The Wichita City Council on Tuesday will consider signing off on the purchase of two robotic dogs for the police department The robots were originally approved through the city’s capital improvement plan. The council has the option to get one or both of the dogs. One would got to the SWAT team and the other to the bomb squad. The police chief says if the council only approves one dog, he knows where he wants it to go. Both dogs would cost the city over $630,000.
Read more: KSN-TV

A new Lawrence Affordable Housing Study finds that over half of renters and many homebuyers cannot afford current prices, as housing construction lags well below pre-pandemic levels.
Read more: LJWorld

Becky Willard asked the county commissioners to expand the current moratorium in effect to include three new items: private energy campuses, hyperscale AI data centers, and a solar project near McCune. A private energy campus is a piece of infrastructure designed to support the high-energy usage of data centers. Kansas House Bill HB 2664 would allow tech companies to build such a complex independent of the existing power grid, sometimes combining wind, solar, natural gas and nuclear power. Supporters of the bill argue that by letting tech companies bypass government bureaucracy, Kansas can more easily attract high-tech industry and massive capital investment. The problem is who pays for the existing power grid. Maintaining the grid does not get cheaper if fewer people are on it. If big tech is allowed to build their own grids, the remaining customers have to pick up the slack in lost revenue used to maintain the grid, while at the same time, the private campuses remain hooked into the public grid for emergencies.
Read more: Morning Sun

A new notification system is being adopted by Saline County. Salina 911 in conjunction with Saline County Emergency Management, the Salina Fire and Police Departments and Saline County Sheriff’s Office have partnered with Regroup for a new mass emergency notification system to keep the community informed and prepared during critical events. The system provides real time alerts based on your location. Alerts can be sent either by phone, email or text.
Read more: Ad Astra Radio

Sedgwick County Emergency Communications recently launched its Fire Dispatch Priority System (FDPS) to further support the processing of fire-related calls. FDPS is a structured tool that will enhance existing operations by guiding 911 call takers through key questions to efficiently gather critical information. It also supports the delivery of pre-arrival instructions when appropriate, such as how to safely exit a building, and allows fire departments to align response configurations with the most accurate and up-to-date information available.
Read more: www.derbyinformer.com