After several fires swept through parts of Hutchinson Tuesday, Hutchinson Fire Department Chief Steven Beer says the department will work with the Reno County Commission to adopt, or update policies as needed. "When a burn ban goes in effect, or a burn day, instead of being used during a declaration, an emergency declaration, it needs to be used for the whole entire month," Chief Beer said. Although Chief Beer says he does not wish to preclude farmers and ranchers from burning their pastures as needed, he says Reno County is in desperate need of stricter zoning requirements and control burn requirements. [...]

With a year passing since freezing temperatures caused an energy crisis in Kansas, KSNT's Capitol Bureau revisited towns and school districts hit hard by bills that came in the aftermath. The cold snap in February 2021 hit the majority of the state, with as many as 100,000 Evergy customers going without power during rolling blackouts at peak. Kansas saw two days of controlled outages because electricity providers were facing generating issues from the cold, and the effects trickled out. Schools closed, homes had to plan for staying warm with no power, and cities like Manhattan lost critical infrastructure like traffic lights. [...]