WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A federal magistrate judge has allowed Kansas to join the fight over the Wyandotte Nation’s claim to Park City land where the tribe wants to build a casino. U.S. Magistrate Judge David Waxse ruled on Thursday that the state has a strong interest in exercising its sovereignty over the tract the tribe wants to take into trust. The state sought to intervene in the lawsuit to protect its taxing, regulatory and economic interests. Peninsula Gaming has opened a casino in south-central Kansas just 25 miles from the land where the tribe wants to put one. The Wyandotte…
Author: KMAN Staff
WINONA, Kan. (AP) Items accumulated by a woman who led a fascinating life among the rich and famous before dying as a pauper in northwest Kansas will go up for auction this weekend. Barbara Bishop spent time with movie stars, once dated Johnny Carson and spent an inherited fortune on expensive items and homes. The Salina Journal reports she died last November at the age of 85 as a pauper in Winona, a town of about 160 people. The third and final of a series of Barbara Bishop estate auctions will be held this weekend in Colby. More than 1,000…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Severe weather is possible in much of eastern Kansas through Saturday. The National Weather Service in Wichita is predicting strong thunderstorms for a large section of eastern Kansas on Friday. And the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., says the risk for storms that could produce tornadoes is moderate on Saturday in an area that includes the Wichita metropolitan area, along with Salina and Hutchinson. Kansas counties inside the moderate zone include Harper, Kingman, Reno, Saline, Marion, Chase, Harvey, Butler, Sedgwick, Cowley, Sumner, Elk, Greenwood, McPherson and Chautauqua. A slight risk of storms is forecast for most…
ATCHISON, Kan. (AP) Residents of Atchison are looking forward to the opening of a new grain elevator, which will replace a Bartlett Grain Co. elevator destroyed by a fatal explosion. The company announced it would rebuild soon after an explosion last October killed six and seriously injured two others. The concrete was poured last Friday, and the grain elevator is expected to open in September. Bartlett is contracting grain from farmers for this year’s harvest. The St. Joseph News-Press reports the elevator will have a capacity of 1 million bushels of grain, 20 percent more than the old elevator. Bartlett…
HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) The Hutchinson City Council will consider a proposal to add sexual orientation and gender identity to the city’s anti-discrimination ordinance. The Hutchinson Human Relations Committee voted Wednesday to recommend the change to the ordinance. The city council will consider the issue in early May. If the council approves the change, sexual orientation and gender identity could not be the basis for discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations. The Hutchinson chapter of the Kansas Equality Coalition asked the council last November to amend the ordinance. The Hutchinson News reports that people who opposed the change said it…
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) A human rights activist from Syria is scheduled to speak next week in Lawrence about the turmoil in his country. The University of Kansas says that Radwan Ziadeh will be at the university’s Dole Institute of Politics on Tuesday for a free afternoon forum. Institute director Bill Lacy said Ziadeh will discuss Syria’s current struggle. Ziadeh has been involved in documenting human rights violations since the Syrian uprising began. Last year he was elected director of the Foreign Relations Office for the Syrian National Council, the main umbrella organization for the Syrian opposition. He’s a senior fellow…
ABILENE, Kan. (AP) Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt will discuss current legal issues next week during a town hall meeting at the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum in Abilene. The April 17 program is part of a series at the Eisenhower center featuring officials from across Kansas. Schmidt will discuss the state’s involvement in the challenge before the U.S. Supreme Court to the Obama administration’s health care reforms. Schmidt, a Republican, was elected attorney general in 2010 after 10 years in the state Senate.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The Kansas Department of Agriculture is accepting applications for a revised program that gives water right holders more flexibility in managing the way they use their allocations. Changes in the state’s multi-year flex account are aimed at conserving water and extending the life of the Ogallala Aquifer. The new application form is available on the website of the state Division of Water Resources and at its offices. A multi-year flex account lets water right holders pump more water in any year but restricts the total pumping over the five-year period. The program is voluntary.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback and top officials in his administration are preparing to reorganize three departments as part of an overhaul of the Medicaid program. Brownback scheduled a Thursday morning news conference to discuss the project. The governor was being joined by Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer, who led the team that drafted the Medicaid overhaul plan, and secretaries of the departments of Aging, Health and Environment and Social and Rehabilitation Services. Brownback issued an order in February to reorganize those agencies. The order takes effect in July because lawmakers didn’t attempt to block it. The administration plans…
The name of the victim involved in a fatal skid loader accident Tuesday has been released. Jerry DeFoor, 65, of rural Olsburg died in that accident. Pottawatomie County Sheriff Greg Riat reports just after 3:45 Tuesday afternoon, the Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call of a man trapped under a skid loader. EMS, Fire and Rescue, as well as Sheriff’s Deputies responded to the call in rural Olsburg. DeFoor was found to be trapped between the bucket of a skid loader and the cab. The man was determined to be deceased when found. He was removed from the skid…