Local News

Manhattan City Hall and city facilities will close to the public in response to COVID-19 effective Thursday, March 19. City officials made the announcement via release Thursday afternoon, noting the closures will be in place until April 6th at the earliest. All city and advisory board meetings will be held online via Zoom and broadcast [...]

The post Manhattan closes city buildings, meetings to shift online appeared first on News Radio KMAN.

Kansas State University has suspended all hiring effective immediately. K-State will stop recruiting any new employees at this time. Also any potential employees in the recruiting process will have their recruitment suspended. To move forward with any current recruitment, or to begin new recruitment faculty must have it approved by the appropriate vice president. Click [...]

The post Kansas State University announces hiring freeze effective immediately appeared first on News Radio KMAN.

Riley County commissioners this afternoon held a special meeting to close the county offices to the public. The offices will be closed for the next 14 calendar days effective tomorrow at 8 a.m.  This also includes the health department.  The only building excluded from closure is the county transfer station. County employees can still come [...]

The post Riley County commission closes offices to public; makes emergency declaration appeared first on News Radio KMAN.

Universities and colleges across the United States are shutting down and moving online in response to the global coronavirus pandemic, and Kansas State University is anticipating losing tens of millions of dollars in revenue. K-State President Richard Myers said the universities “hastily” gathered figures estimate a $21 million impact as a result of ceasing in-person [...]

The post KSU estimates $21 million impact from COVID-prompted digital shift appeared first on News Radio KMAN.

With school out in the traditional sense for the duration of the academic year, it’s only fair that employees would worry about what that means for their own bottom lines. As part of her executive order to close K-12 schools Tuesday in favor of an online learning component, Gov. Laura Kelly promised all hourly and [...]

The post Uncertainty remains as USD 383 prepares for “new normal” in education appeared first on News Radio KMAN.

Pottawatomie County Commissioners will have a different meeting place for the foreseeable future due to COVID-19 concerns. Commissioners have moved their Monday weekly meetings from the Sunflower Room in Westmoreland to the Pottawatomie County Training Facility at 406 Miller Drive in Wamego. This provides an opportunity for the commission to still hold their open meeting [...]

The post Pottawatomie County to move commission meetings to Wamego, stream online appeared first on News Radio KMAN.

An old automotive service station across the street from Johnny Kaw at Manhattan City Park is going to get a new look. The Manhattan City Commission Tuesday voted to rezone a 22,500 square foot area adjacent to the park to allow for a planned restaurant, drinking establishment and bakery. Unanimously approved by the City Commission, [...]

The post Manhattan moves forward on Kirkwood Dr. extension, rezones new cafe site appeared first on News Radio KMAN.

Manhattan and Wamego’s local hospitals are limiting elective non-emergent services, as part of COVID-19 preparedness efforts. In a statement released Wednesday morning, Bob Copple, president of Ascension Via Christi Hospital in Manhattan said “there is no substitute for that independent medical judgement, but it’s critical that we all be good stewards of our healthcare resources.” [...]

The post Ascension Via Christi, Wamego Health Center to postpone some elective procedures, well-care visits appeared first on News Radio KMAN.

Americans are looking to maintain as much normalcy as possible amid nationwide closures in response to the novel coronavirus pandemic and so are local governments. Amid the uncertainty, Manhattan is exploring ways to accommodate comments from members of the public if city commission meetings are moved entirely online. “I don’t think it’s about limiting the [...]

The post City Commission hopes to maintain public comment if meetings go digital appeared first on News Radio KMAN.