One public commenter spoke at Lawrence’s environmental advisory board meeting Thursday night. Board members hope to draw a crowd next month as they decide which sustainability recommendations to put before the city commission. The swath of initiatives proposed by the city’s Environmental Sustainability Advisory Board underlined the ways environmentalism touches every aspect of life in town. Proposals included preventing automotive idling near school zones, banning styrofoam, expanding public transportation and keeping it free, increasing recycling downtown, monitoring nitrate in river systems and more. Read more: The Lawrence Times

Some of the old blacktop on streets in North Newton are experiencing deterioration. North Newton Administrator Brad Harris said the trash truck is really damaging those streets on the south side of town. In a related matter, the North Newton City Council authorized an agreement with EBH Engineering out of Marion County during its June meeting to develop a capital improvement program for street reconstruction. The city is bringing in the group that will assess North Newton’s street quality, Harris said. “They’re evaluating the state of our streets,” he said. In the next few months, EBH will return with their recommendations [...]

Lieutenant Governor and Secretary of Commerce David Toland today announced the Kansas Department of Commerce has awarded $750,000 in Downtown Revive & Thrive grants to support nine building renovation projects across Kansas. When matched with more than $286,000 in local contributions, a total investment of over $1 million will be used to create spaces for business incubators. “Rural Kansas has plenty of historic and underused buildings that have potential to create new economic opportunities for communities,” Lieutenant Governor and Secretary of Commerce David Toland said. “Through Revive & Thrive, we’re able to take established, unused infrastructure and give our rural entrepreneurs [...]

In a three-hour-long work session, Halstead City Council members discussed many of the recently discussed topics, like code enforcement, e-bikes and e-scooters, cemetery improvements, and the 2027 budget. The council spent the most time talking about electric bikes and scooters, as well as trees in Halstead Cemetery. Halstead Police Chief Josh Orem told council members that they could ban the items on sidewalks, but that would eliminate riding them in a large part of town that doesn’t have sidewalks. Or they could restrict them to sidewalks, which can be a danger to pedestrians. Or they could ban it completely. Read more: [...]

Overland Park could again raise its stormwater utility fee to help cover increasing project costs and additional work that the city is now paying for with the fund. If ultimately approved with the 2027 budget, the increase would bring the fixed fee by $3 per residential unit, which would make it $44 for a home. This follows a series of recent increases in the past few years in line with the recommendations from a citizens’ advisory council for infrastructure. Read more: Johnson County Post

As children’s use of e-scooters, e-bikes and now, e-motorcycles, becomes increasingly concerning among city officials across Johnson County, Prairie Village Police plan to step up enforcement of its current restrictions — and explore tweaking those rules to match neighboring cities’ and provide more consistency for riders. Chief Eric McCullough told the Prairie Village City Council at the June 15 meeting that calls for service regarding mobility devices, mainly e-scooters and e-bikes, have increased in the past two years. City documents show that before 2024, calls for service related to these devices were fewer than 10 a year. (Calls for service include [...]

Just weeks after De Soto’s incoming 300-acre data center site broke ground, a separate data center developer is looking to build a campus nearly quadruple that size just down the road at Astra Enterprise Park. This marks the fourth data center proposal to come up since March in western and southern Johnson County. Spring Hill and Gardner received applications earlier this spring, though both were withdrawn, and another application in Edgerton was denied earlier this month. Following the applications in Gardner and Edgerton, residents pushed for moratoriums, which would’ve temporarily blocked data center applications. Earlier this month, both the Gardner City [...]

Rural hospitals in Kansas will use federal money to help them transform and expand access to healthcare. Some are creating new services like mobile maternal health clinics, but looming Medicaid cuts still mean many hospitals are at risk of closing. The money comes from the federal Rural Health Transformation Program. The funding is partially intended to offset cuts to Medicaid, and the first group of grantees were recently announced. Read more: KCUR News

The Algerian men’s national team adopted Lawrence as its home base for the World Cup. In return, the Kansas college town embraced the team in a big way — and flooded the streets Monday when Algeria won its first match of the tournament. Locals are hosting watch parties, creating art, and even altering KU's classic chant into "Rock Chalk Algeria" to show their allegiance. Read more: KCUR

The Finney County Commission will consider a Special Use Permit request for a proposed commercial solar farm between Ulysses and Garden City at its meeting on Monday. The proposal, from Lone Bison Solar, is for a 3,853-acre solar farm. According to Finney County, the permit request was recommended for approval by the Holcomb – Garden City – Finney County Area Planning Commission in March. The special use permit review process includes consideration of several factors, including compatibility with surrounding land uses, traffic and road impacts, environmental considerations, and public health and safety. Read more: KSN-TV