Highway Patrol Shortage Leads to Funding Request
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) _ The Kansas Highway Patrol is asking state lawmakers to support a $7.50 increase in vehicle title fees to hire an additional 75 troopers to address a sharp decline in manpower. The Wichita Eagle reports more than one-third of the counties in Kansas have no Highway Patrol presence, while 29 are served by only one trooper.
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Safety Issues Create Further Delays for Fort Riley Hospital
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) _ A top Army official says the latest delay in opening the new hospital at Fort Riley is attributed to 357 safety issues. Assistant Secretary of the Army Katherine Hammack told U.S. Senator Jerry Moran in a letter obtained by The Associated Press that the problems were identified during pre-final inspections. The project was initially fast-tracked for completion in 2012 but has run into numerous delays.
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Eisenhower Elementary School Opens in Abilene
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) _ A new elementary school named after President Dwight D. Eisenhower has opened in his boyhood home of Abilene, Kansas nearly 55 years after he left office. Parents considered Eisenhower as a name for an Abilene elementary school in the 1960s. But it wasn't until Thursday that fourth- and fifth-grade students began classes in a building bearing the name of the 34th president and supreme Allied commander during World War Two.
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McCay Pleads Guilty in Murder Attempt at Homeless Shelter
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) _ A Kansas City, Missouri, man has admitted in a Kansas court that he tried to kill a homeless shelter employee by slashing his throat in 2014. The Lawrence Journal-World reported that 22-year-old Christopher McCay pleaded guilty in Douglas County to attempted first-degree murder.
