Author: KMAN Staff

Republican and former Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer spoke to KMAN Tuesday about former Lt. Gov. Tracey Mann’s bid to represent Kansas’s 1st Congressional District in this year’s election amid the coronavirus pandemic. According to Colyer, if Mann is elected, Kansas will be getting someone who is not in favor shutting down businesses. “He wants to make sure you have good testing and tracing, but it’s important that we get the economy going,” Colyer said. “We’re going to have to live with this. We can and we can accommodate that.” One area of testing Colyer would like to see improved is…

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Riley County Health Department has issued the latest local health order. Local Health Order No. 16 will go into effect Thursday at 12:01 am and does not have an expiration date.  Instead, it will remain in place until the data indicates that a change is needed. The new order will allow mass gatherings of greater than 50 individuals, but less than two thousand through a permit process. Anyone who wishes to host an event or gathering of more than 50 people must fill out a request on the health department’s website. The permit process must be started at least 14…

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Release from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. TOPEKA – The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) has amended its travel quarantine list. Florida as well as those countries with a CDC Level 3 Travel Health Notice with restrictions remain, but Arizona, Bahrain and French Guiana are removed effective today. Those traveling internationally are subject to CDC re-entry guidance and protocols. This list is effective for all persons returning to or entering Kansas on the effective dates. The state will review/update this list every two weeks. A comprehensive list of those individuals needing to quarantine for 14 days includes…

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Mail-in ballot numbers The Pottawatomie County Clerks Office has seen high rates of voter participation via mail-in ballots so far this year. “We are getting hundreds of them back a day,” Nancy McCarter, Pottawatomie County clerk, said. “One day we got 400 and that was pretty exciting. You’ll never get 100 percent of them back, but I’m hoping we’ll get 80 percent of them back. Some people just don’t get them in the mail.” McCarter says mail-in ballots have been a popular choice for voters throughout the rest of the state as well. “The whole state of Kansas, we set…

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ST. JOHN, Kan. — An agreement over water rights at a man-made wildlife refuge in central Kansas has been signed. The Hutchinson News reports the agreement between the federal government and local farmers over water rights in Quivira National Wildlife Refuge was signed Saturday. The plan is to end water rights in sensitive areas of the wildlife refuge and allow water rights in less sensitive areas. The water-filled refuge is a hotspot for wildlife migration. The newspaper reports that the agreement means local farmers can continue irrigating their crops. The next step in the water-rights agreement is to conduct environmental…

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WICHITA, Kan. — Kansas is seeing the median age of people who’ve contracted the novel coronavirus drop as the number of reported cases grows. The Wichita Eagle reports that the state Department of Health and Environment says that the median age for people infected in Kansas is now 37, down from 52 on March 24, less than three weeks after the state’s first reported case. Kansas has seen a resurgence of cases since early June that has pushed the number of reported cases past 25,000 and the number of COVID-19-related deaths past 320. Officials have blamed much of the resurgence…

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WICHITA, Kan. — Police say an employee at an AutoZone store was fatally shot Sunday night in southeast Wichita. Police Capt. Kevin Kochenderfer said three employees were in the business at the time of the shooting. KWCH-TV reports one worker was in the restroom, the other was in the back getting a part. Emergency crews responded to the scene around 9 p.m. Sunday after an employee found a co-worker with a gunshot wound on the main floor and called police. The victim was identified as 40-year-old Nicholas Blue of Wichita.

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KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Investigators say in court papers that a 3-year-old Kansas girl whose remains were found earlier this month was covered in bruises and died of a brain bleed. The remains of Olivia Ann Jansen of Kansas City, Kansas, were discovered after her father, Howard Jansen III, reported her missing. The 29-year-old father and his girlfriend have since been charged with felony murder and other crimes. WDAF-TV reports a court affidavit says her face, arms and legs were covered in bruises. An autopsy showed significant bleeding on the back of her brain. Her grandparents have said they had…

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HALSTEAD, Kan. — Authorities say one person was killed when a train and tractor collided in central Kansas. KSNW reports that the crash happened just before 4 p.m. Monday south of U.S. 50 between Burrton and Halstead in Harvey County. No other details were immediately released, including the name of the victim.

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