Jury trials have largely been on hold during the pandemic as the 21st Judicial District Court seeks potential venues for spacing concerns. Chief Judge Grant Bannister informed Riley County commissioners Monday one option for jury selection and subsequent trials that follow, could be the nearby Wareham Opera House. “On our higher level criminal felonies, we need to seat 39 people and we need to have usually a dozen or two dozen, sometimes three dozen backups based upon people we’ll excuse either for cause or other challenges and then have to back fill with them. So it’s a pretty large number…
Author: KMAN Staff
Riley County commissioners approved a mid year salary adjustment for county employees on Monday. The adjustment is a 1% pay scale increase for all active employees. The 1% increase is for the mid year of 2021, but will also include 2020 and the first part of 2021 for a total of 2.52%. The reason this was brought to the commission was due to the county freezing salaries for the 2021 budget last year in anticipation of economic challenges due to the pandemic. However, the impact was less than anticipated. Budget and Finance Officer Tami Robison told the commission that since…
TOPEKA, Kan. — A criminal complaint alleges lobbyist James Gardner had a blood-alcohol level more than three times the legal limit at the time of a February crash that injured his passenger. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the complaint which was filed May 6 charges Gardner with aggravated battery committed while driving under the influence. It also charges the 48-year-old Gardner with a felony count of interference with a law enforcement officer and a misdemeanor count of transporting liquor in an open container. Gardner is a board member for Shawnee County’s Mission Township, where he serves as treasurer.
WICHITA, Kan. — Police have arrested the sister of a 40-year-old woman who was found fatally shot inside a Wichita home. Police say in a news release that they arrested 34-year-old Joy Wilson on suspicion of first-degree murder stemming from the shooting of Shawna Webb. Officers responding to an assist call at St. Joseph Hospital at about 5:20 a.m. Saturday contacted Wilson and learned that Webb was shot and needed help. Officers saw a handgun inside Wilson’s vehicle. They located a crime scene at a Wichita home where Webb was found inside unresponsive. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
LEAVENWORTH, Kan. — Police say a suspect in last week’s fatal shooting of a Leavenworth, Kansas, man has surrendered to authorities. Leavenworth Police Chief Pat Kitchens said in a statement that the suspect faces a charge of first-degree murder in the shooting of 31-year-old Floyd Ross Jr. The identity of the 21-year-old suspect who surrendered on Friday was not immediately disclosed. The Kansas City Star reports that police responding to reports of shots fired at a city intersection on May 4 found Ross suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at a hospital.
FAIRWAY, Kan. — One person is dead after their vehicle slammed into a tree in the Kansas City area with enough force to split the car in two. The crash happened Sunday morning along Shawnee Mission Parkway near 55th Street in Fairway, Kansas. The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office said that because of excessive speeds, the vehicle appears to have split in half after it struck a tree on the side of the road. The driver died in the crash. The driver’s name wasn’t immediately released Sunday. The crash remains under investigation.
TOPEKA, Kan. — Parts of Kansas are cleaning up after weekend storms brought flash flooding, along with pockets of wind and lightning damage. Residents of the north-central Kansas town of Natoma were assessing damage on Monday, a day after a major flash flood. Mayor Rick Dunlap told KWCH-TV that the flood caused more damage than even the flood of 1993. The town of about 270 residents is in Osborne County. Saline County also saw major damage Sunday, with water in several homes. Residents say the water came up so quickly they had little warning. In Topeka, lightning downed a tree…
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 burglary in the 800 block of Moro in Manhattan on May 14, 2021, at approximately 9:09 a.m. Officers listed a 22-year-old male as the victim when it was…
Riley County Historical Museum Director Cheryl Collins joined us to discuss fashion and clothing stores of Manhattan from the 1950s through the 1990s.
Kansas State University held their commencement ceremonies at Bill Snyder family stadium over the weekend for 2020 and 2021 graduates. Graduates from the Fall and Spring semesters of 2020 who did have a commencement ceremony were invited back to join the 2021 graduates. The ceremonies began on Friday with the Graduate School and College of Veterinary Medicine. During the Graduate School ceremony, K-State President Richard Myers commended the resilience of the graduates who spent the pandemic finishing their courses and to those who came back to celebrate. Myers says the graduates’ presence at the ceremonies showed how the university came…