WICHITA — Wichita police say a 9-year-old boy died in a shooting at a mobile home park. Police spokesman Charley Davidson says three children who lived at the home and two of their friends were in the home when the boy was shot Monday morning. The boy was one of the friends visiting the family. No further information was immediately available. The investigation continues.
Author: KMAN Staff
Riley County Historical Museum Director Cheryl Collins played some Famous Kansan trivia on In Focus Monday for the first three segments, ahead of Kansas Day coming up Jan. 29. We also spoke with Battle of the Bulge committee president Greg Penfield and local WWII veterans Jim Sharp and Wallace Jeffrey about their reunion event coming up Jan. 26 at the American Legion in Manhattan.
KANSAS CITY — A new study says Kansas goes farther than any other state in limiting state and local agencies from influencing policy about food nutrition labels and portion sizes. The Kansas News Service reports that New York University researcher Jennifer Pomeranz’s recent study found that Kansas does more to limit the authority of local governments on food policy than any of the 13 other states with similar legislation. The state’s 2016 pre-emption law prevents local authorities from restricting portion sizes, taxing soda and sugary drinks and banning “incentive items,” such as toys in a McDonald’s Happy Meal. Similar bills…
LAWRENCE — The acting president of Haskell Indian Nations University will continue in the job for two more months. The school in Lawrence said Friday that Daniel Wildcat, a longtime Haskell faculty member, will stay in that role until March 18. Wildcat took over temporary leadership Nov. 20, when the U.S. Bureau of Indian Education announced the current president, Venida Chenault, would be on special assignment for the BIE for up to 60 days. The Lawrence Journal-World reports Chenault’s 60 days would have ended Monday. Friday’s news release did not mention Chenault. Stephen Prue, executive assistant to the Haskell president,…
KANSAS CITY — A 49-year-old Overland Park man is facing federal charges in an alleged scheme that prosecutors say cost the government more than $12 million. Troy Bechtel was charged Friday with two counts of major program fraud and two counts of lying to investigators. The U.S. Attorney’s office said Bechtel and others falsely claimed that United Medical Design Builders, of Merriam, was controlled by Joseph Dial Jr., a disabled Army veteran. The company won a $12.7 million U.S. Defense Department contract to design and build four U.S. Air Force bases under a program for businesses owned or operated by…
TOPEKA — A key part of Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly’s budget plan appears doomed, creating potential trouble for her proposals to boost education funding and expand Medicaid. Opposition hardened swiftly Friday, a day after the Democratic governor proposed cutting the state’s annual payments to its pension system for teachers and government workers. The move would free up $145 million during the budget year that begins in July to allow Kelly to increase spending on public schools, expand Medicaid health coverage for the needy, finance other initiatives and maintain healthy cash reserves. The pension system’s board of trustees voted unanimously Friday…
KANSAS CITY — Newly elected Democratic Kansas Congresswoman Sharice Davids says her top priority is reopening the government. In a speech Friday at a Kansas City, Kansas, Chamber of Commerce forum, Davids called the partial government shutdown “completely unacceptable.” She said she would push for back wages for furloughed government workers and low-wage contractors. There are nearly 19,000 federal employees in the Kansas City area, where her district is located. Davids also announced she is opening an office in Wyandotte County. She previously said she would maintain the office in neighboring Johnson County’s Overland Park that had housed former 3rd…
MANHATTAN — The theme for this years Martin Luther King Jr. Community Celebration and 2019 Art and Writing Contest was a quote from Dr King himself: “We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.” Peace Memorial Auditorium served as the backdrop for Saturday’s celebration of Dr. King’s legacy and the program also allowed for the opportunity to showcase the work of contest winners and present the Spirit of Martin Luther King Jr. Community Service awards. Saturday’s program began with a welcome speech from Mayor Mike Dodson and continued on with an opening prayer…
K-State has started to turn their season around after back to back top 20 road wins. K-State football also has had a few announcements over the last week plus a look at questions from Twitter for John Kurtz, Mason Voth and guest Matt Hall from K-State Online. 0:00 – KSU saved their season 17:01 – Rebounding & Peak Beasley 27:30 – Play hard chart, title contender? 40:38 – Spring game date 51:43 – Monachino and coordinators, Fortnite Squads 1:02:32 – Questions
Researchers at Kansas State University are working on a system to make chemical crop treatments more efficient using robots have been awarded an $882,920 USDA grant. The focus of their work is a system that can identify the presence of crop pests and utilize focused chemical applications by autonomous robots. It’s an effort to reduce broad use of pesticides to limit environmental impact as well as ensure that pesticide treatments are more effective — agricultural producers lose 37 percent of crop yield to pests despite collectively spraying close to $15 billion worth of the chemicals per year. The project is…