Author: KMAN Staff

Large volumes of mis- and disinformation in social media is an inherent structural flaw according to sociologist Mark Smith, one which he says requires the development of new technologies to address. “When Henry Ford rolled out the Model T — it was a car and it did car things, you could get in it and drive it and it would take you places,” Smith says. “But it was flawed. It was not done and he didn’t know it; he did not have an airbag, he did not have safety belts. “For many of us, social media really started somewhere in…

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OLATHE, Kan. — Authorities say a California man was killed when the small plane he was piloting crashed at a suburban Kansas City, Kansas, airport. Television station KSHB reports that the Kansas Highway Patrol identified the pilot as 51-year-old Robert Douglas Ming, of Laguna Niguel, California. Officials say the crash happened as the single-engine Piper Aircraft attempted to take off around 10:30 a.m. Sunday at the Johnson County Executive Airport in Olathe, headed for Albuquerque, New Mexico. Witnesses say the plane crashed and erupted in flames. Ming was the only person aboard the plane.

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SHAWNEE, Kan. — Officials say an infant has died in a house fire in suburban Kansas City, Kansas. Fire officials say the fire was reported around 1 a.m. Sunday in Shawnee. Arriving Shawnee Fire Department fire crews found the house fulling engulfed in flames and called for assistance from surrounding departments to help extinguish the blaze. Firefighters later found an infant boy dead inside the home. Authorities have not released the baby’s name. Officials are investigating the cause of the fire.

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TOPEKA, Kan. — Democrats have sued Kansas officials over a Republican redistricting law. The lawsuit filed Monday challenges a map that costs the state’s only Democrat in Congress some of the territory in her Kansas City-area district that she carries by wide margins in elections. A team of attorneys led by prominent Democratic attorney Marc Elias filed the lawsuit in Wyandotte County District Court in the Kansas City area. The Republican-controlled Legislature overrode Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of the plan Wednesday. Democrats argue that the map is unacceptable because it splits Kansas City, Kansas, and decreases the number of…

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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 criminal use of a financial card in Riley County on February 12, 2022, around 9:03 a.m. Officers listed a 65-year-old female as the victim when it was reported an…

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On Monday’s edition of In Focus we spoke with Shepherd’s Crossing Development Officer C. Clyde Jones and Executive Director Beth Klug. We also spoke with Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine Assistant Clinical Professor Small Animal Surgery (Dentistry) Dr. Marjory Artzer.

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Riley County police are investigating an exchange of gunfire north of Manhattan that occurred Saturday afternoon. RCPD Public Information officer Aaron Wintermote in a Sunday report says police found indications of gunshots in the 3300 block of Valleydale Drive at approximately 3:30 p.m. February 12. No injuries have been reported at this time. Police believe the shots were exchanged between unidentified 36- and 37-year-old men that were not at the scene when officers responded to the report. No arrests have been made, though RCPD says they do not perceive the suspects are a threat to the public. Anyone with information…

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MULBERRY, Kan. — A judge has ruled that residents of a small city in southeast Kansas may continue a lawsuit against energy company BP disputing a sharp increase in natural gas prices during freezing weather last February. A Crawford County judge on Wednesday dismissed a motion by BP to end the lawsuit. An attorney for the city of Mulberry and its municipal gas customers says the ruling could make it possible for customers to sue any utility under the Kansas Consumer Protection Act. Mulberry city government and four named residents allege the multinational oil and gas company gouged them by…

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EMPORIA, Kan. — A federal appeals court has upheld findings in a long-running racial discrimination lawsuit against Emporia State University. The U. S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit on Tuesday upheld a lower court finding that the university retaliated against Angelica Hale by not renewing her contract after she complained about racial discrimination during the 2014-2015 school year. But the court rejected Hale’s request that she be awarded more back pay than she won in in 2020. Angelica Hale and her husband, Melvin Hale, who are Black, filed separate discrimination lawsuits in 2016. A jury dismissed Melvin Hale’s…

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KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Wyandotte County will begin offering municipal photo IDs to immigrants and other vulnerable residents after county commissioners approved the move in a split vote. KCUR reports that the Unified Government of Wyandotte County board voted 6-4 Thursday night to offer the IDs under what was dubbed the “Safe and Welcoming Wyandotte Act.” The measure will allow immigrants, the homeless, the elderly and others without ready access to state-issued photo IDs to get a local photo ID. The move was backed by a coalition of advocacy groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas and the…

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