8:05 a.m. Because of the icy conditions on  I-70, Emergency responders are having a difficult time reaching vehicles that have been involved in the Friday morning accidents. Ambulance crews are using alternate roads to transport patients to hospitals in Manhattan and elsewhere.

7:51 a.m Due to the icy conditions, lanes are blocked by vehicles on I-70 and drivers are encouraged to avoid the area from Junction City to Topeka.

7:46 a.m.  KHP officials say travel on I-70 is dangerous on parts of I-70 in eastern Kansas.  Multiple vehicles are involved in accidents Friday morning. There are rollover accidents and numerous injuries being reported.

7:35 a.m. Kansas Highway Patrol officials are reporting dozens of cars off the roadway on I-70 in portions of Riley and Geary County, near Manhattan.  One report indicated as many as 75 cars may be involved. Some injuries are also being reported and some traffic lanes are blocked.  Stay tuned to Eagle Radio and check the Post for more details as they become available.

A Macksville man was fatally injured Wednesday while removing a tractor that was stuck in a runoff pond earlier this week.

It happened about five miles south of St. John, just north of SW 20 Street on U.S. Hwy 281.

34-year old Manuel De Jesus Llamas Ortiz was killed when he was run over by a Case tractor that he was operating.

According to the Stafford County Sheriff’s Office, Ortiz was working with Ron Weber removing another Case tractor from an icy run off pond that it had gotten stuck in earlier in the week. The front end of the tractor was partially submerged and one front wheel dislodged.

Sheriff Jeff Parr the two were using the tractor Ortiz was operating to lift the front of the tractor that had been pulled from the pond. At some point, Ortiz left the tractor and was struck by the rear wheels.

Ortiz was pronounced dead at the scene. He leaves behind a wife and two children.

(AP) — A homeless man who stabbed another man to death during a confrontation in Wichita was sentenced to 7½ years in prison.

Twenty-nine-year-old Zachary A. Contreras was sentenced Thursday for voluntary manslaughter in the death of 39-year-old Francisco Perez. He also had pleaded guilty to aggravated assault for threatening another man during the confrontation.

Contreras’ attorney said her client was defending himself and a cousin in September 2012 when Perez confronted them because he didn’t want homeless people near his apartment. An autopsy report showed Perez was drunk when he confronted the men.

The confrontation prompted the city to remove some decaying docks and a concrete path near the apartments that had been a hangout for homeless people.

A 21-year-old Hutchinson man accused of breaking into a local home entered a “guilty” plea to aggravated burglary Thursday Afternoon

Tyler Ford was initially arrested for inappropriately touching of a 10-year-old and two 9-year-old girls. But, District Attorney Keith Schroeder said there was insufficient evidence to support that the touching was sexual in nature or that it was meant for sexual pleasure. He says one child was touched maybe on her back and another on the ankle.

Ford entered a “guilty” plea to aggravated burglary for breaking into the home in the 200 block of South Monroe. The state alleges that this was done with the intent to commit theft or felony or sexual battery. This sentencing range for this charge is 31-to-136 months depending on his past criminal history. Apparently the burglary happened when the kids were in bed.

The girls’ father chased Ford from the home and police later found him walking in the area of Avenue A & Monroe. They also allegedly found his cell-phone in the child’s room. He was unknown to the family, but apparently lives within a block of their home. This all occurring on Sunday, September 15.

Sentencing in the case will be January 17. They’ll also take up probation violations in two other cases involving Ford, including convictions for two other burglaries and theft.

(AP) — Health officials say the flu season seems to be getting off to more normal start this year.

Reports of the flu have been increasing, particularly in the South. But it’s nothing like last year, when flu hit early and very hard in early December.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday said last year’s flu season landed about 381,000 people in the hospital — the most since at least 2005. A contributing factor: The flu vaccine was only 51 percent effective overall

CDC officials said it’s too early to know how bad this season will be or when it will peak. Flu is usually the worst in January or February.

(AP) — Kansas State University is getting a $5 million donation from the estate of a retired U.S. Air Force colonel.

The university says the gift from Manhattan resident Wayne McIntosh will go to construction of the university welcome center and multicultural initiatives.

McIntosh attended K-State and also worked for the university. The university says he died in 2012.

McIntosh earned a bachelor’s degree in general sciences from the university in 1938 and a master’s in education in 1939. He served in the Air Force during World War II and retired as a colonel after 30 years. He worked for Kansas State’s Division of Continuing Education after his Air Force retirement.

(AP) — A Shawnee County jury has found a 39-year-old Topeka man guilty on dozens of counts of sexually exploiting children.

Jason Hachmeister was convicted Thursday on 105 counts of sexual exploitation of children. He was found not guilty on three counts of the same charge.

Hachmeister’s trial began Monday.

Prosecutors said Hachmeister possessed 108 illegal photographs of children in sexually explicit conduct. Defense attorney Jim Chappas said Shawnee County prosecutors failed to prove Hachmeister had committed the crimes.

Hachmeister also is charged with premeditated first-degree murder in the 2011 strangulation death of his mother, Sheila Hachmeister, at the home the two shared.

His trial in that case is scheduled to begin Jan. 21.