Wichita has gone through its first weekend of enhanced fireworks regulations with nobody getting cited for illegal celebration, a city fire official said Monday. The promised crackdown on things that go boom in the night hasn't really started yet, said Deputy Fire Chief Stuart Bevis. Fireworks sales began in and around Wichita on Friday and some skyrockets did fly over city neighborhoods, even though they're illegal here. In May, the Wichita City Council rewrote its fireworks ordinance to make it easier to enforce. Illegal use of fireworks can now be punished with a $250 citation against the user or the owner [...]

Cities, counties and Native American tribes across the nation are filing lawsuits against opioid manufacturers in an effort to recover damages from the widespread opioid epidemic. The suits largely accuse pharmaceutical companies of aggressively pushing painkillers while falsely representing the danger of addiction, turning "patients into drug addicts for their own corporate profit," one suit said. In Kansas and Missouri, at least 16 cities and counties have filed suits. Nationwide, more than 400 separate lawsuits have been filed, according to The New York Times. The suits are reminiscent of those that led to the 1998 settlement between the five largest cigarette [...]

Some old-fashioned political diplomacy has resulted in a compromise between the city of Wichita and a local brewery whose owners were upset over parking fees in the lot adjacent to their just-opened business. Last month, I reported about a battle between Nortons Brewing Company, a new brewery and restaurant that opened in April at 125 N. St. Francis, and Wichita Transit, the city department in charge of enforcing parking in the lots that surround the brewery. But the two sides have reached a temporary compromise thanks to the help of two Wichita City Council members who decided to intervene. (Read more: [...]

Wichita police will soon have a drone to fly over crash scenes, SWAT standoffs and Riverfest. But could it also fly over your backyard? That's what members of the Citizen Review Board asked when police proposed a drone policy at last week's meeting. Capt. Doug Nolte said police are already purchasing one drone for the department. "Before we actually deploy it or ever use it, we want to have a policy in place so people are aware of the fact that we have it, what we are going to use it for, what they can expect, and I think if you [...]