HARVEYVILLE, Kan. (AP) Gov. Sam Brownback has met with the family of a Harveyville man who suffered fatal injuries when a tornado lifted his home off its foundation. Thursday’s visit came less than a day after 53-year-old Richard Slade was taken off life support and died at a Topeka hospital. The trip to the Wabaunsee County town also gave Brownback a chance to see the damage caused by Tuesday night’s EF2 tornado, which packed winds of between 120 mph and 130 mph. Brownback said he had high praise for the large number of volunteers who rushed to the town’s aid.…
Author: KMAN Staff
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Gov. Sam Brownback has declared a disaster emergency in 19 counties hit this week by violent weather, including the storm that spawned a deadly tornado in the eastern Kansas town of Harveyville. The governor’s disaster declaration Thursday brings the state into the response to the storms. Brownback had already declared of a state of emergency Tuesday night in Wabaunsee County after the tornado hit Harveyville. But other areas also had damaging winds, hail and tornadoes. In addition to Wabaunsee County, the new declaration covers the following counties: Butler, Chautauqua, Coffey, Cowley, Crawford, Douglas, Franklin, Harper, Kingman, Labette,…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Kansas Congressman Mike Pompeo has joined a Republican push in Washington to end all energy tax credits. Pompeo, who represents the Wichita area, is sponsoring House legislation ending the production tax credit for electricity produced from renewable resources such as wind, biomass and hydropower. He was joined at a Washington news conference Thursday by Republican Sens. Jim DeMint of South Carolina, Mike Lee of Utah and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin. The legislation would also end tax credits for plug-in electric and fuel cell vehicles, alternative fuel mixtures, clean coal investment and oil and gas production from marginal…
LANSING, Kan. (AP) Authorities in northeastern Kansas have identified the man who opened fire in a murder-suicide as a 32-year-old Leavenworth resident. The shootings occurred around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday outside Lansing, in rural Leavenworth County. Undersheriff Ron Cranor said Thursday that Kenneth McClellan forced his way into the home of 66-year-old John O’Brien Jr., with whose daughter he had an estranged relationship. The undersheriff said McClellan shot and killed O’Brien, then left through a back door and fatally shot himself. The Kansas City Star reports that authorities initially thought O’Brien’s daughter had also been shot, but doctors at a hospital…
Nearly a year after the deadly tornado in Joplin, Missouri, CivicPlus based in Manhattan plans to host a weekend Hackathon to create new website, technology and design features focused on community and emergency management. CivicPlus’s Director of Sales Strategy, Michael Ashford, spoke with KMAN News Director Cathy Dawes about the event. Anyone interested in participating in the event may visit the Joplin Hackathon website for details. Applications must be submitted by March 23rd and the event will kick-off April 27th at 5 p.m.
Riley County firefighters were called out the second time in less than a week to fight a brush fire in the northern part of the county. It took three hours to contain the fire, with a construction company having a cargo trailer destroyed, and other structures were threatened. “It really is dry out there and we have not had that much moisture,” Doug Messer, assistant fire chief, says. “We get these little showers and people think that’s adequate rainfall. That is just not the case.” Messer adds Thursday was a high category of risk day for such fires, as fires will…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A new assessment on the proposed National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility to be located in Manhattan concludes that changes in the lab’s design have sharply reduced the risk for accidental release of deadly diseases. The assessment released Friday by the Department of Homeland Security updates a report issued in 2010. The new document puts the risk of an accidental release at one-tenth of 1 percent, down from the previous calculation of a 70 percent chance of release. Supporters credit design changes made since the first report for the lower risk. Most of the Kansas Congressional delegation have commented…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Billionaire brothers and political donors Charles and David Koch have filed a lawsuit in Kansas over the ownership of a prominent, Washington-based conservative think tank. The Kochs, known for supporting conservative causes, are shareholders in the Cato Institute. Until October, the other two shareholders were its president and a former chairman. The brothers dispute whether the former chairman’s widow now controls his 25 percent voting interest. The Koch brothers contend that under shareholder agreements, the former chairman’s shares must be sold back to the institute. The Kochs filed their lawsuit in Johnson County because the institute lists…