The Lawrence Police Department will soon host an event to talk to residents about Connect Lawrence, a controversial camera surveillance program the department rolled out in July without community input. The program is run by tech company Axon Fusus. Residents and businesses can volunteer to register their security cameras and contact information with the police department, allowing police to see where cameras are located and request footage if a crime occurs nearby. According to the program’s website, camera locations and footage will also be used by the fire department. “It’s about helping our officers respond smarter, more efficiently, and helping the community feel more secure,” Lawrence police Chief Rich Lockhart said in a news release. Experts and dozens of community members have spoken out against the surveillance program since its sudden implementation, calling it dystopian and a threat to privacy. The Lawrence Transparency Project organized in opposition to the police department’s adoption of the Axon Fusus program. To date, the group’s petition against the rollout has garnered 469 signatures.
Read more: The Lawrence Times

The Hutchinson Recreation Commission recently announced that it is starting a new Neighborhood Ambassadors program this year as part of the Healthy Neighborhood Initiative, according to The Hutch Tribune. Per HRC Director of Community Denice Gilliland, the ambassador role is an informal position open to anyone interested in making their block, street or neighborhood more welcoming “to inspire connection … and create communities where people know each other.”
Read more: www.derbyinformer.com

The Arbor Day Foundation has named Garden City a 2025 Tree City USA in honor of its commitment to plant, grow, and maintain trees to benefit its community. This is the 48th consecutive year that Garden City has received this recognition. The Arbor Day Foundation is a global nonprofit with a mission to inspire people to plant, nurture and celebrate trees; its network of more than a million supporters and partners has helped the organization plant more than 500 million trees in forests and communities across more than 60 countries.
Read more: Garden City, KS – News Flash

Lyon County Engineer Wayne Scritchfield appeared before the Lyon County Commission Thursday to discuss a potential new method to stabilize gravel roads, reduce the need for frequent grading and prevent pothole formation. The new method would involve applying a proprietary road stabilization product by mixing it approximately eight inches deep into the base of gravel roads. The product is designed to harden and stabilize the road surface, with several counties in Iowa and other areas with increased traffic and severe weather using it extensively.
Read more: www.emporiagazette.com

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 said. About 2,500 licensed vets practice in Kansas, a number that has been steady for a few years, according to a survey published last year by the Farm Journal Foundation and the Kansas Department of Agriculture. The difficulty is tracking specific areas in Kansas that have veterinary shortages and in what practice areas those shortages are occurring, White said. Veterinarians may have mixed animal practices, meaning they care for large and companion animals, or they may specialize, he said.
Read more: Hays Daily News

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 of what the city is attempting as they’ve discussed these changes in focus groups, workshops and public meetings.
Read more: Johnson County Post