TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Three Kansas organizations will share nearly $275,000 to support production of locally grown fruits and vegetables, The funds come from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Specialty Crop Block Grant program, with the awards being made by the Kansas Department of Agriculture. The largest share about $172,000 goes to the Kansas Rural Center for a project that will provide technical help to local producers and buyers. Organizations throughout Kansas will be involved. Salina Downtown Inc. is receiving nearly $71,000 to help growers develop value-added specialty products and expand existing markets into year-round sales. The Wamego campus of Highland…
Author: KMAN Staff
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Kansas is contesting a move by Dodge City Family Planning Clinic to join a challenge by Planned Parenthood to a new state law that stripped federal family planning money from both groups. The state argued in a filing Monday that the two entities have different interests. Kansas contends that the lawsuit by Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri seeks to protect its interest to provide abortion, advocate for abortion and associate with abortion providers on First Amendment grounds. But the Dodge City clinic contends the law violates the Supremacy Claus of the Constitution because it imposes additional…
WINFIELD, Kan. (AP) Investigators looking into the two-year-old disappearance of a south-central Kansas man are hoping for a break with the discovery of human remains in Oklahoma. Seventy-seven-year-old Winfield resident Richard May vanished in December 2009 after leaving the home of a friend in Pawhuska, Okla., for the 55-mile drive home. Ranch hands found May’s minivan three months later in Oklahoma’s Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, near Pawhuska. KAKE-TV reports that two ranchers recently found human remains while driving across the preserve. Authorities are trying to identify the bones, which a preliminary exam determined are those of an older man. One theory…
LYNDON, Kan. (AP) A Kansas judge is set to decide formal sentencing for a Columbia, Mo., city official convicted in the fatal shootings of four family members in 2009. A jury has already recommended that 48-year-old James Kraig Kahler be sentenced to death. District Judge Phillip Fromme can instead sentence him to life in prison without parole. The victims were 44-year-old Karen Kahler, her grandmother 89-year-old grandmother Dorothy Wight, and the Kahlers’ two daughters, 18-year-old Emily and 16-year-old Emily. A psychiatrist testified during Kraig Kahler’s trial that he was upset with his daughters for siding with their mother and believed…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Kansas is among seven states involved in a National Governors Association program for developing policies to boost manufacturing employment. The Kansas Department of Commerce says the states are participating in what the governors’ association describes as a policy academy. It’s designed to help states identify fast-growing clusters of manufacturing companies and to identify opportunities for expansion. The other states selected were Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania. Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback says he’s pleased his state will be able to work on developing strategies that will help create jobs. The Commerce Department says the initiative…
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) The Kansas Highway Patrol says a driver involved in a triple fatality accident in Leavenworth County had alcohol and medication in his system. The patrol says 30-year-old Matthew Allen Nuzik’s blood-alcohol content after the Oct. 4, 2010 accident was 0.123 percent. The legal limit is 0.08. Nuzik, of Basehor, died after a head-on collision on Kansas 32. Two University of Kansas students in the second car, 21-year-old Jake Henry and 22-year-old Stephanie Conn, also died. Henry was driving and the tests found no alcohol or drugs in his system. A witness told troopers that Nuzik had about…
HAVEN, Kan. (AP) Fire investigators say a propane gas leak is the likely cause of a fire and explosion that killed a Missouri woman and injured three other people. Brad Agnew, an agent with the Kansas State Fire Marshal’s Office, says the explosion Sunday at a home near Cheney Lake was typical of a propane explosion. He says the furnace ignited the propane but it’s unclear where the propane leak originated. The Hutchinson News reports that Agnew says a man was in the home working on a water heater but investigators don’t think the water heater was involved in the…
The Manhattan High girls golf team won their 6A regional on Monday at Sim Park in Wichita. The Indians shot a team score of 332, finishing four shots ahead of runner-up Washburn Rural, and Derby was third. MHS senior Jenna Crusinberry won medalist honors after she turned in a 76. Blake Fingalsen had a second place showing with an 81. The Indians will play in the 6A state tournament next Monday at Shadown Glen in Olathe.
A lot of work, a lot of hours… but Cindy Volanti, Riley County’s Human Resource Manager, tells KMAN she enjoys putting together the annual training day, now observed by Riley county employees on Columbus day. Volanti describes the session as very beneficial. The training has been going on for five years now. About 200 Riley County employees gathered at the Farm Bureau Headquarters in Manhattan Monday to hear about a variety of matters on the Columbus Day Holiday. In what has become a traditional training day, the group heard about state health insurance changes and policy updates. County Counselor Clancy…
Pottawatomie County Sheriff Greg Riat announced on Monday that Robert Smith’s bond has been set at $250,000. Smith was arrested last Friday following a high-speed chase that took police through K-99 in Pottawatomie County. The Pottawatomie county sheriff’s office had listed possible charges of attempted murder, aggravated battery, aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer and criminal damage to property against the 55-year old Salina man who allegedly injured four individuals during the chase. The county attorney has yet to officially file charges with court being closed today (Monday)