12 years ago
Before Sunday's EF2 tornado tore through Baxter Springs, American Red Cross offices around the state were gearing up for the worst. Nicole Bartman, Executive Director of Salina's American Red Cross tells KSAL News that her office monitored weather reports and began prepping on Wednesday, "Before the weekend even hit we were putting people on call and ...

12 years ago
A school funding plan enacted recently in Kansas is expected to provide $12 million less than previously thought for public school classrooms. The State Department of Education is apologizing for what it says is confusion surrounding its estimates. Republican legislators pushed the plan earlier this month, and GOP Gov. Sam Brownback signed it into law last week. ...

12 years ago
A Kansas legislative oversight committee is raising questions about trends in state programs to provide health and social services for eligible residents. Tuesday's discussion by the committee includes reviews of cost estimates for providing health care for the poor and disabled, as well as temporary assistance to low-income residents. Legislators are asking whether the cost estimates are ...

12 years ago
Despite recent rain, a burn ban for Saline County is extended for another seven days. By a 2-1 vote, county commissioners Tuesday morning voted to extend the ban which first went into effect back on March 18th. Emergency Management Director Hannah Stambaugh told commissioners that while the recent rain is welcome, it hasn't been enough to ease ...

12 years ago
A Salina man is booked into Saline County jail for allegedly having sexual contact with a 14 year old girl. Lt. Brent Melander tells KSAL news the incidents were ongoing between February and March of this year. The sheriffs office was tipped by the Department of Children and Families of a potential situation. Travis Ryberg, 19 is ...

12 years ago
Less than two weeks after the first threat, another threatening note is found at Salina Central High School. Monday morning around 11:30am another perilous note was found in a school office about a potential bomb being placed inside the school. School officials and officers searched the school, but found nothing. According to Captain Mike Sweeney the note ...

12 years ago
The Kansas Highway Patrol says blowing dust caused an accident that killed a man in central Kansas. Thirty-year-old Brandon H. Stein of Great Bend died Monday afternoon in an accident on U.S. 56 about seven miles west of Great Bend. The patrol says Stein's vehicle collided with the trailer of a semi-trailer truck that had stopped in ...

12 years ago
The National Weather Service has rated the tornado that struck the southeast Kansas town of Baxter Springs an EF2 on the enhanced Fujita scale, with winds of 130 mph. A team from the agency's office in Springfield, Mo., issued the rating Monday after surveying damage from the tornado that struck around 5:39 p.m. Sunday. The Weather Service ...

12 years ago
The Kansas Department of Revenue is taking steps to help residents replace critical documents lost in Sunday's tornadoes. The agency is waiving fees on replacement driver's licenses, vehicle titles and vehicle registrations for residents of Cherokee, Bourbon and Linn counties. An executive order signed Monday by Gov. Sam Brownback also waives the fees for replacement birth certificates ...

12 years ago
A Salina woman gets a ten-year prison sentence in a federal drug case. According to U.S Attorney Barry Grissom's Office, 23-year-old Abigail Torres Soto pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, three counts of distributing methamphetamine and one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. In April 2013, Soto was indicted along ...

12 years ago
A Salina man gets a three-year federal prison sentence in a firearms case. According to U.S. Barry Grissom's office, 22-year-old Kalun James Purucker was sentenced Monday to 37 months in federal prison on a federal firearms charge. Purucker pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful possession of a firearm. In his plea, he admitted that the ...