A wandering bull was located in Olathe, Kansas on Monday afternoon, and police are looking for the owner. The Johnson County Sheriff’s office found the bull near 151st Street and Evening Star Road. An animal control deputy is working to find the bull’s owner. Read more: FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV

The Halstead Heritage Museum and Depot has the only working telegraph open to the public in the state of Kansas, according to 2024 Historical Society Volunteer of the Year Joe Trego, who recently installed the museum’s new feature. The telegraph is original to the depot, removed by Lauren Mac (LM) Watkins in 1981 when the railroad closed the depot. Watkins was the last station agent, according to his son, Mike Watkins, who had been storing the telegraph in his basement until recently. Read more: Harvey County Now

With no clear answers, communication or even a timeline on the ever-present grocery store question, a study may offer an alternative. With oversight from the United Way of Harvey and Marion Counties, the Healthy Harvey Coalition has received a grant to help fund a study to see if Hesston could sustain a fresh foods market in a possible brick and mortar location. This idea came about thanks to the overwhelming response to the Hesston Farmers’ Market. Read more: Harvey County Now

Kansas and the nation face a veterinarian shortage, and state agriculture experts are collaborating to draw more vets to practice in rural areas. Kansas State University officials are supporting programs that introduce veterinary students to rural lifestyles and gathering data to understand where shortages exist, said Brad White, director of K-State’s Beef Cattle Institute and director of the Veterinary Training Program for Rural Kansas. The United States has lost about 90% of its food animal veterinarians since the 1940s, according to a 2023 Johns Hopkins study. But it is challenging to get a handle on specific needs within the state, White [...]

Overland Park officials are considering a complete overhaul to the city’s zoning code that would eliminate single-family-only districts and rezone all 76 square miles of the city under a new “character-based” framework. It would be a departure from how Johnson County’s biggest city has handled zoning for decades, and a move without apparent precedent in the Kansas City metro. Notably, the new code, called the Unified Development Ordinance, if enacted, could allow for the construction of more housing types, including duplexes and townhomes, in residential areas that are currently zoned only for traditional single-family homes. Some officials have acknowledged the scale [...]

Olathe is the latest Johnson County city to pass new regulations on e-scooters and similar devices as local leaders respond to growing safety concerns. The Olathe City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved an updated ordinance in a 7-0 vote after several months of discussion, revisions and feedback from residents and city staff. Cities across Johnson County have been updating their rules for e-scooters and e-bikes over the past year as the devices — some of which can clock speeds approaching 40 miles per hour — have grown in popularity, particularly among children and teens. Those efforts have been given renewed urgency [...]

Nearly one-fifth of Americans relied on drinking water systems with elevated and potentially dangerous levels of nitrate in recent years, according to a new study released Thursday. The nonprofit Environmental Working Group examined test data collected by water systems across the country between 2021 and 2023, the most recent data available.  Water systems serving more than 3 million people exceeded the federal safety limit of 10 milligrams per liter over the three years, the research and advocacy organization found. The analysis also found that thousands of water systems serving more than 62 million people reported nitrate levels above 3 milligrams per [...]

The Geary County Historical Society recently hosted its 4th annual “History Alive” reenactment event. On Friday, April 17, organizers said more than 400 students in grades 8–12 attended a special school-day program. That Saturday, hundreds of community members visited the event at the Spring Valley Historic Site in Geary County, which covered nearly three acres. Reenactors from across Kansas and even other states helped bring history to life by showing what life was like in the mid-1800s. Visitors could watch and try activities such as spinning, weaving, archery, flintknapping, and pioneer household chores. There were also cultural demonstrations, including traditional Ojibwe [...]

Convention centers and their viability were big news in three Midwestern cities this spring. Omaha, Nebraska, officials have been celebrating a milestone in their $200 million convention center expansion project: the topping out of the refurbished CHI Health Center. Half the funding for the downtown center, expected to open in fall 2027, is coming from voter-approved general obligation bonds, while the other half is from private funding. Within a year or two after Omaha passed its bond issue, campaigns were underway to persuade residents of Wichita and Springfield, Missouri, to vote for taxes that would fund renovations and expansions to their [...]

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly executed her veto power Monday on five different bills, including a property tax relief bill. Lawmakers in both the House and Senate will need to achieve two-thirds majorities in order to defeat Kelly’s veto of the following bills: HB 2043 would have allowed Kansans to petition against increases in property tax revenues. It would also continue reimbursements from the taxpayer notification costs fund for an additional five years. HB 2111 would have exempted certain registered agritourism operations from local code and regulation enforcement. HB 2515 would have established the Kansas Legal Tender Act. This act reaffirms gold [...]