The Halls are alive with the sound of Country Music, as Kerri Haller was recently nominated for the Country Music Teacher Classroom Initiative (CMTCI). This program was designed to provide teachers with classroom supplies and project funds across the United States. Teachers develop a catalogue of desired items for their classrooms and materials required throughout the year. This wish list is then shared each week on social media as part of country musician Jake Gill’s ongoing initiative to serve children and their teachers throughout the United States and beyond. These desired items can be purchased by anyone in the world and…
Author: KMAN Staff
Senator Jerry Moran visited Pawnee Mental Health Services on Friday to present a $832,505 grant for telemedicine services. The grant is being provide by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) as part of their Distance Learning and Telemedicine (DLT) Grants program. Moran says there is a challenge to provide mental health services throughout the state. This is due to not only a lack of professionals, but also the distance for more rural areas. “But distance can be overcome, and the one of the ways it can is through technology,” says Moran. This DLT grant will allow Pawnee to expand their…
The Manhattan Public Library continues to expand their online resources. Maddy Ogle, Manhattan Library Development and Public Relations Coordinator, tells KMAN that they have started a new program called Brain Fuse. Ogle says there are several different sections of the program and she explains one section called HelpNow. “It’s live tutoring sessions that you can go in, the kids can submit their questions and someone will actually connect with them. And the tutors are all either people pursuing their PHD’s- either have their PHD’s, or graduate students. So it’s basically just a free online tutoring session and they also have …
Kansas State University recently received a $350,000 competitive grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to support pollution prevention. The grant continues the university’s Pollution Prevention Institute partnerships with Kansas companies and government entities in pollution prevention efforts. It funds a 10-week internship program for students to get hands-on experience with small businesses and provide recommendations on how to lessen their environmental impact. Pollution prevention specialist Lynelle Ladd says in a release that they’ll help hundreds of businesses with such efforts and help save companies thousands of dollars. These efforts will reduce water usage, hazardous waste, air emissions and energy.…
On Friday’s edition of In Focus we spoke with Ascension Via Christi President and CEO Bob Copple. We also spoke with T. Russell Reitz Animal Shelter Director Deb Watkins. And in our final segment we spoke with Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks & Tourism Warden Ben Jedlicka and R3 Coordinator Tanna Fanshier.
PARK CITY, Kan. — After years of legal battles, construction has begun on a tribal casino near Wichita. The Wyandotte Nation of Oklahoma opened a small casino in a trailer on Wednesday in Park City, on land where it plans to build a larger casino. For now, the tribe can offer only gaming devices like electronic Bingo games. The state has asked a federal court to set aside a decision that allows the Wyandotte Nation to operate a casino in Park City. The state’s lawsuit continues a decades-long dispute over the tribe’s legal authority to build a casino on the…
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A federal judge has ruled a Kansas law that prohibits electioneering within a 250-foot buffer zone of a polling location is constitutional and does not infringe on the First Amendment. U.S. District Judge Holly Teeter dismissed on Wednesday the lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas against Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt and the Johnson County election commissioner. In her ruling, Teeter cited a 1992 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Burson v. Freemen, that rejected a challenge to a similar Tennessee statute. Teeter noted the Kansas electioneering has also stood unchallenged for nearly 60…
TOPEKA, Kan. — Top Republican legislators have signed off on Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s request to extend a state of emergency for the coronavirus pandemic. Their action Wednesday came as the state set another record for COVID-19-related hospitalizations. Eight leaders of the GOP-controlled Legislature, six of them Republicans, quickly and unanimously approved Kelly’s plan to extend the state of emergency until Nov. 15. Meanwhile, the state health department reported that had another 1,244 new confirmed and probable coronavirus cases since Monday, an increase of 2%, to bring the pandemic total to 63, 952. The state averaged a record 29.14 new…
LAWRENCE, Kan. — The Lawrence City Commission has approved a campsite in a city park for the homeless, but made clear the move was temporary while community leaders seek other ways to address homelessness. The Journal-World reports that the commission voted 4-0 Tuesday to approve a 6-month special event permit for a temporary homeless campground at Woody Park. The move comes as the Lawrence Community Shelter recently reduced its capacity from 125 to about 25 people in an effort to maintain social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic. The campsite will provide portable trailers, toilets, showers and social services for 20-25…
TOPEKA, Kan. — Students are urging Washburn University officials to reconsider their decision to cancel spring break in an effort to minimize COVID-19 transmission. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the Washburn Student Government Association passed a resolution Wednesday calling on the administration to consider an alternative that would add three “mental health days” to the spring calendar. The student leaders said they were blindsided by last week’s announcement that students would go through 15 uninterrupted weeks of classes, with finals week one week earlier between May 1 and 7.