Latest Topeka News
Small fire in cooler at KSU stadium causes $10K in damage
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — A small fire in an industrial cooler inside Kansas State University's Bill Snyder Family Stadium caused an estimated $10,000 in damage to food stored there, authorities said. The fire broke out Friday evening and was quickly contained by firefighters who responded, the...
Kansas legislation rethink public offender registry rules
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas lawmakers are considering making changes to the criminal public offender registry system and cutting back on penalties. The expansive system that publicly tracks convicted criminals after they've served their time covers a wide range of crimes beyond sex offenses, Kansas News...
Kansas business groups mobilize to stop local plastics bans
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas business groups have mobilized to snuff out a budding movement among a few cities to ban single-use plastic bags and straws, frustrating environmentalists who can't get the Republican-controlled Legislature to tackle climate issues. The GOP-led House commerce committee on Friday...
Kansas could release more evidence in fatal police shootings
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Wendy Couser, a former juvenile intake officer at the Newton Police Department, has always believed in the importance of consequences. But Couser feels that she’s yet to see consequences for the law enforcement officials who beat, shot and killed her son, William...
Kansas Senate leader wanted ambassadorship, Trump ally's aid
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A top Republican lawmaker in Kansas now running for the U.S. Senate sought an ambassadorship in 2018, calling it “an excellent time” to leave state politics and enlisting help from a billionaire casino mogul who is a close friend of President Donald Trump. The Wichita...
Former Johnson County official tapped to run 2020 elections
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab tapped on Friday a former Johnson County election commissioner to return to her old job to oversee this year's elections in the state's most populous county before a new deputy takes over the reins of the election office in 2021. Connie Schmidt,...
State mulls ending statute of limitations on sex abuse suits
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — One detailed how her father sexually abused her decades ago. Another recalled a priest fondling him as a teenager. And yet another remembered walking directly back to class after a priest raped her in the fourth grade. One by one, they pleaded with lawmakers. Their main message: Please...
Man pleads guilty in connection to Topeka triple homicide
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The fifth of five defendants charged in a triple murder in Topeka pleaded guilty Thursday to two charges related to the case. Shane Andrew Mays, 22, entered the pleas to attempted second-degree murder and aggravated battery, WIBW reported. Matthew Leavitt, 19; Nicole Fisher, 38; and...
As climate changes, activists struggle for Kansas' attention
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Environmentalists are struggling to get lawmakers to even discuss climate change as a serious issue in Kansas, where some leaders of the Republican-controlled Legislature question the widespread scientific consensus that human activity is dangerously warming the planet. States such as...
Man charged with first-degree murder in Topeka hit-and-run
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A 51-year-old man has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of a man who was run over earlier this week near a Topeka hiking trail. Chad Thomas Cuevas was charged Thursday and is being held on a $1 million bond, District Attorney Mike Kagay announced. Emerson D. Downing,...
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