WICHITA, Kan. — People with the 620 and 785 phone area code will have to start dialing 10 digits to complete local calls starting Sunday. The Wichita Eagle reports that the reason for the change is to avoid conflicts when the Federal Communications Commission implements 988 as the three-number speed-dial code to reach a suicide prevention hotline next year. Kansas Corporation Commission spokeswoman Linda Berry says 988 is used as a prefix for some numbers in the 620 and 785 areas. From Sunday on, phone users in those areas who try to dial without their area code will get a…
Author: KMAN Staff
ELLSWORTH, Kan. — A former employee of a rural Kansas water system pleaded guilty to closing down the system. Twenty-two-year-old Wyatt Travnichek pleaded guilty Wednesday to shutting down the Post Rock Rural Water District in Ellsworth in March 2019. Prosecutors said Travnichek told investigators he was too intoxicated to remember what happened. A plea agreement calls for him to be sentenced to a year in jail. The system supplies water for about 1,500 customers in central Kansas. Travnichek worked for the district before quitting in January 2019. In March 2019, he shut down the system using a shared pass code…
LAWRENCE, Kan. — Some voters in the Lawrence area mistakenly received two ballots for the upcoming election because of a mix-up that officials are blaming on a third-party printing and mailing company. The Lawrence Journal-World reports that Douglas County Clerk Jamie Shew said Wednesday that the mistake would not affect the operation of November’s local elections. His office has notified voters who may have received two ballots to destroy one of them. But Shew that even if voters receive two ballots and return both of them, the system only allows workers to log one of them.
SABETHA, Kan. — Authorities are investigating an officer-involved shooting in the northeast Kansas town of Sabetha. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation said the shooting happened around 9:45 p.m. Wednesday. The bureau said the Sabetha Police Department and Nemaha County Sheriff’s Office had responded to the scene about two hours earlier after receiving a report that someone was possibly suicidal. The 38-year-old man who was shot was taken to a nearby hospital and then transferred to a larger hospital in Topeka. His condition wasn’t immediately released. None of the officers were hurt.
The Riley County Health Department will be holding it’s annual “Okt-FLU-ber” Fest flu vaccine clinic Thursday Clinical supervisor Aryn Price tells KMAN the day will include activities for kids getting their flu shot.. Price also went on to say that 2020’s flu season was mild. During KMAN’s In Focus Wednesday, Price mentioned that registrations for Thursday’s event are available online. The health department has the necessary forms on their website and there will be multiple vaccine options that day, even for those without health insurance.
On Thursday’s edition of In Focus we spoke with Manhattan Area Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Jason Smith and Director of Membership Sharla Meisenheimer.
The new Aggieville parking garage being built by the city of Manhattan continues to move towards an early 2022 opening date. Project manager Ken Hays says the 450 spot facility is nearing completion in time for opening early next year. Hays says a majority of the interior is complete. Hays adds construction is on schedule because of a lack of weather-related issues. Hays says not having to deal with a lot of protective work for older buildings helped move the project forward. The 14 million dollar project is being funded through taxes taken in through the Aggieville taxing district.
Masks will no longer be mandated at Manhattan High School. The USD 383 school board voted 6 to 1 Wednesday for the revised pandemic response plan which makes masks optional at both the east and west campuses, beginning Nov. 1, and continues through Nov. 19. All other school buildings will continue to mask up until at least Nov. 19, when the plan will be revisited. Superintendent Dr. Marvin Wade says this decision comes from a mix of the positive and vaccination rates in the county. Wade says now is the time to allow those who have had the ability to…
Following the evacuation efforts as American troops pulled out of Afghanistan, one family has already resettled in the area and more are expected over the next few months. Aaron Estabrook took time during Tuesday night’s Manhattan City Commission meeting to recognize those who have been helping, including assisting the first of the families that has moved to the area. Estabrook said at Tuesday’s meeting that he had been notified that the next family would arrive on or around the 25th. It’s expected that approximately 500 refugees will resettle in Kansas after fleeing Afghanistan in the days surrounding the United State…
On August 16, the Law Board unanimously offered me an extension of employment beyond my current contract terms scheduled to expire on December 31, 2021. I thought it appropriate to write your readers and listeners about why I have chosen to retire. I doubt I can say everything that I would like so I may write again before my retirement on February 1, 2022. I am not one to harbor regrets about past decisions I have made nor events I do not control, but I do have one regret as my time with the RCPD concludes. I regret that I…