Author: KMAN Staff

The Flint Hills Regional Council’s business-confidence survey went live last Friday and so far, 59 businesses have responded. The council’s recovery and resiliency planner Marissa Jones-Flaget says that while it’s early on in the process, they have gained some takeaways from the results. “A bulk of our respondents actually expressed interest in marketing and social media marketing training. We’ve been working with our small business partners to see what type of training is available,” she said. As a result, the council plans to begin pushing out training resources through its own social media channels. Jones-Flaget says they’ve also found that…

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The Riley County Health Department received 2500 COVID-19 vaccine doses from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) Thursday. Health Department Director Julie Gibbs says the shipment should cover the first dose for those eligible to receive the vaccine during phase one of the state’s distribution plan. “We hope to have all of our health care providers, or phase one vaccinated by the end of next week. Keep in mind, this would be the first dose for many of them. We are working on our second dose for those that we were able to do between Christmas and New…

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WICHITA, Kan. — A Kansas game warden is getting attention for a video that shows him firing a single shot from a handgun to disentangle the antlers of two whitetail stags. The Kansas Wildlife, Parks & Tourism agency released the video from the warden’s body camera showing his sharpshooting skills. Neither deer was hurt in the effort. The agency says a bowhunter contacted a game warden on Jan. 7 to report seeing the entangled deer in rural Jackson County. Two game wardens responded and threw a towel over the animals’ heads to get them to freeze. One warden then took…

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KANSAS CITY, Kan. ++ A Kansas sheriff’s office investigator has been charged in a hit-and-run crash and two other law enforcement officers have been charged with interfering with the investigation. Wyandotte County Prosecutor Mark Dupree announced Wednesday that sheriff’s office Det. Michael Simmons Jr. is charged with a misdemeanor count of leaving the scene of the Dec. 13, 2019, crash on Interstate 70 involving a county-owned vehicle. Two others former Kansas City, Kansas, police detective Sarah Panjada and Wyandotte Sheriff’s Office Maj. Andrew Carver were charged with one count each of official misconduct and interference, both misdemeanors.

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TOPEKA, Kan. — Coronavirus hospitalizations have fallen in Kansas from their high last month. Staffing is under less strain as the shaky vaccine rollout gains momentum. But overall case numbers remain stubbornly high. Kansas Department of Health and Environment data shows that 889 adults were hospitalized with confirmed or suspected cases as of Tuesday. That’s down 30% from a high of 1,282 on Dec. 2. It was the lowest COVID-19 patient count since early November. The drop is good news for fatigued staff, who had to work overtime while co-workers were infected or quarantined. The situation grew so dire that…

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LAWRENCE, Kan. — Officials in Lawrence say a woman has died after being hit by a train in Lawrence. Television station KSNT reports the incident happened late Wednesday night at BNSF tracks near Second and Indiana streets. Officers and medics were called to the scene by someone reporting that a person had been hit by a train. Arriving officers found a gravely injured woman. Medics attempted life-saving measures, but police say she died at the scene. Her name was not immediately released.

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WICHITA, Kan. — A 61-year-old Wichita man will have to serve up to 225 years in prison for sexually abusing three children of women he knew or dated. Nathan Brazille was sentenced Tuesday for the abuse of three children as young as 6 or 7 between 2016 and 2018. Brazille was convicted on nine counts in September 2019. Sedgwick County District Judge Jeffrey Syrios ordered Brazille to serve nine consecutive life sentences. Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett said that because the sentences are consecutive, Brazille would not be eligible for parole for 225 years.

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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 theft in the 500 block of McCall Rd. in Manhattan on January 13, 2021, at approximately 3:19 p.m. Officers listed Menards as the victim when it was reported an…

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Thursday’s program featured guests from Fort Riley’s Tax Assistance Center, which opens Jan. 26. Director Elizabeth Thurston and Officer In Charge 1st. Lt. Brittany Simon previewed the free service, which is open to soldiers and their families, as well as military retirees. Fort Riley Garrison Commander Col. Will McKannay delivered the State of the Garrison update to media members on Tuesday and we replayed that on In Focus Thursday morning. We also got an update from Manhattan Regional Airport Director Jesse Romo regarding 2020 enplanement numbers, revenues and runway improvement plans as well as an update on a proposed parking…

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