Health care professionals in the area are optimistic about the current rollout of COVID vaccinations. Riley County recently received 2,500 doses of the COVID vaccine. Ascension Via Christi President Bob Copple is excited to be getting these new doses. To him, this occasion makes the vaccine rollout more of a reality due to the large number of doses. “Huge impact with a lot of people, now we’re talking about big chunks of the county population,” says Copple. A large portion of healthcare workers in the community still need to be vaccinated as part of phase one. The Riley County Health…
Author: KMAN Staff
LIEAP, or Low Income Energy Assistance Program is a federally funded program for those with low income, offering them support with their Evergy and/or Kansas Gas payments. https://www.benefits.gov/benefit/1557 Director of Client Services, Warren Holmes said this program has been underreported and many people didn’t even know about the program. For this reason, his organization began offering assistance with the process and filling out the application, as “it’s not hard, it’s just a little bit confusing for some people.” “As they come in, we’ll set up appointments for them, and then we will go through their preparation and then add to…
Riley County’s end of year revenues for 2020 came in slightly down from the previous year. Treasurer Shilo Heger told commissioners Thursday that compared to 2019, Riley County revenues were down about $40,000. At the end of December, the balance for the general fund was $10,585,588, which is up a little over $2 million dollars from December 2019. However, the total funds ended at $94,030,384, down from 2019. Heger estimates the 2020 general fund balance would have come in $2.8 million under if not for funding from the federal CARES Act. A major impact to that fund was the emergency…
WICHITA, Kan. — Wichita police say the cousin of a man who was stabbed to death has been arrested. Police say 39-year-old Jason Payne was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of first-degree murder. Early Wednesday, police found Payne lying facedown in a street. Payne was treated and released at a hospital. Investigators went to a home connected to Payne and found 34-year-old Michael Montgomery dead. Police spokesman Officer Charley Davidson said Payne and Montgomery had an altercation at the home and Payne stabbed Montgomery. Police did not say why Payne needed medical condition before his arrest.
TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas is on track to pay out an extra $300-a-week federal unemployment benefit as part of a coronavirus rescue aid package enacted late last month. Top Department of Labor staffer Ryan Wright said the agency was in the process of testing the requisite system. Roughly two dozen states have begun paying out the extra benefit, but Wright noted that neighboring states were also not yet up and running either. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that he didn’t commit to a firm time frame but said “we are talking days and weeks, not months” and insisted that the state…
TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas legislators are moving quickly to try a different approach in seeking to limit city and county taxes. The Senate voted 34-1 on Thursday for a proposed transparency law that would require local officials to notify their constituents and hold a public hearing if they intend to spend extra dollars raised with property taxes. The bill would repeal what many lawmakers see as an ineffective a lid on city and county property taxes that took effect in 2017. The Republican-controlled Legislature approved a similar transparency bill last year, but Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed it. She said…
WICHITA, Kan. — Police have identified a man arrested on suspicion of fatally shooting another man outside a Wichita restaurant and say the suspect has a long criminal history. The shooting was reported around 1:30 p.m. Thursday in south Wichita. A police investigation revealed that the shooting stemmed from a disturbance outside Berrieria Tito restaurant and that the man who was shot made his way back into the restaurant, where he died. Police have not yet released the victim’s name. Police have arrested 26-year-old Adrian Nicholas Zongker, who is currently on parole on a separate conviction. The Wichita Eagle reports…
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 a missing person in the 4200 block of Spook Rock Way in Manhattan on January 14, 2021, at approximately 2:52 p.m. Officers listed a 29-year-old male as the victim…
Ascension Via Christi President and CEO Bob Copple provided a breakdown on why vaccines will be so important in getting through the COVID-19 pandemic. T. Russel Reitz Animal Shelter Director Deb Watkins provided an update on the shelter’s adoption numbers and upcoming events. Shepherd’s Crossing’s Beth Klug and Warren Holmes highlighted its LEAP program, providing financial assistance to those needing help with gas or electric bills.
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…