Reporting crimes is a little more convenient, as Monday the Riley County Police Department unveiled a new online reporting platform. Non-emergency crimes including property damage, vehicular damage, theft and identity theft can be reported through the new online platform. Crimes involving weapons, threats to public safety, stolen vehicles or items stolen from vehicles, medication or hazardous materials must be called in and reported to an officer. Records Management Supervisor Kari Breault says the additional reporting method will help improve service efficiency to crime victims in Riley County. The new reporting mechanism will not alter in-person services. Officers will continue to…
Author: KMAN Staff
Hospital officials are asking people to continue following recommended COVID-19 precautions as 17 positive patients are receiving treatment at Ascension Via Christi. According to a Friday release by Hosptial President and CEO Bob Copple, COVID patients make up more than 40 percent of all admitted. Five of those 17 patients are receiving mechanical ventilation support. Copple says the vast majority of those are unvaccinated, and vaccinated patients seeking treatment on average have additional significant health issues aside from COVID. Just Wednesday, 13 were hospitalized. He says the situation has led to the postponement of multiple elective surgeries and has taxed…
With snowfall forecast to start early on New Years Day, the City of Manhattan has Public Works crews on standby to treat snowy and icy roadways around town. Riley County is braced for the weather, with a winter storm warning — upgraded from a watch Friday — in effect from midnight January 1 through midnight January 2. Chance of precipitation is highly likely amid the forecast 10 degree Fahrenheit temperatures according to National Weather Service projections. Between two to eight inches of snow is anticipated. As precipitation is expected to start around midnight New Years Day, Manhattan officials have planned…
On Friday’s edition of In Focus we spoke with State Sen. Tom Hawk.
Riley County crews are ready to go for the impending snow storm Saturday. Public Works Operation Manager Alvin Perez says crews had been preparing all morning Thursday. They loaded the trucks up with salt to treat the roads before the snow hits the streets. Public works is also fully stocked with salt, which Perez says was not an issue. Crews are already scheduled for the overnight treatment and possible clearing of the roads in the county. Perez says with the high wind, there is a possibility of snow blowing off the road and into the gravel shoulders. The wind will…
The K-State Research and Extension Office is advising growers of a new corn disease that’s emerged in the region, that if left unchecked could inflict costly yield damage. . It’s called tar spot, and has spread from the corn belt west. K-State row crop disease specialist Rodrigo Onofre is advising corn growers to become more familiar with it. Onofre says the fortunate thing is that specified fungicide treatments will knock the disease back, but it requires early detection. Tar spot is a new disease threat to Kansas corn production, Onofre advised growers to learn more about it ahead of spring…
Pawnee Mental Health Services is applying for federal grants to expand its services. The federal government passed statutes and definitions for community mental health centers to be defined as Certified Community Behavioral Health Centers. Pawnee Executive Director Robbin Cole says the CCBHC is essentially a federal definition for a range of services. Last Spring, the Kansas legislature passed the state’s certification process, as well as a plan for a funding model. Cole says there are currently six community health centers that have received federal grants to reach that certification. Cole says they are excited about the emphasis integrating physical and…
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — With a severe cold snap approaching, Wyandotte County, Kansas, will not open an emergency overnight shelter, a decision that some service providers worry could have fatal consequences. The Kansas City Star reports that service providers preparing to open the shelter in Kansas City, Kansas, instead learned that the Unified Government won’t allow it. The decision leaves the county without any overnight cold weather shelters. Temperatures are expected to drop to around zero degrees this weekend. Kansas City, Kansas, Mayor Tyrone Garner wrote in a statement to the Star that his goal is to address homelessness in…
WICHITA, Kan. — A Wichita man has been sentenced to more than 3 1/2 years in prison for a parking lot punch that killed a man. KSNW-TV reports that a Sedgwick County judge on Wednesday also ordered 38-year-old Steven Speakman to spend an additional two years under supervision after his release from prison, and to pay more than $17,000 in restitution. Speakman was originally charged with second-degree murder in the death of Haley Collins, but was found guilty in August of involuntary manslaughter. The two men were arguing on a store parking lot in 2019. Witnesses told police they saw…
TOPEKA, Kan. — The Kansas Supreme Court has upheld the first-degree murder conviction of a Topeka man over a fatal road rage shooting more than five years ago. The court on Thursday rejected arguments from an attorney for Andre Clark Rhoiney Jr., that the prosecutor made improper statements during closing arguments. The shooting of 28-year-old Michael Stadler occurred in October 2016, when Rhoiney was 23. According to trial testimony, Rhoiney fired two shots at a van that Stadler was in after people in the two vehicles had exchanged words and rude gestures. A Shawnee County judge sentenced Rhoiney to life…