The Salina Journal
A teenager from Minneapolis, Kan., was injured after swerving to miss a deer Thursday on a road in Saline County.
The Saline County Sheriff s Office said at 10:35 p.m. Thursday that Dayton Randall, 18, of Minneapolis, was driving a black 2012 Buick Verano southbound on Burma Road, two-tenths of a mile north of Thorstenburg Road, when he swerved to miss a deer and went into a ditch and stuck a road sign.
The sheriff s office said Randall said he struck his head on the steering wheel and he was transported to Salina Regional Health Center. Randall was alone in the vehicle.
Nearly all of the COVID-19 relief funding received by Saline County from the federal government through the state of Kansas has been spent throughout the county by the original deadline Wednesday.
This information was relayed by county administrator Phillip Smith-Hanes on Monday to the Saline County Board of Commissioners during its final regular meeting of 2020, in which the commissioners discussed accomplishments and successes of the year and looked ahead at the future.
While discussing the COVID-19 pandemic, which has been a topic on the commission s agenda at nearly every meeting since March, commission chairman Bob Vidricksen mentioned that deadlines for spending relief funds had been extended past the Dec. 30 deadline.
The Saline County Sheriff s Office reported three more vehicle burglaries in the county.
The office said the first burglary happened sometime between Dec. 22 and 8 a.m. Dec. 23 in the 6900 block of Thorstenburg Road. A Remington .22-caliber rifle in a case valued at $450, Sears binoculars valued at $50 and a Sears set of jumper cables valued at $50 were stolen.
Between 1 a.m. and 5:40 a.m. Dec. 23 at 237 E. Third St. in Falun, a Lincoln welding helmet valued at $250, welding gear valued at $80 and a Dewalt battery-powered grinder valued at $200 were taken from a vehicle.
Finally, sometime between Dec. 21 and Dec. 26, at 3437 S. Crest Lane, a phone charger and three notepads valued at a total of $16 were stolen from a car.
The Salina Journal
After reporting 283 new cases Wednesday, Saline County has now passed 4,000 total COVID-19 cases while an additional death from the disease was also reported.
The county said the dramatic rise in cases being reported can be attributed to free testing becoming available broadly in the county.
“More than 1,400 people were tested for COVID-19 during the free-testing events this week,” said Jason Tiller, director of the Saline County Health Department and county health officer. “This highlights the importance of being tested even if you are not experiencing symptoms, so you can take appropriate steps to not spread the virus to others.