City Manager Toby Dougherty told Commissioners last week he expects a review of the city’s economic development policy to be on the September 3 City Commission Work Session agenda. A review of the city’s current policy was requested by Commissioner David Vilaysing. Dougherty reported to Commissioners during the August 13, 2026 meeting that Assistant City Manager Jarrod Kuckelman has spearheaded the review. Dougherty noted that he as well as Deputy City Manager Colin Bielser have worked with Kuckelman to red-line the current policy with recommended changes. “Our changes are really non-substantive changes. It’s just clarifying and moving things around, to make sure it flows logically,” Dougherty said.
Read more: Hays Daily News

Topeka city planners discussed a text amendment to the city’s zoning code that could affect where data centers, including large-scale “hyperscale” facilities, can be built. The proposed amendments were discussed Monday night as part of the city’s review of zoning regulations and requirements to include data centers and for other land uses. According to the city planning agenda, the current zoning code includes no land use category for “data center.” This comes after Compass Datacenters submitted a proposal in late July that Shawnee County staff later labeled incomplete. The changes would establish specific zoning and use standards for data centers, including requirements related to where the facilities could be located and how they would operate.
Read more: KSNT 27 News

A southeast Kansas fire department says they’re feeling the impact of a nationwide trend. Staff at the Hackberry Township Volunteer Fire Department say a lack of volunteer personnel make every call they respond to that much more challenging. Foster says it’s not just his department that’s having issues with staffing, and that across the nation, volunteerism is fading.
Read more: KSNF/KODE | FourStatesHomepage.com

The Sedgwick County Commission approved the Downtown Wichita Action Plan 2035 on Wednesday. The Wichita City Council also gave the plan the green light this week, so the nonprofit in charge of the plan, Downtown Wichita, can move ahead. The nearly 170-page document lays out — what Downtown Wichita said — is the public’s vision for the city’s core.
Read more: KSN-TV

City leaders in Emporia have voted in favor of seeking district court intervention into a citizen-organized petition against battery energy storage systems within city limits. The Emporia City Commission considered the issue at its regular meeting on Wednesday, which it held virtually. On July 14, the City of Emporia received two citizen petitions, one to prohibit certain data centers and the other to prohibit certain BESS within city limits. On Aug. 5, city officials voted in favor of seeking judicial intervention for the data center petition. During Wednesday’s virtual meeting, the commission took the same approach to the BESS petition.
Read more: KSN-TV

Growing concerns about the use of automated license plate readers, like Flock cameras, have prompted one Johnson County police department to discontinue its use of the controversial devices. On Monday, the Gardner City Council voted to immediately turn off four Flock cameras in use in the city and cancel the city’s roughly $13,000 contract with Flock, after several residents came forward with concerns over privacy and surveillance. Even though the topic was not on the meeting agenda, Gardner resident Eric Arnold used the public comment period to ask the city council to call the Flock contract forward for a vote.
Read more: Johnson County Post

Yes. There are maternity health care deserts in nearly every state in the U.S., including Kansas.  Forty-eight of Kansas’ 105 counties are considered maternity care deserts. More than one-third of U.S. counties are maternity care deserts. This number is higher for rural counties, where nearly 58% of counties lack obstetric clinicians. Maternity care deserts are regions with no obstetric clinicians or birthing facilities.  They are associated with poorer maternal and infant health and higher mortality risks. Counties with maternity care deserts are home to 2.4 million women of reproductive age and 149,000 infants born each year. Residents travel three times longer on average to reach labor and delivery services than residents of full-access counties. Recent cuts to Medicaid are projected to increase the number of maternity care deserts. Medicaid covered 41% of U.S. births in 2023 and nearly half in rural areas.
Read more: KLC Journal