FORT RILEY, Kan. – A Fort Riley Soldier has died in Afghanistan. Capt. Michael Braden, 31, was pronounced dead at a medical facility on Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, after being found unresponsive in his living quarters Wednesday morning. The cause of death is under investigation. Braden was a signal officer assigned to the 1st Infantry Division Headquarters which is currently deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. This was Braden’s second deployment with the division. In 2010, he deployed for a yearlong tour to Basra, Iraq. He also deployed to Qatar for five months in 2005. Braden, a Pennsylvania native, graduated…
Author: KMAN Staff
LANSING, Kan. (AP) A 59-year-old child sex offender who escaped from the Lansing Correctional Facility on Wednesday is still on the run. Corrections department spokesman Jeremy Barclay said Friday law enforcement officials are devoting considerable time and resources to the search for Gary Leslie Furthmyer. Furthmyer escaped from his minimum security assignment at a steam plant in Lansing on Wednesday. He escaped the same day that four state inmates broke out of the Ottawa County jail. Three of the four inmates had been recaptured by Friday. Barclay says while that search has garnered more media attention, law enforcement is equally…
HAYS, Kan. (AP) A new northwest Kansas home for the elderly will begin moving in new residents on May 1. The Via Christi Village in Hays is the consolidation of two nursing homes in Hays and St. John’s. Residents who plan to live in the 96-bed facility and their families were given tours of the home this week. An open house for the public is planned for Sunday. St. John’s of Hays and St. John’s of Victoria were consolidated into the new building, which is connected to an existing assisted living complex. The Hays Daily News reports the village is…
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) Parties in downtown Lawrence after the University of Kansas played in the Final Four cost the city about $180,000 but no one is complaining. City Manager David Corliss says overtime wages for police officers was the biggest expense from three major parties that celebrated the Jayhawks’ run to the Final Four. Corliss says those expenses will be offset by tax revenues from sales at restaurants, bars and other businesses during the tournament. The Lawrence Journal-World reports the exact amount of revenues the city reaped from those sales won’t be available for several weeks. The city’s sales tax…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The Republican-controlled House committee has rejected the idea of restoring a pay-raise program for some Kansas public employees. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports the committee on Thursday voted down a motion to set aside $8.5 million to resume a plan to raise salaries of the state’s lowest-paid government workers. The motion was defeated by a 9-11 vote. House Appropriations Committee Chairman Marc Rhoades, a Newton Republican, said state employees should consider moving to the private sector if they think that state pay is too low. Others raised concerns that the state was losing qualified employees, especially nurses at…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The police chief in the western Kansas town of Russell says a convicted murderer hitched a ride to a convenience store in the town, where he was arrested after escaping from a county jail. Police Chief Jon Quinday told The Associated Press on Friday that escaped inmate Santos Carrera-Morales was taken into custody late Thursday by two police officers without incident at a store off of Interstate 70. Quinday said Carrera-Morales was north of Russell along Kansas 18 when he got his ride. Carrera-Morales is one of four prison inmates who escaped Wednesday morning from the Ottawa…
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) A native Kansan who was secretary of defense under two U.S. presidents will be the first person to receive an honorary doctorate from Kansas State University. Robert M. Gates will receive the degree during graduation from the Kansas State Graduate School on May 11. He will also be the commencement speaker at the ceremony. The Kansas Board of Regents approved awarding of the honorary degree to Gates at its meeting Thursday. The board changed its policy in 2010 to allow state universities to confer honorary degrees. Gates, a native of Wichita, was secretary of defense for both…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A double-murderer who escaped from a county jail in Kansas days ago has been captured. The Kansas Department of Corrections says in a Friday news release that Santos Carrera-Morales was arrested about 11:30 p.m. Thursday in Russell, Kan. Further details about the arrest were not immediately available. Four inmates who were transferred from a state prison because it was overcrowded managed to escape from Ottawa County jail on Wednesday. One remains at large. Carrera-Morales was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder for a double-slaying in 2007.
By Sgt. Roland Hale RC-East Public Affairs BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan – The 1st Infantry Division, known famously as the “Big Red One,” took charge of military operations in eastern Afghanistan April 19 in a ceremony on Bagram Airfield. In the ceremony, the division assumed command authority of Regional Command-East from the 1st Cavalry Division. The latter is returning to Fort Hood, Texas, after a successful year-long tour here. Operating as Combined Joint Task Force-1, the 1st Infantry Division will command and control operations throughout RC-East, an area roughly the size of Virginia including 14 provinces, 7.5 million Afghans…
KECHI, Kan. (AP) Police say a man has died in an apparent hit-and-run while he was jogging. The Kechi man, whose name has not been released, was reported missing by his wife late Thursday. She said he didn’t return after going for a run shortly after 10 p.m. KAKE-TV reports his body was found about 2:30 a.m. Friday. Kechi is about 10 miles north of Wichita.