Kansas State University has announced a permanent closure of its indoor swimming facility at the Natatorium due to ongoing ventilation and maintenance issues. The pool was closed last March due to pandemic-related ventilation issues. The university says ongoing maintenance concerns have created a $4 million backlog in needed repairs, which the university cannot afford to fund. The pool is classified as a recreation facility and is not eligible for Education Building Funds, which is the state funding source used to maintain campus buildings. University officials are engaging with a Manhattan community group involving representatives from the city, USD 383 Manhattan/Ogden…
Author: KMAN Staff
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Former President Donald Trump has endorsed Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran for reelection in 2022. Trump’s early backing makes it unlikely the two-term Republican will face a serious challenge in the GOP primary. Trump’s endorsement Thursday evening came less than two weeks after Moran voted with most Republican senators to acquit Trump on an impeachment charge of inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection in Washington. But Moran had voted to certify the results and the Clay County Republican Party censured him earlier this month. That suggested that Moran might face an August 2022 primary challenge. But a former…
WICHITA, Kan. — A judge banned four Mississippi men from hunting anywhere in the world and fined them a total of $48,000 for violating wildlife laws in Kansas. Federal prosecutors said Wednesday the men pleaded guilty to conspiring to kill wild turkeys in excess of the legal limit and taking the birds across state lines. The men are accused of bagging at least 26 wild turkeys during an eight-day trip in 2018. Kansas limits hunters to two wild turkey kills per hunter per season. The hunters also took frequent hunting trips to Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska but did not have…
TOPEKA, Kan. — The Kansas Corporation Commission has rejected two proposals from Evergy involving rates for solar users. The commission said Thursday it would be better to wait until Evergy’s next general rate case to address how residential solar users are billed. One Evergy proposal would have charged solar panel users a monthly grid access fee of $3 per kilowatt, even if the home didn’t use the electrical grid. Another proposal would have charge all customers a minimum bill of $35 per month. Evergy argues it needs to recover the cost of providing on-demand electricity for solar-equipped homes that don’t…
MISSION, Kan. — The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in the U.S. has plummeted by 80,000 in six weeks, and 17% of the nation’s adult population has gotten at least one dose of vaccine. The improvements offer some relief to front-line workers. St. Louis respiratory therapist Joe Kowalczyk recalled that when COVID-19 patients were inundating the region’s hospitals, colleagues arriving for yet another grueling shift with a dwindling supply of ventilators would often glance at their assignments and cry. On his most recent shift at Mercy Hospital St. Louis, there were only about 20 coronavirus patients, down from as…
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.…
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…