KANSAS CITY, Mo.

Federal grant for KCI to improve taxiways

The federal government will give Kansas City International Airport $11.8 million in grants for upgrades.

The money is earmarked for the extension of two taxiways between the Terminal A and Terminal B aprons and the runway on the west side of the airport.

Mark VanLoh, Kansas City’s aviation director, said the planned extensions would solve a problem noted long ago.

“Planes will be able to move around a lot easier with these improvements,” he said.

Construction is expected to begin next summer and take two years, airport officials said.

Nebraska

Kansan sentenced in fatal crowbar beating

A Kansas man has been sentenced to seven to 16 years in prison for the beating death last year of a North Platte man.

Charlie McIntyre, 19, of Ellsworth, Kan., pleaded no contest last month to manslaughter for the September beating of Bryan Dixon of North Platte with a crowbar. Authorities said McIntyre hit Dixon in the chest with the crowbar, causing Dixon’s heart to stop.

“This appears to be just a terrible tragedy. He got involved in a fight over beer and a girlfriend,” McIntyre’s attorney, Leonard Vyhnalek, said at the sentencing Tuesday in Lincoln County District Court.

McIntyre was one of two men originally charged in the case. Ryan Shannon, also of Ellsworth, was charged with aiding and abetting second-degree assault, but the charge was dismissed.