Oil Company Set to Resume Pumping through Kansas
TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) - Canadian oil company TC Energy says it will soon resume pumping oil through Kansas, even as it continues cleanup from its biggest ever oil spill earlier this month. The U.S. Department of Transportation has given approval, though TC Energy says inspections and preparations are ongoing. It's still not clear what caused the Keystone's biggest spill ever on December 7th in north-central Kansas. Nearly 600,000 gallons spilled.
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Missing Omaha Woman's Body Found in Topeka
OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT/WIBW) - Nebraska authorities confirm that a body found in Topeka earlier this week is that of an Omaha woman reported missing five weeks ago. WIBW reports that the death of 43-year-old Cari Allen has been ruled a homicide. 47-year-old Aldrick Scott is being held on a $10 million bond after investigators found him in the Central American country of Belize. Scott was brought back to Omaha last week to face kidnapping charges.
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Separate Fires Claim One Victim, Topeka Home
TOPEKA, Kan. (TCJ/KPR) - One person died and a home was destroyed in two separate fires in Topeka Friday. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that a policeman on routine patrol discovered the body near a fire in a campsite on the Kansas River early Friday morning. The name of the victim has not been released. A separate fire destroyed a Topeka home minutes later, where three residents escaped without injury. The Kansas State Fire Marshal's office is investigating both fires.
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Vital Statistics: Kansas Deaths Down in 2021
TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) - Newly released vital statistics reveal that fewer Kansans died in 2021 than in 2020. But deaths were still significantly higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic. Heart disease and cancer remained the leading two causes of death in the state; COVID-19 was the third. But deaths from certain causes increased dramatically. Accidental drug deaths rose nearly 50 percent. And the rate of deaths by suicide rose to match the 2018 rate, which was the highest in the past twenty years. The birth rate remained unchanged from 2020, matching the lowest rate in more than a century.