Violators of Prairie Village’s e-bike and e-scooter ordinance are now more likely to get a citation instead of just a warning. After more than a year of educating the community about new restrictions on e-bikes and e-scooters, the Prairie Village Police Department now plans to move “to a more aggressive enforcement, including citations,” according to an Oct. 1 city email. Kids riding e-bikes and e-scooters — and even faster-moving e-motorcycles that require a driver’s license — have become an increasingly prominent trend across Johnson County. And safety concerns have grown alongside that, especially as parents of kids struck by cars have [...]

The potential for a “drastically different” downtown Merriam may come with the cost of a new municipal sales tax. On Monday, City Administrator Chris Engel outlined an early proposal to the Merriam City Council for a potential sales tax ballot initiative to put before voters, aimed at helping pay for a not-yet-finalized downtown makeover. Read more: Johnson County Post

Federal Reserve officials expect they will raise interest rates again before the end of the year to head off inflation that has run above target for more than five years, according to meeting minutes released Wednesday. But the meeting summary provided no indication of when specifically that policymakers expected to raise benchmark rates – only that persistently higher prices and a stable labor market likely would lead to a second hike this year. Read more: CNBC Bonds

The Overland Park Police Department has tightened guidelines around the use of the city’s 37 stationary automated license plate readers and 110 vehicle mounted cameras. “While automated license plate reader technology has been a part of Overland Park’s public safety efforts since 2011, evolving technological capabilities require our policy to evolve alongside them,” police spokesperson Officer John Lacy said in a statement to KCUR. The new regulations ban the use of automated license plate reader data to gather information on free speech or religious activity. Cameras are prohibited within “100 feet of any place of worship, polling place, or medical facility.” Read [...]

The WSJ quarterly survey reveals that forecasters think inflation, Federal Reserve rate increases and debt will keep borrowing costs higher for longer. Read more: WSJ.com: Markets

The city of Shawnee is looking to amend its municipal code to crack down on distracted driving caused by people watching videos on their phones. On Monday, the Shawnee Council Committee discussed amending city code to include language that explicitly addresses drivers watching videos and livestreams behind the wheel. Current city code only outlaws sending written communications, like texting and emails, while driving. The amendment would cover a broader grouping of distracted driving behaviors, including using the internet or other social media platforms like Facebook and watching videos on apps like YouTube, TikTok and Instagram. Read more: Johnson County Post

Lawrence City Manager Majed Al-Ghafry floated the idea of a new downtown department and said the city should remain open to exploring data centers during a chamber of commerce event this week.  Key for Al-Ghafry is balance, he said: between development and the city’s core beliefs; between expanding Lawrence and preserving agriculture; and between different types of housing. Al-Ghafry, whom the Lawrence City Commission selected as the new city manager in June, spoke to a full house at the Jayhawk Club including business owners, developers, school board members, city staff and county commissioners. Chamber President and CEO Bonnie Lowe asked him [...]

The data center has not been fully approved. According to a press release from Digital Realty, the payment plan was created with the help of city leaders to help residents with utilities and property taxes. Read more: KCTV5

The bill’s language, according to the lawsuit, restricts the Unified Government’s authority in a manner that runs counter to the Kansas Constitution’s right for local governments to determine local affairs “unless the Legislature acts through laws that apply uniformly to all cities.” Read more: Hutch News

Firefighters were notified just before 6 p.m. that Tasslehoff had been located high up in a tree in the 200 block of W. Allen Street, just south of the Spring Hill Sports Complex. Read more: Johnson County Post