The Leadership Manhattan group continues to work to help the community. Sharla Meisenheimer, Manhattan Area Chamber of Commerce Director of Membership, says the Leadership Class is holding two big events this year, one of which is a food drive that is happening right now. Meisenheimer says the event runs from now until March 31st and the foods collected will go to the Manhattan Emergency Shelter. She tells KMAN more about what types of items are needed. “Pillows, coffee, bottled-water, non-perishable food items, trash bags, common medication- things like Tylenol or Advil or things of that nature, copy paper, paper towels,…
Author: KMAN Staff
The Manhattan Chamber of Commerce and Women in Business program are kicking off a speaker series. Sharla Meisenheimer, Chamber Director of Membership, tells KMAN they are hosting a series called the Ripple Effect Speaker Series. Meisenheimer says the program will be full of women entrepreneurs and will consist of one speaker each month for six months. “It’s a recorded speaker, and you will get the link to it and at your leisure you have the opportunity to listen to this speaker,” Meisenheimer says. “You will get the link on Friday morning and then you will have until Tuesday at midnight…
TOPEKA, Kan. — A Republican proposal to require all Kansas public schools to offer every student full in-person classes by March 26 has failed in the state House. Some lawmakers had complained that it would take too much power away from local school boards. The GOP-controlled House’s 69-55 vote against the measure Tuesday showed that some Republicans had misgivings. The bill would have overridden a few local school districts’ decisions to wait longer because of the coronavirus pandemic. Senate President Ty Masterson, an Andover Republican, pushed for the mandate, and his GOP-controlled chamber approved it earlier this month with no…
MISSION, Kan. — Court records say a Kansas man arrested in the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol told the FBI that an officer shrugged his shoulders when he asked whether he could join the throngs streaming into the building. Mark Roger Rebegila, of St. Mary’s, was taken into custody Monday in Topeka on charges of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. No attorney is listed for him in online court records. He’s among five people from Kansas and dozens nationwide who have been charged…
TOPEKA, Kan. — Leaders of a Kansas school district that is named for an early 20th century Ku Klux Klan leader have created an advisory task force to consider a potential name change. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the task force will provide a report, but not a recommendation, to the board. The issue gained attention after student journalists at Seaman High School used newspaper clippings from the 1920s to confirm last fall that the district’s namesake, Fred Seaman, had been an “exalted cyclops,” or chief officer, in the Topeka KKK. A few dozen students, teachers and community supporters protested…
TOPEKA, Kan. — A Kansas Highway Patrol official says basic information won’t be available for more than a week on its arrest of a top legislative leader. Senate Majority Leader and Wichita Republican Gene Suellentrop was arrested early Tuesday on suspicion of driving under the influence and attempting to flee from law enforcement while driving the wrong way on a highway in Topeka. The patrol’s general counsel said Wednesday that the public portion of the arrest report would be available “on or before” March 26. Suellentrop issued a written statement saying he was stepping aside from most of his office’s…
TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas legislators on both sides are trading sometimes-bitter accusations as conservative Republicans advance a proposal to ban transgender students from girls’ and women’s school sports. The GOP-controlled state Senate approved a bill that would enact the ban on a 24-10 vote, sending the measure to the Republican-controlled House. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly called it “regressive.” The Senate’s top Democrat called the bill “hateful” and suggested her male colleagues were arguing that men are just superior. But supporters argued that girls and women would lose scholarships and other life-changing opportunities without such a ban and repeatedly referred to…
WICHITA, Kan. — Police in Wichita have identified a woman who was fatally hit when she ran into the roadway following a minor crash. Police say 54-year-old Michelle Truong, of Wichita, died in the Tuesday night incident in south Wichita. Officers who arrived at the scene say Truong had just been in a minor crash when she walked into the road to exchange insurance information with the other driver. That’s when she was hit by a pickup truck traveling east on Pawnee Street. Police say the driver of the truck stopped and is cooperating with the investigation.
MISSION, Kan. — Schools and camps across the county are making plans to help kids catch up academically this summer after a year or more of remote learning for many of them. The governors of California, Virginia and Kansas are among those pushing for more summer learning, as are districts in many towns and cities, including Los Angeles, Atlanta and Hartford, Connecticut. Education experts say the pandemic has left many kids trailing behind where they otherwise would be and that it’s crucial for kids to do some learning over the summer. The new coronavirus stimulus package should help, as it…
On Thursday’s edition of In Focus we spoke with Director of Economic Development Daryn Soldan and Director of Membership Sharla Meisenheimer with the Manhattan Chamber.