11 years ago
A former Topeka hospital employee says in a federal civil rights lawsuit that she was taunted and bullied at work because of her race. Pamela Banks, who is black, filed the lawsuit in a Kansas federal court last month against the St. Francis Health Center. She's seeking damages and backpay. St. Francis has declined to answer the ...

11 years ago
A Kansas House panel is planning to debate a bill that would freeze renewable energy mandates for utility companies. The House Energy and Environment Committee scheduled a vote on the measure for Wednesday. Current Kansas law requires that 10 percent of the electricity provided by utilities companies come from renewable energy sources. That mandate is set to ...

11 years ago
A judge heard testimony all day Tuesday in a case involving a Saline County teenage girl accused of stabbing her younger sister to death last summer. The Saline County Attorney's Office wants to prosecute the now 15-year-old , who is accused of stabbing her 13-year-old sister, as an adult. Sierra Niehuas was 14 at the time ...

11 years ago
University of Kansas officials have met with state legislators in Topeka to discuss the school's ownership and use of jets. Officials told the House Standing Committee on Education Budget that the jet expenditures of $1.5 million are more than offset by revenue that the aircrafts generate from donor relations and athletics. The university has owned planes for ...

11 years ago
Kansas legislators are moving closer to allowing residents 21 or older to carry concealed firearms without a state permit. The House Federal and State Affairs Committee approved a bill Tuesday ending the requirement for a permit. The committee's voice vote sends the measure to the full House for debate. The Senate approved the measure last month, and ...

11 years ago
Family and friends are trying to find a Salina teen who has been missing since late last week. 13-year-old Rebecca Jayne Hein has not been seen since Friday. She was last seen at the Starlite Skating Center with a 16-year-old female friend. The 16-year-old has a boyfriend in new Mexico. It's unknown if that's where the ...

11 years ago
A highly pathogenic avian influenza confirmed in four states can be very deadly for birds, but a Kansas State University poultry expert says humans don't need to worry about their own health or contaminated poultry products. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has confirmed the presence of H5N2 avian influenza in ...

11 years ago
A Salina man has been sentenced to three life sentences with no possibility of parole for 25 years for sex crimes against three small children. The crimes involved two girls and a boy, and occurred between July and September 2014. Court officials tell KSAL News that 72-year-old Gerald A. Jones was sentenced on Monday. Jones was arrested ...

11 years ago
Republican Gov. Sam Brownback's $4.1 billion plan to overhaul public school funding has passed through the Senate. The Senate voted 25-14 to approve the measure Monday, but a district court order issued on Friday signaled that the plan may be blocked before it gets off the ground. The three-judge panel issued the order shortly after the school ...

11 years ago
The number of students who enrolled in the Kansas higher education system dropped slightly in 2014, especially among older, non-traditional students which officials say indicates economic recovery. The Lawrence Journal-World reports the overall enrollment at Kansas public institutions, including community colleges and technical schools, fell 2.5 percent from the 2012-2013 academic year to the 2013-2014. The ...

11 years ago
The Saline County Sheriff's Office is investigating the theft of a transmitter used to map underground utilities. Sheriff Glen Kochanowski tells KSAL News that a worker with USIC of Wichita was using a $3,000 Dynatel 2250 transmitter in the 5900 block of W. State Street on Friday to locate some underground lines. The worker told deputies she ...