TOPEKA, Kan. — Gov. Laura Kelly and indigenous lawmakers are calling on Kansas’ top public school administrator to resign after reviewing video of him making an offensive public remark about Native Americans. Kelly and three state House members issued their statements Thursday after the State Board of Education called a special meeting for Friday to discuss Education Commissioner Randy Watson’s remark during a conference on virtual education last week. A Kelly spokesperson says she has seen video and the lawmakers said they have too. The 10-member elected state school board appoints commissioner. Watson did not respond Thursday to a request…
Author: KMAN Staff
A group of Kansas State University scientists have received the international BIAL Award in Biomedicine for a publication focused on mRNA technology, now used in the two federally approved vaccines to prevent COVID-19. The nearly $340,000 award aims to distinguish a work in biomedicine of exceptional quality and scientific relevance. It recognizes an important breakthrough of a technology for vaccine creation, published in 2017, that describes the complex work to engineer an mRNA vaccine to treat a disease, and demonstrates its efficacy in mice and monkeys. The technology investigated by this team uses a synthetic mRNA to allow the body…
The Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art has an ongoing exhibit that celebrates an African American artist from Kansas. The museum is highlighting the Gordon Parks: Homeward to the Prairie I Come in cooperation with Black History Month. Museum Curator Aileen June Wang says Parks grew up in segregated Fort Scott until he was 15. Parks’ artistic endeavors expanded into other mediums such as poetry and films. Parks directed the cult classic Blacksploitation film series Shaft, and was the first Hollywood produced black director of the film The Learning Tree. Wang says while Parks made New York his home, Kansas…
The Riley County Extension held its second ever Rural Revitalization Conference Wednesday in Riley. The event is an opportunity for those interested in rural economies and starting their own business. Extension Director Gary Fike says the most important aspect is hearing from local entrepreneurs . One of the speakers Wednesday was Trish Purdon, who is the Director of the Kansas Office of Rural Prosperity. She says the most fundamental aspect of supporting a rural community is to be a community of the future. Ron Wilson, owner of the Lazy T Ranch and is the director of the Huck Boyd National…
TOPEKA, Kan. — A former officer at the Kansas Juvenile Correctional Complex in Topeka is accused of having sex with a teenager at the center. Twenty-five-year-old Pedro Cruz-Garcia was released from the Shawnee County jail after posting a $50,000 bond on Sunday. He is charged with having unlawful sexual relations with a victim who was 16 years old or older. The Kansas Department of Corrections said in a statement Tuesday that an investigation began after a staff member at the juvenile center heard other inmates talking about Cruz-Garcia and the victim. Cruz-Garcia was fired from the detention center on Feb.…
TOPEKA, Kan. — Shawnee County authorities have charged a Topeka West High School student who was the subject of protests from other students with 11 sex-related crimes. District Attorney Mike Kagay says he will ask a judge to charge the student as an adult because of the serious nature of the crimes. The student’s name has not been released because he is a juvenile. Kagay says the 11 charges involve five alleged victims. Topeka West High School students staged a protest on Sept. 17 because of what they called a lack of response to allegations that the male student had…
FARGO, N.D. — A University of Kansas administrator has been chosen to be North Dakota State University’s next president. The North Dakota Board of Higher Education unanimously chose David Cook, the vice chancellor for public affairs and economic development at the Lawrence, Kansas, school. He beat out two other finalists: Marymount provost and vice president Hesham El-Rewini, and University of Minnesota Crookston chancellor Mary Holz Clause. Cook will replace Dean Bresciani, who is stepping down after a dozen years at the helm to become a tenured professor in health sciences and education. Asked to name some of the challenges he’ll…
TOPEKA, Kan. — Republicans in the GOP-controlled Kansas Legislature have moved to block local bans, restrictions or taxes on plastic bags or other packaging. The state Senate voted 27-13 for a bill that would strip cities and counties of their power to regulate or tax bags, cups, bottles or other packaging. The measure has the backing of business groups and would cover not only plastic, but cloth, paper, cardboard, aluminum, glass or foamed plastic such as Styrofoam. The bill goes next to the House. Business groups said a patchwork of local regulations would be difficult to follow. Critics said local…
WICHITA, Kan. — State officials have identified two drivers killed in a head-on crash on Interstate 235 in north Wichita. Television station KAKE reports the crash happened around 6 p.m. Wednesday. The Kansas Highway Patrol says a southbound pickup truck driven by 56-year-old Darth Cline, of Wichita, crossed the median and collided head-on with a northbound FedEx truck. The patrol says Cline died at the scene. The driver of the FedEx truck, 30-year-old Tyler Bauer of Wichita, was rushed to a hospital, where he died of his injuries. The crash closed a stretch of the interstate for several hours.
The following summary of calls for service/reports filed by the Riley County Police Department is a portion of those received by police. Some names, addresses, and case details are withheld to follow local, state, and federal law as well as in an attempt to protect community members from being victimized further. Those arrested are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. MANHATTAN, KAN. – Officers filed a report for theft in the 700 block of Vattier St. in Manhattan on February 23, 2022, around 8:05 a.m. Officers listed a 22-year-old male as the victim when it was reported…