Region finalists were named this past weekend for the 2024 Kansas Teacher of the Year award. Among the finalists in Region 1, were St. George Elementary art teacher Erin Pittenger and Smoky Valley High School art teacher Gretchen Elliott. The pair will each receive a $2,000 cash award from Security Benefit, the program’s major corporate [...]
A teenager was killed Friday after crashing his motorcycle in a rural area of Pottawatomie County. Sheriff Shane Jager says deputies responded to the area of Gerard Road, northwest of Belvue and found 17-year-old Abbott Mumaw, of Louisville, who was pronounced dead at the scene. An investigation determined Mumaw was westbound when he apparently lost [...]
A Douglas County man accused of causing a fatal crash last August involving a Wamego family is scheduled to appear for a June preliminary hearing. The Pottawatomie County Times reports the attorney for Mark Stanwix, of Lecompton, requested the hearing at a Tuesday status conference. Stanwix is facing eight total charges, including involuntary manslaughter and [...]
The Kansas Department of Transportation announced Monday two projects to take place April 4-5 on a rural stretch of K-16 in Pottawatomie County. Two locations will be closed over the two-day period while maintenance crews replace underground pipes. K-16 will be closed to traffic April 4 just east of Blaine, between Kansas Avenue and Marshall [...]
Pottawatomie County Commissioners on Monday approved the 2023 asphalt bid from Shilling Construction, who last week submitted a lone bid of over $1.9 million. As routine as that process was, the chip seal bid process was anything but routine. After two bids were publicly opened at last week’s meeting, Public Works officials became aware of [...]
Pottawatomie County Appraiser Robin Knoblauch provided an update to county officials Monday, regarding the office’s work with taxpayers questioning or wanting to appeal their 2023 value notices. As of Monday, her office had 46 scheduled appeals. She says the major class of increase was residential, which according to the county wide index average was up [...]
Authorities have arrested a suspect who led authorities from several agencies on a pursuit Tuesday morning north of St. Marys. The Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office alerted residents that an armed suspect had been spotted driving a stolen vehicle and fled on foot in a rural area of the county. He was captured a short time [...]
One week after visiting with Manhattan City Commissioners about covering a $1.4 million funding gap for its Advanced Technology Center, Manhattan Area Technical College President Jim Genandt was in front of the Pottawatomie County Commission Monday speaking about the project. Genandt says the purpose of his visit wasn’t to ask for support, but rather to [...]
Two Former Wamego teachers pleaded guilty Tuesday in Pottawatomie County District Court in connection to sex crimes involving a former Wamego High School student. Allen Sylvester pleaded to two felony counts of unlawful sexual relations. Pottawatomie County Attorney Sherri Schuck says the offenses are considered presumptive prison, which the state will seek. The court can [...]
A bill that has passed out of the Kansas Senate would strip local health departments of their power to quarantine or isolate infected people. It would also no longer require schools to report infectious diseases. Pottawatomie County Health Department Director Leslie Campbell shared concerns about the bill Monday with commissioners. The bill did not receive [...]