Senate panel floats Kansas congressional map

? The chairman of the Kansas Senate’s redistricting committee proposes redrawing the state’s four U.S. House districts by moving Manhattan and Fort Riley into the 1st District.

Sen. Tim Owens, an Overland Park Republican, offered the map Wednesday as the committee began redrawing the congressional districts and the 40 Senate districts.

Manhattan and Fort Riley are now in the 2nd Congressional District of predominantly eastern Kansas. Owens proposes consolidating Douglas County into the 2nd District. It’s currently split between the 2nd and 3rd districts.

Other changes include moving Montgomery County from the 4th District, which centers on Wichita, to the 2nd District, and adding all or parts of six counties in central Kansas into the 4th District.

Political districts are being redrawn to reflect population changes revealed by the 2010 census.