TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A frontier trail that snakes from Fort Leavenworth south through Kansas has been given a new name to reflect its historic significance. State Transportation Secretary Deb Miller has signed off on renaming the 168-mile route as the Frontier Military Historic Byway, adding the word “historic” to the title. The route begins at Fort Leavenworth and served as a supply trail south to the Oklahoma border. It was established in 1844 by Gen. Winfield Scott between the Kansas Territory forts and Fort Gibson in Oklahoma. Officials with the local byway committee requested the new name to help describe…
Author: KMAN Staff
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Wichita police officers could soon be wearing cameras while on duty. The City Council on Tuesday approved the police department’s request to buy computers and cameras, which officers will wear as part of their uniforms. Deputy Chief Terri Moses says the department hopes to have the cameras by early next year. A federal grant will pay $125,000 for 20 computers, 40 cameras and other equipment. The city will pay about $24,000 annually to store data gathered by the cameras. The Wichita Eagle reports that officers wear the computers on their gunbelts, with the cameras on their heads.…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The Topeka City Council has rejected settlements with two city employees who allege they were victims of discrimination. The council on Tuesday rejected a proposed $132,500 settlement of a lawsuit filed by Topeka Zoo staff veterinarian Shirley Yeo Llizo. The native of Singapore says she was fired in 2009 because of her race. She was rehired in 2010 after an arbitrator ruled the city should not have fired her. Council members also denied a $1.3 million complaint from former Deputy Fire Chief Kathy Petty, who alleges her firing in February was because of sex discrimination and retaliation…
GARDEN CITY, Kan. (AP) Federal transportation authorities have tentatively selected air service providers for several western Kansas cities. The Garden City Telegram reports that the U.S. Department of Transportation issued an order Monday selecting American Eagle Airlines to provide federally-subsidized air service between Garden City and Dallas. The same order tentatively chooses Great Lakes Airlines to provide service between Denver and Dodge City, Great Bend, Hays and Liberal. Garden City’s aviation director says “show of cause” orders like the one issued Monday are generally followed. However, the order requires a 10-day period for anyone to object it can become official.…
WETMORE, Kan. (AP) Services for the sixth victim of a northeast Kansas grain elevator explosion are scheduled for Friday. The blast Saturday killed six people at a Bartlett Grain Co. elevator in Atchison. The Topeka Capital Journal reports that 43-year-old Darrek Klahr was working at the site inspecting grain for the Kansas Grain Inspection Service. Klahr was a 1986 graduate of Jackson Heights High School, attended Highland Community College for two years and graduated from Kansas State University in 1990. He was one of three elders at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Netawaka, where funeral services are scheduled for 10 a.m.…
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) West Virginia University has filed a lawsuit seeking immediate withdrawal from the Big East Conference so it can join the Big 12. The lawsuit filed Monday in Monongalia County Circuit Court alleges the Big East breached its contract with West Virginia by failing to maintain a balance between football-playing members and non-football schools. The lawsuit asks a judge to invalidate the league’s bylaws, including a provision that requires schools to give notice of 27 months before withdrawing. Syracuse and Pittsburgh withdrew from the Big East in September to join the Atlantic Coast Conference. TCU accepted an…
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…