Author: KMAN Staff

Thursday’s show featured a preview of Saturday’s Everybody Counts free community event at the Douglass Community Center in Manhattan with event chair Debbie Nuss. Governor’s Military Counsel Executive Director Perry Wiggins also joined the show Thursday to highlight the proposed 2020 Department of Defense budget, military transitions at Fort Riley and the importance of military participation in the upcoming 2020 Census.

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WICHITA — A 36-year-old southern Kansas man who pretended to be an FBI agent to get out of a traffic ticket has been sentenced to a year of probation. U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister said Jarrod Andra, of Milan, must also pay a $1,000 fine. He had previously pleaded guilty to impersonating an agent. Andra was stopped for speeding in Sumner County in November 2018. In his plea, he admitted that he claimed to be a special agent with the FBI and presented a Sumner County sheriff’s deputy with what appeared to be an FBI identification card with his photo.

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SALINA — Saline County authorities say a body exhumed this week could be that of a woman missing from Belgium. Saline County Sheriff Roger Soldan said Tuesday DNA will determine the identity of a body exhumed from Gypsum Hill Cemetery. The woman, referred to as “Miss Molly,” was buried 33 years ago after her body was found in January 1986 in a creek near Salina. Soldan told The Topeka Capital-Journal the death was investigated as a homicide because the woman was beaten and thrown off a bridge into the creek. He says Interpol in Europe has DNA from the missing…

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WICHITA — A 25-year-old Wichita man is charged with first-degree murder in a shooting that killed a McConnell Air Force Base Airman from South Carolina and injured three others. Markeithen McClaine made his first court appearance Wednesday. He is also charged with three counts of attempted first-degree murder. KAKE-TV reports officers responding to an apartment complex early Saturday found 20-year-old Chancelor Williams unresponsive in the parking lot. He died at the scene. Two other men and a woman were injured. Officer Kevin Wheeler said a disturbance erupted in the parking lot after a party at one of the apartments. Investigators…

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Chicken dinners and good company brought in at least 1,000 people from around the state to the annual Flush Picnic in Pottawatomie County Wednesday. The event is held every year on the last Wednesday of July at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, and dates back to the 1930s. They fry all the chickens on-site and parishioners also donate the ingredients necessary for side dishes and three homemade pies each for dessert. The night features the traditional dinner as well as an assortment of games including bingo, a hat-toss and even a barrel train ride. “It is our main fundraiser for the…

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The AQ Miller School of Journalism and Mass Communications has announced an interim associate director with a background in television production and directing. Dr. Tom Hallaq on Facebook Monday wrote that he accepted the position at Kansas State. He writes that he is excited and believes the position will allow him to gain leadership and administrative experience. Hallaq was first employed at KSU in 2013, previously working for nearly 9 years at Idaho State University and a year and a half at Salt Lake Community College. He earned his bachelor’s in Communications at Brigham Young University, his master’s in Instructional…

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TOPEKA — Auditors say a Kansas fund designed to create jobs sometimes awards funds to groups that aren’t clearly related to economic development. The state Department of Commerce controls the Kansas Job Creation Fund. In an audit released Monday, auditors reported the agency had no written policies to guide how the funds are awarded. The Wichita Eagle reports the commerce department required some companies to produce jobs and other measurable activity in order to receive funds but didn’t have the same requirements for others. The agency has provided 71 awards totaling $25.7 million during the past five years. The fund…

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LAWRENCE — A Lawrence developer has been convicted of illegally disposing of roofing material containing asbestos while remodeling a country club. The Lawrence Journal-World reports that jurors deliberated about two hours before finding Thomas Fritzel guilty of three federal charges related to the failure to properly handle the debris. Asbestos was used for decades as insulation and as a fire-resistant material. But it can cause lung diseases, cancer and other health problems. Federal prosecutors said that Fritzel was aware that the Alvamar Country Club contained asbestos and didn’t follow state disposal requirements. Defense attorney Edward Novak maintained that Fritzel took…

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WICHITA — Wichita State University has paid $50,000 to an Ohio professor who said she lost a job offer after she revealed she was pregnant. Evangeline Heiliger sued the university in December after the school withdrew a job offer for an assistant professor of women’s studies. She said the offer was rescinded after she told Center of Women’s Studies director Chinyere Okafor that she was expecting a baby. The Wichita Eagle reports Heiliger was a visiting professor at Oberlin College in Ohio when she applied for the Wichita State job in 2017. She says after she told Okafor about her…

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KANSAS CITY — A Wyandotte County government official has resigned after being found guilty of misdemeanor battery against a female employee. A jury on Tuesday convicted Dennis Laughlin of grabbing Maddie Waldeck in May 2018 and pushing her against a wall during what had been a “light-hearted” conversation with colleagues after work. He resigned Tuesday after the jury verdict. KCUR reports Laughlin was General Services Director for the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas. He was Waldeck’s boss. Laughlin faces up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. He will be sentenced in late August.…

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