info

The city of Leavenworth and CoreCivic, a Tennessee-based private prison company, have been fighting in court since early this year over whether CoreCivic needed to follow the city’s special use permit process. Read more: News Radio KMAN

Students involved in the project say it gave them a deeper understanding of the challenges families face and the resilience found in local communities. They conducted interviews, filmed on location in Garden City and worked closely with mentors across several K-State departments. Read more: KCLY Radio

The city was working without an administrator. “Mr. Leeker’s educational background and career experiences make him an excellent person for the position,” Mayor Burke said. “His forte in local government is an extremely strong asset for the city of Peabody. Read more: Marion County RECORD

“I don’t agree with it,” Chief Lockhart said of the perception of Lawrence being negative toward the police. “But it doesn’t really matter if I agree with it, if that is what the perception is.” Read more: LJWorld

A draft ordinance by the Lawrence Transparency Project would require more public oversight and put up safeguards on the use of camera integration technology rolled out by the Lawrence Police Department this year. The Lawrence Transparency Project organized following the police department’s adoption of the Axon Fusus program, a new system asking residents and businesses to register their security cameras on a list or integrate them for realtime access by police. The draft ordinance is the group’s input on the program and suggestions on how the city should approach similar technology moving forward. Community members and privacy experts raised concerns about [...]

Governor Laura Kelly announced today that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has approved the Kansas Office of Broadband Development’s (KOBD) $166.6 million final proposal for the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program. The approval represents a significant milestone toward delivering high-speed internet access to the 26,673 eligible households and businesses across Kansas. Read more: Kansas Department of Commerce

People in one of Kansas’ southernmost counties noticed in 2014 their local hospital was struggling, so they voted to create a sales tax that would direct funds to keep their health care system afloat. In the decade that followed, the Morton County hospital only received about half of the sales tax revenue it was owed, missing out on nearly $2 million. The cities of Morton County received the money instead. The Kansas Department of Revenue, for nine years, sent checks to Elkhart, population 1,726; Rolla, population 356; and Richfield, population 30, and the cities spent that money. David Thompson, the county [...]

Learning twice as fast. That is the promise the Newton Board of Education will consider as it decides whether to implement an artificial-intelligence-driven pilot program aimed at improving student learning. The service would be provided by Studient, a company that has rolled out similar pilot programs in public schools in five other states and will soon be present in many more. Newton would be the first school to use the program in Kansas. Read more: Harvey County Now

Actress Cate Blanchett calls them “everything that is wrong with the human race,” and says they “should be eradicated from the face of the earth.” Comedic actor Ricky Gervais also hates them, per an October story in The Guardian, as do actors Danny DeVito and Hugh Grant. So maybe it’s unsurprising that California, home to the stars, has been at the forefront in regulating leaf blowers. Beverly Hills was reportedly one of the first to ban sales of gas-powered leaf blowers — and that was in 1978. California Gov. Gavin Newsom followed that up with a statewide ban on the sale [...]

On Thursday, U.S. Senator Roger Marshall joined fellow Republicans to introduce the Back the Blue Act, led by Senator John Cornyn. The bill is designed to strengthen protections for law enforcement officers and provide them with new tools to stay safe. It creates tougher federal penalties for anyone who kills or tries to kill a law enforcement officer or judge, including life in prison or the death penalty, and imposes stricter punishments for assaults on officers. Read more: KCLY Radio