Author: KMAN Staff

A process to resettle Afghans displaced by the upheaval when U.S. forces left their country will see the first group arrive in Manhattan in coming weeks. Manhattan-Ogden Schools USD 383 Assistant Superintendent Eric Reid addressing the county’s intergovernmental group earlier this week, as a local organizing group has been working in preparation ahead of refugees moving to the area. Reid said the early number he had been given was that the first group would total 50 in number and be coming the region within two weeks.

The weekly positive rate of coronavirus on campus at Kansas State University has dipped to its lowest point of the fall. According to the school’s weekly testing data dashboard, only nine people on campus tested positive for the virus last week out of 506 who were given tests. That’s a positive rate for the week of one-point-78. KSU Chief of Staff and Director of Community Relations Linda Cook says the school has been able to avoid outbreaks due to being proactive. The decline to the low percentage comes after a peak of an over eight-percent positive rate the week following Labor Day.

Riley County Health officials have confirmed 68 new positive COVID cases in the county. Along with the new positive cases, 139 additional recoveries are being reported since the last report on September 22. Five COVID-positive patients are currently under care at Ascension Via Christi Hospital in Manhattan. Two vaccinated patients are on the medical floor. Three patients are in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), one is vaccinated. The positivity rate for last week was 3.6 percent, down from 5.7 percent the week before. The two week average for the county is 4.78 percent. Riley County Health Department Director Julie Gibbs…

The draft of the first five-year strategic plan for the city of Manhattan will be made public later this week. The city commission got a look at materials tied to it at Tuesday’s work session, weighing in. Part of the discussion included remnants from the recent budget sessions, with Mayor Wynn Butler noting that he was looking for more substance when it comes to fiscal responsibility, including a suggestion that a debt limit be considered. Commissioner Mark Hatesohl was one expressing concern that the “at-a-glance” presentation was full of priorities sought by city staff. Sarah Bongiorno with Planning NEXT, the…

WICHITA, Kan. — Authorities say a 17-year-old who became unresponsive while being restrained at a Kansas juvenile facility died two days later at a hospital. He was taken into custody by Wichita police on suspicion of three counts of battery on a law enforcement officer. Police took him Friday to the Sedgwick County juvenile intake assessment center, where Col. Brian White of the Sedwick County Sheriff’s Office said he assaulted staff. The juvenile was restrained and while restrained he became unresponsive. Emergency medical responders took him to a hospital, where he died Sunday. It is unclear whether the restraints played…

WICHITA, Kan. — Authorities say a Sedgwick County sheriff’s detention deputy has been arrested twice on the same day stemming from separate incidents involving his domestic partner. The sheriff’s office said in a news release that detention deputy Aareon White was arrested Sunday by Wichita police on allegations of misdemeanor domestic violence battery and battery before being released on bond. A few hours later, he was arrested again by police for an alleged misdemeanor violation of protection from abuse order. White has been employed by the sheriff’s office for about six months. He was suspended without pay pending the outcome…

WICHITA, Kan. — A former Wichita police officer has been sentenced to a year of probation after he admitted he helped a woman avoid arrest. Matthew Powell would serve a year in jail if he violates probation. He also cannot be certified again to work as a law enforcement officer. A probable cause statement says that on May 3, 2019, Powell told a woman who was wanted on a warrant that officers were coming to arrest her. The woman was taken into custody about two weeks later. KAKE-TV reports the woman told detectives that Powell had helped her avoid arrest…

LAWRENCE, Kan. — A 27-year-old Paola man was sentenced to more than three years in prison after a fatal crash killed a Baker University employee. The Douglas County District Attorney’s office said Tuesday that Tayler Livingston was sentenced to 41 months in prison for involuntary manslaughter. Authorities said Livingston’s car was trying to pass another vehicle on Kansas 33 about 6 miles east of Baldwin City in February 2020. The Kansas Highway Patrol says Livingston’s vehicle hit a car driven by 25-year-old Deeva Sharma, of Leawood. Sharma died in the crash. The district attorney’s office say Livingston was intoxicated at…

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A 57-year-old Sedalia man admitted in federal court that he tried to arrange the murder of a victim in a statutory sodomy case. Jon Mark Wilson pleaded guilty Tuesday to using a cell phone and crossing state lines in commission of a murder for hire. He admitted that he paid an undercover agent $2,000 to murder the victim in a statutory sodomy case. Prosecutors said Wilson asked another person in January 2019 to arrange the murder. That person contacted law enforcement and arranged a meeting with the undercover officer in Kansas City, Kansas. Wilson was arrested…