KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Activists and faith leaders are demanding a federal investigation into Kansas City, Kansas, police. The Kansas City Star reports that Lora McDonald, executive director of MORE2, the Metro Organization for Racial and Economic Equity, said Friday during a news conference that the group plans to file a request with the U.S. Department of Justice to review the police department. The department came under scrutiny in 2017 when Lamonte McIntyre was exonerated after spending 23 years in prison for a double murder he did not commit. A lawsuit filed by McIntyre claims officers manipulated eyewitnesses and wrote…
Author: KMAN Staff
TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas has reported its biggest surge in COVID-19 cases in more than three months with the faster-spreading delta variant becoming a growing public health issue. Some of the biggest numbers of new cases per capita over the previous two weeks were in counties bordering Missouri. That state has had new cases spike recently because of the delta variant. Both Kansas and Missouri also have seen vaccinations slow amid some residents’ resistance to getting vaccinated. Kansas health department data showed that the state had an average of 275 new COVID-19 cases a day for the seven days ending…
OSAGE COUNTY, Kan. — Kansas authorities have identified human remains found this spring as a man who has been missing for years, and they are investigating his death as a homicide. The sheriff’s departments in Osage and Franklin counties said the remains that were found in March in a remote part of Osage County have been identified as Jeffrey Myers. The 43-year-old Myers of Ottawa, Kansas, was reported missing in Franklin County in May 2013. Officials said his family had last been in contact with him in August 2012. Myers’ remains were found in March. Myers was identified after lab…
WICHITA, Kan. — A South Carolina woman who admitted to helping to swindle an elderly Wichita-area widow out of more than half a million dollars in a romance scam is due to be sentenced Monday in Sedgwick County District Court. Sixty-eight-year-old Kathy Heistand pleaded guilty in May to the mistreatment of an elder person and theft. Court records say a 74-year-old recently widowed woman was contacted on Facebook in 2020 by someone with whom she began an online romance. He then asked for money that was funneled through Heistand. Prosecutors say they are recommending probation because Heistand had a lesser…
LAWRENCE, Kan. — A former University of Kansas football player says the university offered him more than $50,000 in benefits if he left the program and stayed quiet about harassment he experienced from four other players on the team. Caperton Humphrey told the Kansas City Star that he received little help from school officials after he reported the harassment. Humphrey, who played at Kansas in 2017 and 2018, said the feud he had with several teammates culminated in a confrontation between Humphrey and the other players in his apartment when the players threatened him and his family. Current university officials…
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 burglary in the 1800 block of Cassell Rd. in Manhattan on July 9, 2021, around 12:23 p.m. Officers listed a 57-year-old male as the victim when it was reported…
On Monday’s edition of In Focus Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine’s Dr. Beth Davis, Department Head and Professor, Equine Internal Medicine discussed departmental changes over the past year and current staffing needs. In our last two segments, Manhattan Parks & Recreation Assistant Director Wyatt Thompson, Aquatics Specialist Sydni Baker and Animal Control Officer Brandon Sokol discussed Parks & Rec Month celebrated each July and an update from the Manhattan waterparks and the T. Russel Reitz Animal Shelter.
TOPEKA, Kan. — A 21-year-old Topeka woman is charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of a teenager. Shawnee County authorities charged Daisha Butler on Thursday in the death of 17-year-old Nevaeh Martinez. She was shot July 3 outside a Topeka home, and died the next day after being taken off life support. Butler is being held on $1 million bond. The victim’s mother, Tiana Cannon, told KSNT that her daughter didn’t know Butler and was an innocent bystander in the shooting.
WICHITA, Kan. — A $2.1 million federal grant awarded to Wichita State University for new aerospace research facilities is expected to create nearly 500 jobs over the next 10 years. The Wichita Eagle reports that the U.S. Commerce Department announced the grant to the school’s National Institute for Aviation Research on Thursday. The money will be matched with university funds generated by the institute’s contracts with private industry and will go toward a new flight test research center and a maintenance, repair and overhaul facility. WSU associate vice president Tracee Friess says the 475 jobs expected to be created over…
TOPEKA, Kan. — The Kansas Supreme Court has blocked a man’s attempt to withdraw his guilty pleas after he was sentenced to serve at least 50 years in prison over the July 2018 murders of a woman and her cousin. The high court on Friday rejected Matthew Douglas Hutto’s claim that his court-appointed attorney’s advice to plead guilty to two premeditated first-degree murder charges meant that the lawyer did not adequately represent him. Hutto was part of a group living with Brad Sportsman in the town of Greenleaf that traveled to Topeka to kill Sportsman’s estranged wife. A 17-year-old cousin…