Wichita East High School is celebrating 100 years with celebrations and events on Friday and Saturday. The event is open to the public. “We’ve got band show, choir show, dancers our jazz band,” Principal Sara Richardson said. “We have self-guided tours going on and just kind of a fun atmosphere all the way up until three o’clock that really everyone and anyone in the community is invited to.” Wichita High School opened in 1873, but on Oct. 8, 1923, Wichita High School opened at Douglas and Grove. It then became Wichita High School East when Wichita High School North opened in 1929. “We take a lot of pride in being the original, the heart of the city, heart of the community,” Richardson said. “Our current kids, the legacy of multiple generational families that come through here, are very excited to celebrate their family’s history, their school’s history, and then we’re doing, I think a nice job of bridging the gap between the past and the present and then on to the future.”
Source: KSN

Sedgwick County is adding employee guidelines for using artificial intelligence. Their information technology department met with commissioners Tuesday to discuss the artificial intelligence policy in the works. Chief Information Officer Mike Elpers explains their concern is on Generative AI, which takes in information to create content in the form of text or images. The policy will help prevent issues with security and inaccurate information. While AI is growing rapidly in professional industries, “There’s no guidance on how to use it in business,” said Elpers. “It’s going to be a very good time to sit down and understand what AI does, what it can do, and what the positive and negative really are,” explains Bill Ramsey, CEO of Soteria Solutions.
Source: KSN

A bridge replacement project on Kansas Highway 55 between Belle Plaine and Udall is finally complete. The barricades and signs were brought down Thursday afternoon, and the road is now open for traffic. Construction to replace the bridge began in September of 2022. During the bridge replacement, traffic between the two communities was detoured at U.S. Highway 81 up to K-53, east on K-53 through Mulvane to K-15, and south on K-15 down to Udall. That is 23.6 miles, with an average drive time of 28 minutes, according to Google Maps. Now that the bridge has been replaced, the distance is back down to just 9.3 miles. The new bridge is much wider with new 8-foot shoulders.
Source: KSN

At a time when affordable housing is scarce, the city of Wichita hopes that the sale of homes once used for public housing will provide more options for prospective homeowners. Over the past week, the city offered open houses for the first 13 homes it is selling after receiving permission from the federal government. The city announced in 2022 that it would split up its 352 single-family public housing units into several groups and sell them. The units come at a time when buyers face a tight market. A report by the Wichita State Center for Real Estate found that sales of houses are down, but prices will continue to rise. The report found that a lack of available housing is the main factor behind these issues. It’s hoped that the sale of the units would “add back to the housing stock for homeowners,” Megan Lovely, the communications manager for the City of Wichita, said in an email.
Source: KSN