The Riley County Health Department 94 new positive cases of COVID-19 were identified Friday and 87 additional people have been added to the recovered list since its previous report. Active cases totaled 500 as of Friday, with Ascension Via Christi caring for six positive patients and two patients under investigation (PUIs). Four of these patients are in the Intensive Care Unit. A total of 3,754 residents have recovered from the virus since the pandemic began. Pottawatomie County added 25 new positive cases and saw 26 more recoveries. Active cases totaled 75 in the county Friday, with seven current hospitalizations. The…
Author: KMAN Staff
Kansas State is continuing to discuss plans for the upcoming semesters. On Friday, K-State held a virtual town hall meeting. One big item on the agenda was an update on the plans for the upcoming semesters. Dr. Charles Taber, Kansas State Provost, says as they head into the 2021 calendar year and the upcoming semesters, they continue to plan as if they will be in Phase 3. He tells KMAN more about the approach for spring of 2021. “We’ll continue to have COVID restrictions,” Taber says. “We’ll continue to require face coverings, six-foot social distancing in classrooms, reductions in class…
TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly has released a report outlining more than 60 recommendations to the state Legislature and local government officials on how to tackle racial justice. The recommendations released Thursday were crafted by a commission Kelly appointed in response to the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The panel recommends against driver’s license suspensions for people who fail to pay fines or fees and against no-knock warrants in drug cases. Kelly had asked the panel to focus on relationships between law enforcement agencies and the communities they police.
TOPEKA, Kan. — It’s not unusual for officers to pull over suspected drunken drivers on the highways of Kansas. But it is fairly rare to bust a suspected drunken driver while he’s driving a riding lawnmower. That’s what Shawnee County Sheriff’s deputies say they encountered Wednesday afternoon when they spotted a man driving a lawnmower on the southbound shoulder of U.S. Highway 75 near Topeka. KSNT reports that the 25-year-old man was stopped and arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence after he failed a field sobriety test.
LOGAN, Kan. — The Kansas Highway Patrol says two men from Georgia were seriously injured when their all-terrain vehicle hit a deer in northwest Kansas. The patrol says the crash occurred Thursday evening about 6 miles south of Logan in Phillips County. The ATV hit the deer on a county road, went into a ditch and rolled several times. The driver, 19-year-old Tucker William Mobbs, and 51-year-old Herman Van Mobbs, both of Cedartown, Georgia, were taken to Phillips County Hospital in Phillipsburg with serious injuries.
ANDOVER, Kan. — Andover is the latest Kansas city to repeal a ban on pit bulls, after the city council voted this week to repeal a decades-old ordinance against the dog breed. City administrator Jennifer McCausland said the issue gained momentum this year after the city annexed land where some residents owned pit bulls. Midge Grinstead, Kansas director of the Humane Society of the United States, said she had been involved in overturning about 24 bans in Kansas in recent years. She estimated between 80 to 90 pit bull bans still exist in the state.
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 200 block of S. Broadway St. in Riley on December 10, 2020, at approximately 3:36 p.m. Officers listed Gambino’s Pizza as the victim when it was…
On Friday’s edition of In Focus we spoke with RCPD Director Dennis Butler.
Riley County commissioners have approved a master lease for a COVID alternate care site. The $21,000 lease agreement is between Riley County and New Hope Church (located at 1300 Fremont), includes a sublease with the Manhattan Retirement Foundation for six months. Commissioner John Ford favored having the site after recent conversations with local leaders. He says this is something that might not be needed right now, but will be needed in the future months. “It’s gonna ramp up before it gets better, and it will get better. I see a need for this, I see a need for having this…
SHAWNEE, Kan. — A court document shows the perjury charge filed against Shawnee Mayor Michelle Distler stems from an open meetings complaint she allegedly filed using the name of another person without his permission. The probable cause affidavit released Tuesday shows the investigation was opened on March 10 after a local government “watchdog” informed police in Shawnee, Kansas, that he had received an email from the state attorney general’s office confirming receipt of an online open records complaint that he had not filed. An investigator with the Johnson County District Attorney’s Office subsequently obtained the IP address associated with the…