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Wichita State University students earned a record-breaking $39.2 million through applied learning in the 2025 academic year, highlighting the university’s focus on hands-on experience and workforce development. The total marks an 11% increase from last year’s $35.3 million. More students are also participating in these opportunities, with 12,328 applied learning experiences — a 31% jump from last year — through paid work with area businesses, organizations, and on-campus employers, all while continuing their studies. Read more: KCLY Radio

A new housing initiative is set to launch soon across several counties in North Central Kansas aimed at addressing the issue of dilapidated residential structures. The “Demo to Dirt” program provides financial assistance to help property owners remove unsafe or blighted housing, contributing to safer neighborhoods and enhancing the overall appearance of communities. Read more: KCLY Radio

Clay County General Public Transportation (CCGPT) is pleased to announce that it has expanded its partnership with Clay County Medical Center (CCMC) to include not just Clay County patients, but patients in parts of the surrounding counties. This partnership will expand CCGPT’s outreach while greatly benefiting patients of CCMC and its area Family Physician Clinics. Don Wright, Public Transportation Director, spoke of this growing partnership.   “We have been working with CCMC about picking up patients and clients to transport to and from appointments. Recently, our surrounding community transportation agencies had asked us if we could expand a little bit to bring [...]

A company with a vision of installing “discreet, bespoke,” small, nuclear reactors 1 mile underground for data centers and other electricity-hungry industries plans to put its first reactors in Kansas, Texas and Utah. Deep Fission, which says its technology could meet the “explosive demand for power from artificial intelligence” has signed letters of intent with undisclosed partners in each of those states. In email exchanges, the company said it will not currently disclose the partner and location in Kansas, but would “share more information soon.” Read more: KCUR News

Silver Lake Schools superintendent Brad Womack announced that he will be retiring in June of 2026, capping off 28 years at the school district. Womack has more than three decades of experience in the Kansas public education system, working his way up from custodian to superintendent. He made the announcement in a letter Thursday, so the Board of Education could begin searching for candidates. Read more: KSNT 27 News

The School Board is trying to recruit nonresident students to the district to increase enrollment and erase disparities between high school and kindergarten class sizes. During Thursday’s board meeting, Superintendent Stu Moeckel said the district will graduate 140 students this year, and the odds that the district is “going to bring 140 kindergartners in are not going to happen.” Moeckel said this is the second year the district has had nonresident enrollment. He said the first year it started, the district had 61 applicants. He said this year the district ended with 101 applicants, and most of them enrolled. He said [...]

The Hutchinson USD 308 Board of Education approved renewing the district’s license for its virtual school platform, but Superintendent Dawn Johnson said the district may need to shop around in the future after a price increase this year. With the renewal, the per-student cost of the Acellus Gold Spark Program will increase to $790. With a combined 368 students using the platform between virtual school, alternative school, and Reno County Youth Services, that puts the total cost at $290,720. Johnson said base state aid for 368 students amounted to around $2 million. Read more: The Hutchinson Tribune

LaHarpe volunteer firefighters paid a visit to My Second Home Daycare in LaHarpe Friday to show the youngsters the equipment they use to keep families safe. The youngsters were allowed to hold the fire hose and check out the department’s various vehicles and equipment. They also were allowed to give the siren and horn a quick blast, much to the delight of the other kiddos. Read more: The Iola Register

The initial log jam grew significantly after additional rain events, extending its length from 350 feet to around 1,000 feet. Read more: Salina Journal

The city of Topeka plans to consider a $292,500 settlement for a gender discrimination lawsuit filed by a retired fire captain. This would be the fourth discrimination settlement paid by the city since June 2023. Read more: CJonline