Xavier Vennum was apparently immune to any stress or pressure of being a finalist in the Riley County Spelling Bee, as his correct spelling of “immune” won him the first place title. The win Saturday was the first county spelling bee win for the Blue Valley Middle School seventh grader. Juan Kim, a fourth grader from Amanda Arnold finished in second place, stumbling on the word “chambray.” Thirteen students from schools across Riley County took participated in the spelling bee, hosted by The Manhattan Mercury. Vennum will represent Riley County in the state spelling bee March 21 in Salina. Read…
Author: Rose Gruenbacher
The federal government is not yet saying anything about the people who were detained by immigration enforcement officers in raids they conducted in Manhattan last month. Federal law requires a response to open records requests within 20 days. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency on Tuesday failed to respond to a request for public records related to recent local detainments, citing a federal funding hiatus. A Mercury reporter made a Freedom of Information Act request to ICE on Feb. 3 seeking the total number of arrests and detainments ICE had made in Riley County and Pottawatomie County in the…
A transgender professor is suing K-State for more than $300,000 because he says the university discriminated against him because of his gender identity and sex. A United States District Court judge ordered on Feb. 25 that the case partially move forward. In a complaint filed April in federal court, Harlan Weaver, a professor in K-State’s Department of Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies, alleges discrimination and retaliation on the basis of sex. He said the university and two faculty members now in other departments treated him disparately because of his sex and gender identity. Judge Daniel Crabtree ordered the dismissal of…
Officers of the Riley County Police Department will spend a week with state and federal agencies to engage in training on SWAT operations. RCPD director Brian Peete said between eight and 12 officers will take part in a joint training with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation and Homeland Security Investigations. Though RCPD does not have the staff for a full-time tactical team, some members do maintain monthly and annual training to execute operations when needed. The joint training starts March 15 and will be facilitated by Conceptual Guardians Systems’ Jason Laferriere. He previously served as an HSI special agent for…
A Manhattan woman taken into custody by ICE officers in December is now believed to be deported after she failed to appear for a scheduled hearing in Manhattan Municipal Court Thursday, her attorney said. Jazmin Alonso-Cantu was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers Dec. 4 after she attended a mandatory Municipal Court hearing. Alonso-Cantu was first arrested by Riley County police in November for driving under the influence, operating a motor vehicle without a valid license and failure to report an accident with unattended property. She was released on a $750 bond. To view the full article visit…
A member of the Kansas State University men’s basketball coaching staff pleaded not guilty to disorderly conduct Friday, during his first appearance in Riley County District Court. Mark Randall Vital Jr., 29, of Manhattan was arrested Feb. 9 at 12:20 a.m. and released the same day on a $2,000 bond. Vital was arrested for one count of domestic battery, which has since been changed to one count of disorderly conduct by brawling or fighting. To view the full article visit theMercury.com.
Kansas law requires that any person involved in a vehicular collision must immediately report the incident to police if any person involved in the collision is injured or killed as a result. A South Dakota man was convicted Tuesday of leaving the scene of a fatality accident after failing to do that when he was involved in a hit-and-run fatality in May. In closing arguments Tuesday afternoon, assistant Riley County attorney John Griffin told jurors the fact that Shane Jungemann did not report the incident meant he should be convicted in his Riley County District Court case, “irrespective of cause…
The defense for a semi-truck driver on trial in a fatal hit-and-run wanted jurors on Monday to see the victim’s injuries to convince them the man had intended to kill himself. Shane Jungemann, 48, of Jefferson City, South Dakota, is on trial this week in Riley County District Court. He is charged with leaving the scene of a fatal accident in connection with the May death of Samuel Ratliff, 32. According to court records, Jungemann was driving a semi and pulling an empty cattle trailer when he backed into Ratliff. Ratliff was hit and pulled under the trailer at the…
The trial of a South Dakota man involved in a fatal hit-and-run in May began Monday with jury selection in Riley County District Court. Shane Jungemann, 48, of Jefferson City is out of jail on a $15,000 bond. He is charged with failure to stop at an accident with a reasonably known result in death. He was arrested May 15 after he hit a man with his semi trailer and drove away while he knew the man was still underneath. Samuel Ratliff, 32, was walking behind Jungemann’s trailer near South Fifth Street and Pottawatomie Avenue. He was hit while Jungemann…
Joseph Marlow was found guilty Friday of aggravated indecent liberties by a jury in Riley County District Court. He was acquitted of his remaining charges. Marlow, 26, of Manhattan was convicted early Friday afternoon of one count of aggravated indecent liberties with a child under 14 years old. He was found not guilty of a second count of the same charge as well as two counts of aggravated criminal sodomy of a child under 14 years old. The victim was a girl Marlow knew who was five years old at the time of the crime. Last March he was in…