Spring Hill saw a lot of changes in the last year; from a new city council, public safety updates, budget updates to preparing for a comprehensive plan. Spring Hill Mayor Chad Young spoke about the changes and looked toward the future during his State of the City address April 15 at the Spring Hill Civic Center, hosted by the Spring Hill Chamber of Commerce. About 100 community and business leaders attended the event. Read more: Johnson County Post

A little more than a month after rural Johnson County residents celebrated a win with the withdrawal of a massive data center proposal, another one popped up just 5 miles down the road. San Francisco-based data center developer Beale Infrastructure recently submitted a proposal to Gardner to build a 16-building campus on 300 acres near the northeast corner of 191st Street and South Clare Road. It’s still unclear who would use the center or how much it would cost to build. Read more: Kansas City Star

Olathe Public Schools is considering whether to end its Voluntary Early Retirement Plan (VERP) and Health Reimbursement Agreements (HRAs) as part of cost-saving efforts due to budget shortfalls, according to a teacher’s union and a district spokesperson. The early retirement plan has been part of ongoing bargaining agreements ahead of next school year between the district and Olathe NEA, the labor union that represents public school teachers and staff. Read more: Kansas City Star

A new lawsuit claims Olathe Schools and the city is misusing eminent domain to aid the sale of district-owned property. Read more: Kansas City Star

“Let’s fire up your Thunderbird, put in $2 worth of gas, and drive over to the drive-in and see a movie.” If that sounds like I’m in a time warp or having flashbacks to the 1950s, hold on. Other than buying cheap gas, it is still possible to enjoy the experience of going to a drive-in movie, right here in rural Kansas.  Jessica Eagle Moyer and Tyson Moyer are the owners of the Kanopolis Drive-In in Kanopolis, Kansas. Jessica grew up in Leavenworth County. Tyson grew up near Ellsworth and attended the University of Kansas and the Kansas City Art Institute.  [...]

Residents of Gardner, Kansas, are confronting a new data center proposal from Beale Infrastructure just weeks after a similar proposal was withdrawn. Members of the community are concerned about the impact on their environment, utilities, and noise levels. Read more: KCUR

The battle over the R9 Ranch water rights is a complex saga involving decades of legal maneuvering, legislative shifts and environmental concerns.  Read more: KLC Journal

Fights over water in the West tend to follow a particular contour: Scarcity develops. A supply is located. Competition ensues. Government agencies become involved. Judges tend to get the last word. The squabbles are all the same and every one is different. Both the residents of parched Hays and Russell in northwest Kansas and those of thirsty Edwards County, some 60 miles south, covet the water beneath the sprawling R9 Ranch south of Kinsley, seeing it as a matter of survival in a coming era when the precious resource becomes even more scarce. Now, three decades later, the $140-million-dollar project remains [...]

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced Thursday that over $80 million is available to support stormwater and sewer infrastructure needs across the country. The funding comes from the EPA’s Sewer Overflow and Stormwater Reuse Municipal Grant program. It allows communities to pay for improvements to safely capture and manage stormwater and keep pollutants, including untreated stormwater, from reaching nearby waterways. Kansas is receiving a total of $467,000 that will be divided among the communities that apply through the Sewer Overflow and Stormwater Reuse Municipal Grant program. Read more: KSN-TV

The discussion about a solar farm and battery energy storage system in Sedgwick County is on hold. The Wichita-Sedgwick County Metropolitan Area Planning Commission was set to vote on the Galena Solar Project proposal on Wednesday, but decided to defer it and gather more information. The commission will pick up the discussion again on June 11. People for and against the project agree that the deferral was a good move. Read more: KSN-TV