TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly has released a report outlining more than 60 recommendations to the state Legislature and local government officials on how to tackle racial justice. The recommendations released Thursday were crafted by a commission Kelly appointed in response to the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The panel recommends against driver’s license suspensions for people who fail to pay fines or fees and against no-knock warrants in drug cases. Kelly had asked the panel to focus on relationships between law enforcement agencies and the communities they police.
Author: KMAN Staff
TOPEKA, Kan. — It’s not unusual for officers to pull over suspected drunken drivers on the highways of Kansas. But it is fairly rare to bust a suspected drunken driver while he’s driving a riding lawnmower. That’s what Shawnee County Sheriff’s deputies say they encountered Wednesday afternoon when they spotted a man driving a lawnmower on the southbound shoulder of U.S. Highway 75 near Topeka. KSNT reports that the 25-year-old man was stopped and arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence after he failed a field sobriety test.
LOGAN, Kan. — The Kansas Highway Patrol says two men from Georgia were seriously injured when their all-terrain vehicle hit a deer in northwest Kansas. The patrol says the crash occurred Thursday evening about 6 miles south of Logan in Phillips County. The ATV hit the deer on a county road, went into a ditch and rolled several times. The driver, 19-year-old Tucker William Mobbs, and 51-year-old Herman Van Mobbs, both of Cedartown, Georgia, were taken to Phillips County Hospital in Phillipsburg with serious injuries.
ANDOVER, Kan. — Andover is the latest Kansas city to repeal a ban on pit bulls, after the city council voted this week to repeal a decades-old ordinance against the dog breed. City administrator Jennifer McCausland said the issue gained momentum this year after the city annexed land where some residents owned pit bulls. Midge Grinstead, Kansas director of the Humane Society of the United States, said she had been involved in overturning about 24 bans in Kansas in recent years. She estimated between 80 to 90 pit bull bans still exist in the state.
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 theft in the 200 block of S. Broadway St. in Riley on December 10, 2020, at approximately 3:36 p.m. Officers listed Gambino’s Pizza as the victim when it was…
On Friday’s edition of In Focus we spoke with RCPD Director Dennis Butler.
Riley County commissioners have approved a master lease for a COVID alternate care site. The $21,000 lease agreement is between Riley County and New Hope Church (located at 1300 Fremont), includes a sublease with the Manhattan Retirement Foundation for six months. Commissioner John Ford favored having the site after recent conversations with local leaders. He says this is something that might not be needed right now, but will be needed in the future months. “It’s gonna ramp up before it gets better, and it will get better. I see a need for this, I see a need for having this…
SHAWNEE, Kan. — A court document shows the perjury charge filed against Shawnee Mayor Michelle Distler stems from an open meetings complaint she allegedly filed using the name of another person without his permission. The probable cause affidavit released Tuesday shows the investigation was opened on March 10 after a local government “watchdog” informed police in Shawnee, Kansas, that he had received an email from the state attorney general’s office confirming receipt of an online open records complaint that he had not filed. An investigator with the Johnson County District Attorney’s Office subsequently obtained the IP address associated with the…
TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansans who have lost their jobs during the coronavirus pandemic say they are going weeks or months without unemployment benefits. Some lawmakers say they can’t get answers from the state Department of Labor about the problems its having with aging technology. Problems persist nearly six months after the department’s former leader resigned amid unemployment missteps. Unemployed Kansans have taken to social media, saying they have gone weeks without receiving benefits they’re due. Republican legislators suggested this week that the department is being evasive. The department blames an aging computer system and says it’s working to eliminate backlogs.
OLATHE, Kan. — Authorities have identified the driver of a FedEx semitrailer killed when the truck sailed over the side of a suburban Kansas City, Kansas, highway bridge, crashed onto the road below and erupted in flames. The Kansas Highway Patrol says 24-year-old Christian Harris, of Liberty, Missouri, died in the early Wednesday morning crash. Investigators say the crash happened when the truck launched off the side of the Kansas Highway 7 bridge and landed on Kansas Highway 10 below near Olathe. The crash led to a large fire that consumed the truck and shut down all lanes of K-10…