Friday’s program featured our monthly conversation with Manhattan Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director Karen Hibbard. Among her updates was a recent update of the CVB website. K-State Riley County Extension Director Gary Fike discussed the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance center and how its operations are happening under COVID-19 restrictions. We previewed the Flint Hills Breadbasket’s Souper Bowl food fundraiser with Director Maribeth Kieffer, and organizers Bill Kennedy and Dave Ekart. Curt Herrman, local school board member and avid Kansas City Chiefs fan talks about his new world record collection of Chiefs memorabilia in his “Chiefseum.”
Author: KMAN Staff
The National Bio and Agro Defense Facility in Manhattan be home to several different research units. One of the units that will be housed inside the facility will be the Foreign Animal Disease Research Unit which is currently housed at Plum Island. Dr. Luis Rodriguez, research leader of the unit, talks more about the responsibilities of his team. “To protect US agricultural assets and keep our food supply safe and our $1.5 trillion agricultural industry and food-related industry protected from these foreign animal diseases,” Rodriguez says. Dr. Rodriguez says his team works with several diseases. He says that recently they…
Fort Riley has begun a 60-day military stand down for violent extremism. The move is part of a Department of Defense-wide effort in response to the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol Building riot, which involved several active-duty military personnel. Perry Wiggins, Governor’s Military Council executive director, says the stand down gives military leaders a chance to address the issue with their units. “I think they’re going to address extremism because there’s no place for extremism in the ranks of the United States military,” Wiggins said. “All military members raise their right hand and swear to defend the Constitution of the United…
SHAWNEE, Kan. — The mayor of Shawnee, Kansas, has reached a diversion agreement with prosecutors that would resolve a perjury charge stemming from an open meetings complaint she filed using the name of another person without his permission. The Kansas City Star reports a court notation against Shawnee Mayor Michelle Distler indicates a diversion order was entered on Tuesday. The investigation was opened last year after a local government “watchdog” informed police that he had received an email from the state attorney general’s office confirming receipt of his open records complaint he had not filed.
TOPEKA, Kan. — A Kansas lawmaker and the state’s Republican attorney general are pushing a bill to require high school students to pass a civics test to graduate. The goal they say is to increase civic engagement. The proposal is facing pushback from members of the largest teacher’s union in the state, the second-largest school district and the Kansas Association of School Boards, which say that Kansas students are already getting an education in civics in government and history classes. The Kansas State Board of Education, which rejected a similar proposal about six years ago, also opposes the bill.
TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas labor officials are saying that new security protocols are blocking thousands of fraudulent attempts every hour to access Kansas’ unemployment benefits system. But those assurances did little Wednesday to dispel the concerns of Republican lawmakers. The state Department of Labor reported that it had blocked more than 538,000 attempts from internet bots or human scammers to log into its unemployment system during the 27 hours after a shutdown of the system ended Tuesday morning. The department shut down the system Saturday afternoon to add new security protocols after a flood of fraudulent claims for benefits. GOP…
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — An Independence business owner who admitted he hired a man to burn down a rival business has been sentenced to more than six years in federal prison. Federal prosecutors say 44-year-old William “Bill” Joseph Reneau, of Overland Park, Kansas, was sentenced Tuesday to 78 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $167,085 in restitution to his victims. Reneau pleaded guilty in August to single counts of arson and being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. Investigators say Reneau was the owner of Gold Rush Exchange in Independence when he hired a man…
WICHITA, Kan. — Wichita police have found the body of a woman whose boyfriend was found dead earlier this week. Wichita police spokesman Charley Davidson said officers found 18-year-old Kaylah Blackmon dead inside her car Thursday. The car was located in the parking lot of an apartment complex in Wichita. Authorities have been searching for Blackmon since the body of her boyfriend, 17-year-old Michael Beasley, was found near an abandoned church in Wichita on Monday. Authorities have released no other details about the deaths.
NBAF Coordinator Dr. Ken Burton, Communications Director Katie Pawlosky and NBAF Foreign Animal Disease Research Unit Research Leader Dr. Luis Rodriguez joined us. Dr. Rodriguez highlighted some of the promising research his office will bring to the Manhattan site, once moved from Plum Island. From the Governor’s Military Council, Executive Director Gen. Perry Wiggins was our guest Thursday to discuss Fort Riley happenings and other military related news.