12 years ago
Bestselling author James Patterson has given $48,000 to pay for scholarships for Emporia State University teaching students. Patterson has funded similar scholarships at several other universities, including Vanderbilt. Patterson said in a news release that his passion is to "get more and more kids excited about reading" and that training teachers is "essential to that mission." Patterson's ...

12 years ago
A presentation in Salina on a recently excavated Kanza Indian village is planned this week. Tricia Waggoner, the Kansas State Historical Society's highway archaeologist, will discuss the history of the Fool Chief's Village from 1830 to 1844. The site near Topeka had to be excavated because of a pending road project. The free talk begins at 5:30 ...

12 years ago
The Kansas State Fair is preparing for its 100th opening day. The annual fair starts Friday and runs through Sept. 15 on the Kansas State Fairgrounds in Hutchinson. Organizers have big birthday celebrations planned. There will be throwback events that include an old-time bingo game and a mincemeat pie competition. Several birthday-themed activities also are planned, including ...

12 years ago
A new electricity transmission route stretching from Saline County to Cloud County is approved. According to Westar Energy, the Kansas Corporation Commission has approved the Summit Creek Route. The route stretches from the Salina area to the Concordia area. When complete in late 2016, the high-voltage 345-kilovolt transmission line will connect Westar Energy's Summit Substation, about 5 ...

12 years ago
A ride that stranded people 300 feet high twice last year will be moving from Knott's Berry Farm to World's of Fun in Kansas City. Park officials said the Windseeker ride will be relocated to Worlds of Fun in Kansas City in January. The two parks are owned by the same company. Leidy Arevalo, a ...

12 years ago
A man being sought in a Kansas woman's death and her son's attack has been arrested in Missouri. A dispatcher confirmed that Charles Alfred Beck was arrested in Texas County in southern Missouri. Derby Police Chief Robert Lee says the arrest happened Sunday night, hours after his department responded to a disturbance at a home ...

12 years ago
An 11-year-old central Kansas girl is being hailed as a hero for pulling her 2-year-old stepsister from the bottom of a hotel pool. Serinity Towery nearly drowned two weeks ago after she fell into a pool at a Russell hotel. The Hays Daily News reports the children were playing in the pool when Serinity managed to slip ...

12 years ago
Geary County is having trouble unloading housing lots that were partially developed in expectation of a population boom from the return of the Army's 1st Infantry Division to Fort Riley. Developers abandoned the lots when the boom failed to materialize, and hundreds of sites are now in tax delinquency. The Daily Union in Junction City reports a ...

12 years ago
Authorities are searching for a man who they say shot and wounded a Butler County Sheriff's deputy early Monday morning. Police say the suspect is 41-year-old Jan Tracy Kilbourne. Butler County Sheriff Kelly Herzet told KWCH that a deputy pulled over a car around 5 a.m. on Kansas Highway 54, about 16 miles east of Wichita. Herzet said ...

12 years ago
Gov. Sam Brownback is having a barbecue for Kansas legislators after they open their special session, and he's made sure reporters are invited, too. Brownback spokeswoman Eileen Hawley says the governor's social get-together for lawmakers is Tuesday evening at Cedar Crest, the governor's official residence. The invitation to reporters is noteworthy because of private dinners last year ...

12 years ago
A unique event that combines circus and music is coming to Salina. Cirque Musica is a brand new arena spectacular that combines famous classical and pop music with the spell-binding grace and dare-devil athleticism of today's greatest circus performers.  Musicians from the Salina Symphony offer a soundtrack of works from Beethoven to Bruno Mars to accompany the high ...