LARNED, Kan. — Two employees at Larned State Hospital are charged with helping a convicted sexual offender escape last summer. The two female employees, 50-year-old Rachel Rena Perez, of Larned, and 45-year-old Liliana Guadalupe Houser, of Garden City, made their first court appearances Tuesday. They each face more than a dozen charges related to the escape of John Freeman Colt in June. Colt was recaptured in Utah in September. Pawnee County Attorney Douglas McNett said in a release the charges against Perez and Houser include having unlawful sexual relations with a patient and trafficking in contraband.
Author: KMAN Staff
On Wednesday’s edition of In Focus we spoke with Wamego USD 320 Interim Superintendent Greg Mann and Rock Creek USD 323 Superintendent Kevin Logan. Manhattan Area Technical College President Jim Genandt also joined the program.
A well earned week off with pay will be given to K-State staff. Last Thursday, President Richard Myers put out an email to K-State faculty and staff about receiving a week off with pay. Myers acknowledged the staff members for the accomplishments they’ve made navigating through the pandemic. To show gratitude he mentioned employees will get the week of Dec. 27- Dec. 31 off, with pay. Employees won’t be required to take leave during the holiday break. Myers says there will be some exclusions, including temporary and student employees. If student employees are scheduled to work, they must do so.…
Residents of an area near Anthony Middle School are trying to hammer out an agreement with Kansas Gas Service to limit the cutting of trees. Due to an exposed gas line, Kansas Gas Service has planned a project to cut down the trees, on the south side of the middle school property, to work on the pipe. Community members met with a Kansas Gas Service representative Monday, for the second time in two weeks. Transmissions Manager James Parks says the original plan was to remove all of the trees along the creek. Parks says this plan still allows for part…
In a society that is centered around food quantity, sometimes the importance of food quality gets lost. Britney Petty, Ascension Via Christi registered dietitian says last week was Malnutrition Awareness Week, something that many people suffer from and one that she works with closely. She talks more about what exactly malnutrition is. “Malnutrition can be either short-term or long-term, either from just an overall inadequate intake of nutrients or even from the wrong combination of nutrient intake, including vitamins and minerals. Can basically be present with or without a chronic underlying condition or illness.” Petty says while malnutrition typically affects…
WICHITA, Kan. — Police in Wichita say an 11-year-old girl was wounded in an early-morning drive-by shooting Tuesday. Television station KSN reports that the shooting happened shortly after midnight in the city’s Ken-Mar neighborhood. Witnesses tell police that someone in a black sport utility vehicle shot into a house, then sped away. Police say the girl was hit by gunfire and taken to a hospital with serious injuries, but she is expected to survive. Police say four other people in the home at the time of the shooting were not injured. Investigators say they have identified a suspect, but no…
WICHITA, Kan. — Residents outside Wichita who get their water from a rural district no longer have to boil their tap water after testing showed it to be safe. Television station KAKE reports that the Kansas Department of Health and Environment on Sunday rescinded a boil water advisory for Sedgwick County Rural Water District No. 2 public water supply system. That came a day after the city of Wichita’s water was declared safe after the entire city of nearly 400,000 and surrounding communities were placed under a boil order. The rural water district was the last water supplier in the…
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — An organization run by rapper Jay-Z has facilitated donations totaling $1 million for the local innocence project to investigate wrongful convictions in Wyandotte County. The Kansas City Star reports the money was raised by Team Roc, which is the criminal justice division of Jay-Z’s entertainment organization, Roc Nation. Tricia Rojo Bushnell, executive director of the Midwest Innocence Project, calls it “a huge investment.” She says the ability to look at these cases is going to shine a light on what the group needs to do to provide a just criminal legal system in Wyandotte County.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — First lady Jill Biden is scheduled to visit a Kansas City, Kansas, school as part of a tour of Hispanic organizations across the country. Biden will visit El Centro Academy, a dual-language early childhood education program, on Tuesday. Her visit is part of a series of stops she is making to hear the concerns of the Hispanic Americans during National Hispanic Heritage Month. Biden will be joined by U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids of Kansas and U.S. Small Business Administrator Isabella Garcias Guzman for a “charla” at El Centro. Charla is Spanish for chat.
Opening comments. What should the city’s role be in supporting the Riley County Health Department, including decisions made for public health such as the masking ordinance and other COVID response measures? What commitments will you make to ensure that Manhattan has safe, quality, and affordable housing? Please offer a specific example. How best should the city of Manhattan provide for and fund public transportation? What improvements should be made to Manhattan’s public transportation system, and why are these improvements necessary? What is your position for setting a living wage for Manhattan, and what do you consider a living wage for…