Spring Hill, Kansas, is one of the fastest-growing cities in the Kansas City metro area, and a major driver in that growth is a housing boom. "It’s kind of an untapped resource, or it’s kind of a secret part of the metro area that has steadily been growing over the past few years," said Mike Mallon, Spring Hill's community development director. "It’s a prime position between Highway 169, Highway 69 over to the east, really trying to accommodate the growth that’s just naturally happening in southern Johnson County." Spring Hill is split between Miami and Johnson counties but a bulk of [...]

Olathe Public Schools has long been an attractive school district for families living in the Kansas City area — and its steadily growing enrollment numbers reflected that. But Superintendent Brent Yeager said that trend has changed in recent years, citing the rising cost to buy a home and declining birth rates for families. “Our incoming kindergarten classes are substantially smaller than our exiting senior classes,” Yeager said. “The first many, many, many years of our district from about 1965 to about 2019 it was just the opposite.” In Kansas, the amount of funding that school districts receive is tied to enrollment [...]

One year ago, the towns of Grinnell and Plevna were in clean up mode after tornadoes tore through. On Monday, KSN News went to Plevna and spoke with city leaders who say the burden of the storm is still weighing heavy. Read more: KSN-TV

The Kriss family was out of town and watching the storms on radar. What they returned home to was unexpected and severe. Read more: KSN-TV

Various tornado warnings and severe thunderstorm warnings were issued, but no injuries or deaths were noted on the website of the weather service's Topeka office. Read more: CJonline

Riley County’s six-month moratorium on data centers and battery energy storage centers has a scheduled end date. The Riley County Commission agreed last month to adopt a moratorium, but the implementation process didn’t start until commissioners signed a resolution Monday. The resolution will go into effect from the time it’s published in The Mercury until Nov. 12. Read more: News Radio KMAN

Arkansas City commissioners will consider a resolution tonight authorizing the purchase of radar-controlled traffic lights. If approved, the Radar Vision system will be installed by Gades Sales Co. Inc. to serve the intersection of US 77 and Summit Street, the last stoplight on South Summit Street, for an amount not to exceed $21,175. The city currently has three radar traffic systems in operation. Radar systems are able to function more reliably in bad weather and darkness than the current camera-controlled systems. Radar systems allow traffic lights to adjust in real time instead of using fixed timers to reduce waiting time and [...]

Firefighters across southwest Kansas are preparing for another dangerous day as massive wildfires continue burning. After four straight days of fast‑moving fires across Kansas and Oklahoma, some departments are now dealing with injuries within their own crews while still trying to protect communities. Read more: KSN-TV

The City of Topeka is looking for public comment to improve its housing and community development efforts. The City of Topeka announced in a press release on May 18 that it's expecting $12 million over the next five years in federal funding to support housing, neighborhood improvements, public services and community development projects. City officials now want feedback from residents to guide how to best use the funds. Read more: KSNT 27 News

The Reno County Planning Commission reviewed possible changes to parking and off-street loading requirements in county zoning rules during its Thursday, May 14, meeting. County Planner Mark Vonachen said the proposal was spurred by how often the planning commission waives those requirements as part of conditional use permits because a business doesn’t need as much parking as county rules normally require. To alleviate that, he suggested removing parking minimums from the baseline requirements and instead making them part of conditions for approval of permits. That would give the planning commission the ability to tailor parking requirements to each project. Read more: [...]