13 years ago
Attorneys for a former Kansas lawman accused of killing his wife and setting their home on fire are challenging the way authorities collected evidence. Brett Seacat is charged with first-degree murder in the April 2011 shooting death of 34-year-old Vashiti Seacat. The former police instructor also is charged with aggravated arson and two counts of child endangerment ...

13 years ago
The 2013 Smoky Hill River Festival is here. The annual Festival Jam officially started the event Thursday evening, in front of a crowd of nearly 11,000 people. Fans began picking their spots in front of the Eric Stein Stage in Oakdale Park when the gates opened at 4:00. Within a matter of minutes, many of the ...

13 years ago
Kansas higher education officials are frustrated and angry that state lawmakers have imposed budget cuts on public colleges and universities, calling the reductions harmful to the state's economy. Members of the Board of Regents reviewed the budget cuts on Thursday and began hearing initial tuition and fee increase proposals from the six state universities. The Legislature adjourned ...

13 years ago
An Overland Park native has died in the war in Afghanistan. The Department of Defense says 2nd Lt. Justin Lee Sisson and another soldier were killed Monday after their unit was struck by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan. The 23-year-old Sisson graduated from Blue Valley West High School in Overland Park in 2007. He earned a ...

13 years ago
The high demand for concealed carry permits is continuing in Kansas. The Wichita Eagle reports the state had taken 22,124 applications through the first 10 months of the fiscal year, which started last July. In all of fiscal year 2012, Kansas residents submitted 12,408 applications. In response to the demand, the Kansas attorney general's office hired more ...

13 years ago
The Sedgwick County Sheriff says inmates are wasting too much toilet paper, so he's reduced their supply. Sheriff Jeff Easter is limiting inmates to one roll a week. He says that will cut the amount his office is spending on toilet paper from $100,000 to $50,000 a year. Inmates are allowed to buy extra toilet paper. Exceptions ...

13 years ago
A Salina man is arrested on charges of indecent liberties with a child. According to Lt. Scott Siemsen, police learned about an incident that took place on Wednesday morning in an east/central Salina home, after the father of the victim contacted SPD. Police arrested 23-year-old Matthew G. Jackson, 1309 N. 9th, after he allegedly fondled a girl ...

13 years ago
The names of 10 soldiers killed in combat in the past year will be added next week to a memorial walk outside the 1st Infantry Division headquarters building at Fort Riley. The ceremonies on Wednesday are part of the division's annual celebration of its establishment in 1917 as the first designated division in the Army. Other ...

13 years ago
An 11-year-old Salina girl who suffered an electrical shock while playing in a rainstorm remains in critical condition at a Wichita hospital. An uncle of Jayden says that the family has seen some improvements since the girl was hospitalized May 29 but he did not give specifics. The girl was found lying on two in-ground electrical junction ...

13 years ago
Officials in Dodge City will soon begin looking for a new police chief. City officials said Wednesday that Chief Craig Mellecker has announced he'll retire in March 2014 after 30 years with the police department. Mellecker was appointed chief in 2011. City manager Ken Strobel says officials knew at the time that Mellecker would be retiring within ...

13 years ago
The chairman of the Kansas House committee on taxation says it's "misleading" for Democrats to describe newly approved tax legislation as a tax increase. Republican Richard Carlson said Wednesday that the plan approved over the weekend is part of a larger tax reform effort that began last year. This year's bill cancels most of a sales tax ...