WEBSTER CITY, Iowa — A 34-year-old Kansas has been convicted of killing his girlfriend in Iowa in 2018. Zackery Bassett, of Elwood, Kansas, was found guilty Tuesday of second-degree murder in the September 2018 death of 50-year-old Andrea Solokowski, in Webster City, Iowa. Bassett was originally charged with first-degree murder in the case. Prosecutors said Bassett had abused and stalked Solokowski, of Sioux City, for more than a year before her death. An autopsy found injuries consistent with asphyxiation but Solokowski’s cause of death was listed as undetermined. The maximum sentence possible for second-degree murder is 50 years in prison.…
Author: KMAN Staff
SHAWNEE, Kan. — Police in the Kansas City, Kansas, suburb of Shawnee say a high school student found with a handgun in his backpack at school has been arrested. The Shawnee Police Department said in a news release that the gun and other contraband were found by Shawnee Mission Northwest High School staff Thursday morning in a search of the student’s backpack. Principal Lisa Gruman said in a note to parents that the search was conducted and gun found during an investigation involving an unrelated matter. Police confiscated the gun and arrested the student, who is under 18 and whose…
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 aggravated assault, criminal threat and criminal damage to property in Manhattan on February 25, 2021, at approximately 6:27 a.m. Officers listed 36- and 38-year-old males and a 35-year-old female…
On Friday’s edition of In Focus we spoke with RCPD Director Dennis Butler. We also spoke with National Weather Service Warning Coordination Meteorologist Chad Omitt.
The Flint Hills Wellness Coalition is asking Manhattan and Riley County residents to respond to an online survey. The survey is to share the community’s perceptions about three behaviors that reduce risk for serious health conditions; physical activity, healthy eating, and commercial tobacco control. Pathways to a Healthy Kansas Co-Coordinator Debbie Nuss says the survey is part of a grant from Blue Cross Blue Shield. “One of the first things that we are required to do is a survey of the community to ask community members to share their perceptions about how well the community already addresses those issues.” Nuss…
SALINA, Kan. (AP) – Salina police are investigating the shooting death of a 36-year-old woman. Police said officers responded Tuesday to a call about gunfire and someone screaming. They found a woman identified as Courtney Ann Hoffman, of Salina, dead inside a vehicle. The case is being investigated as a homicide. No other information was released.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – Kansas lawmakers are moving ahead with two measures that are a response to issues arising during the COVID-19 pandemic. One measure considered Wednesday is designed to help courts and prosecutors deal with a backlog of criminal cases. Another is a proposal to limit state and local officials’ power in setting restrictions in future pandemics. The House gave first-round approval to a bill that would suspend until May 2024 a law that sets deadlines for criminal trials to protect defendants’ constitutional right to a speedy resolution of their cases. The Senate Judiciary Committee had a hearing on…
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) – Police in Kansas City, Kansas, say officers found the body of a man at the site of a wrecked car that had likely crashed days earlier. Police say officers were called Wednesday morning to investigate a report of a vehicle lying in a creek bed along Riverview Avenue. Arriving officers found the body of a man in his 60s. Police say an investigation led them to believe the man had been driving the vehicle Sunday night when it left the road, hit an embankment and landed in the partially frozen creek bed. Police say the…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – A legislative audit says Kansas may have paid $600 million worth of bogus claims for unemployment benefits last year. The report released Wednesday by the GOP-controlled Legislature’s nonpartisan auditing division gave a figure that’s more than double the state Department of Labor’s estimate. The report suggested that nearly one in four unemployment claims paid last year could have been fraudulent amid a surge in filings during the COVID-19 pandemic. The department on Tuesday estimated last year’s fraudulent claims as worth $290 million. The department strongly disputed the audit’s figure and said in a written response but…
In the month of February, the nation reflects on African American history, the Riley County Historical Museum however sheds light on the historical impacts locally with their own self-guided driving tour. Director Cheryl Collins says this self-guided tour allows the community to start anywhere along the route, and go at their own pace, to visit locations instrumental to this community and beyond like the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, built on the corner of 4th and Yuma St., in 1879. Collins points out that this was an extremely important date in Riley County history, because that’s the year that the…