MANHATTAN – A Kansas man was convicted of first-degree attempted murder on Thursday in Riley County.

Samuel Dartez, 30, Manhattan, was arrested on November 13, 2014, after the Riley County Police Department received a 911 call in reference to a stabbing at the Manhattan Public Library.

Officers responded and found a 27-year-old woman, the mother of his children, with multiple puncture wounds to her neck and face.

She was transported by EMS to a local hospital for treatment.

The same day, Dartez was stopped by authorities in Morris County and arrested following a standoff with law enforcement.

Sentencing for Dartez is scheduled for January 5.

The Geary USD 475 Board of Education has approved the 2015-16 teaching contracts for the school district.

Approval came on a 5-0 vote Thursday at the Devin Center. It brings an end to a lengthy contract impasse.

The new deal includes an average pay raise of 7.32%, with Superintendent Corbin Witt confirming those raises would range from about 2.4% to 19%, with approximately two-million dollars in total new funding overall.  He called the settlement good news. ” So I think we’re all excited to move past this, and I’m excited that the teachers are going to get their retroactive pay and their new pay before Christmas starts so that’s something to look forward to and will make everybody happy.” Witt added teachers will get two seperate checks. One will have their retroactive pay through this point, and the other their new check with their new monthly rate.

Up until now while there was an impasse, the teachers have been working under the contract that was in effect the last school year.

Teachers in the district voted earlier this week to ratify the contracts.

WESTMORELAND, Kan. (AP) – A northeast Kansas man has been sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years in the 2014 slaying of his 70-year-old uncle.

A Kansas man,  37-year-old Christopher Arand of rural Belvue, was sentenced Thursday in the death of Larry Arand, who was beaten in the back of the head with brass knuckles before being suffocated with a plastic bag on Nov. 10, 2014.

Arand pleaded guilty in October to premeditated first-degree murder just before jury selection was scheduled to begin in his trial.

Pottawatomie County District Judge Jeff Elder said he decided not to give Arand a Hard 50 sentence because of Arand’s mental health status and to spare his family additional grief.

Arand also admitted killing his uncle’s cat.

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Gov. Sam Brownback says Kansas has to make changes to address concerns over the state’s water supply.

 

Today’s adventure, 600 water folks at Governors conference, Manhattan, KS, to talk to about Art. Not nervous honest pic.twitter.com/41bfKC0EjX

— Sans facon (@sans_facon) November 18, 2015

Brownback told about 600 participants in the state’s annual water conference Wednesday in Manhattan that the time has come to make changes to extend life of the underground Ogallala Aquifer and to rehabilitate silted reservoirs to preserve the state’s water resource.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that Brownback says he intends water preservation to be part of his legacy as governor.

He also says wells that enable irrigation of crops, withdrawal for business use and pumping for the drinking supply were depleting the aquifer at an unsustainable rate and that work begins soon on a $25 million project to dredge the John Redmond Reservoir, which has lost considerable water storage capacity to silt.

According to the National Weather Service of Topeka, today and Friday will bring a few more days of mild temperatures before a strong cold front drives southeastward across the forecast area Friday evening. There is a chance for rain Friday and possibly snow or a rain snow mix as the front moves through. Cold high temperatures follow for the weekend with highs in the 30s and 40s with lows in the 20s.

Today: Sunny. Highs around 50. West winds 5 to 15 mph.

Tonight: Partly cloudy in the evening then becoming mostly cloudy. Lows in the lower 30s. South winds 5 to 10 mph.

Friday: Mostly cloudy. Slight chance of rain showers in the afternoon. Highs in the lower 50s. South winds 10 to 20 mph with gusts to around 30 mph.

Friday Night: Breezy. Mostly cloudy with slight chance of rain in the evening…then partly cloudy after midnight. Lows in the mid 20s. North winds 10 to 25 mph.

Saturday: Colder…sunny. Highs in the upper 30s. Northwest winds 10 to 20 mph. Gusts up to 30 mph in the morning.

Saturday Night: Partly cloudy. Lows around 19.

Sunday: Sunny. Highs in the mid 40s.

Sunday Night: Clear. Lows in the mid 20s.

Monday: Sunny. Highs in the mid 50s.

Monday Night: Mostly clear. Lows in the mid 30s.

Tuesday: Mostly sunny. Highs in the mid 50s.

Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy in the evening then becoming mostly cloudy. Lows in the upper 30s.

Wednesday: Mostly cloudy with slight chance of rain showers. Highs in the mid 50s.

There was a magnitude 4.7 earthquake overnight that rattled southern Kansas and northern Oklahoma. The National Earthquake Information Center said it occurred early Thursday at 1:42 a.m., and was centered near Cherokee, Oklahoma. The quake was felt as far away as Kansas City.

There are Facebook posts from people in Junction City and Manhattan this morning who indicating that they felt the earthquake during the overnight hours.

Geary USD 475 teachers have voted to ratify their contracts for the current school year, meaning if the Board of Education approves the agreement, the long running impasse in those talks could come to an end.

The teacher vote was 387 in favor and 86 no. Many teachers did not vote.

The Board of Education has called a special session today ( Thursday ) at 5 p.m. at the Devin Center to consider the contracts.

Traffic issues involving the new Walmart Neighborhood Market at the corner of McFarland Road and US 77 have been reported.

The store officially opened a week ago and has stayed busy, but traffic issues have not been as big of a concern as originally projected.

Allen Dinkel, Junction City Manager noted that he’s only noticed minor issues during Tuesday nights City Commission Meeting. One included a vehicle exiting the Walmart Parking lot onto McFarland road, which is a right out only.

“Come out of the Walmart parking lot, come to the end of the so-called pork chop, and then take a U-Turn coming back west,” said Dinkel. “There is double yellow lines, which is illegal, but they’re still doing it and we’ll be working with the police and everybody else on that.”

Dinkel added that he’s also heard of cars traveling westbound on McFarland Road and turning into the parking lot off McFarland, which is not allowed. Entrance to the parking lot off McFarland is right turn only and should only be taken by vehicles traveling east bound.

The 41st annual YMCA Auction & Benefit Meal is scheduled Thursday in Junction City at Brown Real Estate & Auction.

There will be a silent auction from 2 – 6:30 p.m., and a regular auction beginning at 6:30 p.m. The serving of the Benefit Meal is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m.

Items on the Regular Auction list range from a Monday to Friday stay in a two-bedroom cabin with two kayaks at Flagstop Resort to a video game and a Miller Lite Tailgate Table.