brownback and Charles Fluharty, president of the Rural Policy Research Institute. The senators, all Republicans, are Pat Apple of Louisburg, Jeff King of Independence, Bob Marshall of Fort Scott and Dwayne Umbarger of Thayer. They’ve been working to bring communities in the 17-county region together to find ways to lower unemployment, reduce childhood poverty and improve the overall…

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The Kansas Department of Revenue says the state collected $4 million less in taxes than anticipated in October. But the department says the payment of a large, one-time refund from taxes paid in previous years was the reason. The agency did not provide additional details. The state expected to collect $462 million in taxes in October and took in $458 million. The difference was about 1 percent. The shortfall ended a streak of six consecutive months in which tax collections exceeded expectations. Still, for the fiscal year that began in July, the state is $62 million ahead…

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) The family of a Lecompton man who died in a 2009 motorcycle accident is suing the driver involved in the crash. Relatives of 21-year-old Jason P. Kenney sued Karissa A. Pinegar of Lawrence. She was driving a car that collided with a motorcycle on the Kansas Turnpike near Lecompton on Nov. 6, 2009. Kenney was a passenger on the motorcycle. The Lawrence Journal-World reports that a highway patrol says Pinegar was trying to turn when her car collided with the motorcycle. Kenney died days after the accident. No hearings had been scheduled in the case.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) The leader of a Muslim mosque in west Wichita that was heavily damaged by fire says someone has been sending anti-Islam letters to the mosque in recent months. Vandals were also turning on the outside water faucet at the Islamic Association of Mid Kansas mosque, which suffered at least $130,000 in damage after a fire early Monday. The group’s president, Abdelkarim Jibril, says the mosque had received about eight letters starting four to six months ago, but the letters had stopped about a month ago. He says the mosque’s water bill increased about $30 after someone began…