MANHATTAN — A Wednesday evening apartment fire in Manhattan caused over $140,000 damage to the building and contents and started on the second-floor porch balcony due to improperly discarded smoking materials, according to Deputy Fire Chief Ryan Almes.

Just after 9:13 p.m.Wednesday, fire crews was dispatched to 415 Walters Drive Apartment 808 in Manhattan for a report of a structure fire with occupants possibly trapped, according to Almes.

Upon arrival, crews found a two-story apartment building with fire showing from the rear of the building extending into the attic.

Crews searched the building and confirmed that all occupants had exited the structure. The fire reached a second alarm before it was contained.  No injuries were reported.

Apartments 808 and 810 suffered fire damage and apartments 807 and 809 suffered smoke and water damage. 

A total of 14 occupants and 5 pets were displaced from 4 apartment units.  

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MANHATTAN — Officials are working to determine the cause of a fire in an apartment complex in Manhattan.

Just after 9:13 p.m.Wednesday, fire crews was dispatched to 415 Walters Drive Apartment 808 in Manhattan for a report of a structure fire with occupants possibly trapped, according to Deputy Chief Ryan Almes.

Upon arrival, crews found a two-story apartment building with fire showing from the rear of the building extending into the attic.

Crews searched the building and confirmed that all occupants had exited the structure. The fire reached a second alarm before it was contained.  No injuries were reported.

 Apartments 808 and 810 suffered fire damage and apartments 807 and 809 suffered smoke and water damage.The occupants of all four damaged units were displaced.  An estimate on damage was not available early Thursday.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY —A Kansas police officer was injured in an accident just after 4p.m. Wednesday in Montgomery County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a Coffeyville Police Department Chevy Tahoe driven by Darin R. Daily, 46, Coffeyville, was eastbound on U.S. 166 two miles west of Tyro. 

The SUV rear ended Caney Valley USD 436 International School Bus driven by Rosella P. Moreland, 64, Caney, that was stopped at 2354 East U.S.166 to drop off some students.

The  7 students including 4 boys and 3 girls on the bus were not injured.

Officer Daily, a K-9 officer was making a routine drive back from training out of town, according to the Coffeyville Police Department. The patrol K-9 was not seriously injured. Daily had to be cut from the patrol car by the Coffeyville Fire Department jaws of life. He was air-liftedto Freeman Hospital. He was properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.

WASHINGTON (AP) — After nearly two years of waiting, America is getting some Trump-Russia answers straight from Robert Mueller.

Eager to get in the last word ahead of the public release of the special counsel’s report, Attorney General William Barr on Thursday laid out in advance what he said was the “bottom line:” No collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian government hackers.

While Mueller drew no conclusion about whether President Donald Trump had obstructed justice in the investigation, Barr said he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein personally had concluded that while Trump was “frustrated and angry” about the Mueller probe, nothing the president did rose to the level of an “obstruction-of-justice offense.” Barr said Mueller’s report examined 10 episodes pertaining to Trump and obstruction.

Barr said the president did not exert executive privilege to withhold anything in the report. And he said the president’s personal attorney had requested and gotten a chance to review the report before its public release.

The Justice Department was to release a redacted version of the special counsel’s report later Thursday on Russian election interference and the Trump campaign, opening up months, if not years, of fights over what the document means in a deeply divided country.

TOPEKA – To celebrate the modernization of liquor laws in the state of Kansas, which now allow for beer greater than 3.2 percent Alcohol By Weight to be sold in select locations, the Budweiser Clydesdales will symbolically deliver beer to the Kansas Capitol Thursday.

The delivery is reminiscent of the Budweiser Clydesdale delivery of beer in 1933 to President Roosevelt to celebrate the repeal of Prohibition.

The Clydesdale visit just before 2p.m.  will include the presentation of a plaque with a Clydesdale horseshoe to Speaker of the House Ron Ryckman.

Anheuser-Busch has a long-standing relationship with the state of Kansas, working with 15 distributors that employ approximately 500 Kansans. The brewer is happy to celebrate with all of Kansas today as the state embraces modern beer laws that will help the Kansas beer industry and entire state economy grow.

 

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Some Republican lawmakers are calling for the resignation of University of Missouri-Kansas City Chancellor C. Mauli Agrawal over what they say was his inadequate response to the disruption of a conservative speaker’s appearance last week.

Lawmakers also threatened to reduce the university’s budget to “make a statement” about what they consider an increase in liberal intolerance on college campuses.

University students on Thursday interrupted an anti-transgender speech by conservative Michael Knowles, a contributor to the Daily Wire website. As other students booed and began to walk out, one student rushed the stage and used a water gun to shoot a mix of lavender oil and other nontoxic substances toward Knowles, who wasn’t injured.

I can’t believe this is what the Left has devolved into. It’s dispicable. pic.twitter.com/Ryh0VCLXEp

— Collin Tuso (@collin_tuso) April 12, 2019

The student, Gerard Dabu, was tackled by campus police and later charged with disturbing the peace, assault on law enforcement, property damage and resisting arrest. He was also suspended and banned from campus during the investigation.

Agrawal issued a statement the next day saying the students’ treatment of Knowles “crossed a line.” He said the school was committed to free speech and maintaining a safe environment for all points of view, “even extreme ones.”

The chancellor also called Knowles “a speaker whose professed opinions do not align with our commitment to diversity and inclusion and our goal of providing a welcoming environment to all people, particularly to our LGBT community.” Knowles denounced the chancellor’s statement during an appearance later on Fox News.

Agrawal issued a second statement as lawmakers discussed the issue Monday night.

“My original statement may have given an indication that UMKC does not support freedom of expression for all. I apologize if I’ve given that impression, for that was not my intention,” Agrawal wrote. “It is not the university’s role to take sides, but to rise to the higher principle of promoting a respectful exchange of ideas for our students to form their own views and engage in critical thinking.”

University of Missouri System President Mun Choi told House lawmakers during a Wednesday hearing on the incident that he still has faith in Agrawal and is confident that he’s committed to free speech.

Choi later told reporters that he doesn’t feel pressured to fire the chancellor, although Republican Rep. Robert Ross during the hearing had asked him “at what point would a staff member not be worth that trade off in a reduced amount of your budget?”

“Am I willing to sacrifice a person for the sake of getting more money from the state?” Choi said. “The answer is, in my case I’m going to be fair to the individual.”

On Monday night, Sen. David Sater, a Cassville Republican and a member of the Appropriations Committee, was among those calling for Agrawal’s resignation during a discussion on the floor of the Missouri Senate. Sen. Gary Romine, a Farmington Republican, said the Senate needed to make a statement, adding: “Intolerance has taken on a different swing of the pendulum at this time.”

Democratic Sen. Jason Holsman, who district includes the university, urged lawmakers to give Agrawal time to clarify.

“The rest of the students do not deserve to be in the cross-hairs of an appropriations battle over words you find distasteful from the chancellor,” Holsman said.

St. Louis Democratic Rep. Peter Merideth told Agrawal during the House hearing that he’s “much more concerned with our reaction to your reaction.”

“That I find much more troubling than anything you said,” Merideth said.

Police said the liquid shot at Knowles was a mixture of lavender oil and nontoxic household liquids. The color and scent of lavender have been adopted by the LGBTQ community as a symbol for transgender solidarity.

SHAWNEE, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say a man has died after being electrocuted while working in the garage of a suburban Kansas City home.

Police say the man’s death Wednesday morning at a homein the 6500 block of Hallet Street in Shawnee, Kansas,  is under investigation but appears to be an accident.

The name of the man wasn’t immediately released.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Supreme Court has ruled that Gov. Laura Kelly cannot file a brief in support of a law that would add about $90 million annually to public school funding.

The governor on Monday asked the court for permission to file the brief in support of a bill she signed April 5.

The court said on Wednesday that such motions, called amicus briefs, must be filed 30 days before oral arguments in a case. The arguments on the latest effort to address school finance litigation are scheduled for May 9.

Four school districts sued the state over education funding in 2010.

Attorneys representing the schools argued that late request to file the brief didn’t leave them enough time to respond to her argument.