info

USD 244 Burlington has a new superintendent. Donalyn Biehler was chosen as the district’s new leader last week. She currently leads USD 487 Herington. Biehler replaces Craig Marshall, who is retiring after 10 years leading the district. She officially begins her new duties July 1. Read more: KVOE

Removing the ban on three dog breeds considered to be aggressive went nowhere at Monday night’s city council meeting. Police Chief Aaron Slater proposed lifting the ban on pit bulls and Rottweilers about a month ago. Council members did not see the need, and since the policy was not changing, no vote was needed. Read more: Marion County RECORD

After interviewing outside candidates for its new superintendent Renwick USD 267 realized it had the right person at home as the district announced Friday that Assistant Superintendent Lacee Sell will become superintendent of Renwick USD 267 on July 1. Sell joined the school district last summer. She previously served as superintendent of Chapman USD 473 for five years and Clinton County R-IIII School District in Plattsburg, Mo., for three years. She also has been a system alignment and collaboration specialist with Kansas Multi-Tiered Systems of Support and Alignment, associate superintendent with Geary County USD 475, and executive director of teaching and [...]

Everyone who spoke at Monday’s Yates Center City Council meeting was unanimous in saying they support law enforcement. But paths diverged when discussion turned to how much the city should pay to maintain its own police force. Monday’s 2-hour discussion was the first after a pair of mid-January Council meetings, during the first a split Council voted to greatly downsize the department; and a special meeting one night later to undo that decision. Anticipating a large crowd for follow-up debate, the city moved Monday’s meeting from City Hall to Yates Center Town Hall to accommodate a large crowd. Roughly 70 attended. [...]

Iolan Braxton Curry, who graduated from PSU in December with a degree in graphic communications, provided the winning submission in a community billboard contest. Braxton Curry graduated from Pittsburg State University in December, having earned a bachelor of science degree in graphic communications. It didn’t take her long to make her first mark in her post-college career. The Iola native’s design was picked this week by Iola’s Community Involvement Task Force-PRIDE members as the winner in a citywide billboard drawing contest. Curry’s design is a relatively simple one, with the word “IOLA” written in thick block letters, with each letter illustrating [...]

Southwest Kansas might take a big step toward water conservation in ways previously thought to be impossible. Groundwater Management District 3, headquartered in Garden City, is looking for feedback from local farmers on its plan to use less water for crop irrigation in the region. A discussion on proposed water cuts recently attracted farmers from counties across the southwest part of the state, who filled a small community building. Trevor Ahring, civil engineer for the district, told the sea of Kansas State University baseball caps and flannel shirts the details of the plan – all with the objective of easing the [...]

Iola’s newly established land bank is open for business. This bank is not a financial institution in a traditional sense. You can’t go in and ask for a loan, or even make a deposit. In fact, its only “assets” will be vacant lots, with the intention of filling them with new homes or businesses. The City of Iola Land Bank announced last week it is now accepting residential properties for donation. There are a few notable stipulations, said Matt Rehder, city administrator. For one, the land must be vacant with no structures, and at least 50 feet by 100 feet. The current [...]

The Manhattan Urban Area Planning Board has advanced new clarifications on Riley County’s short-term rental regulations, aiming to make enforcement more consistent and less subjective. The decision attempts to clarify vague wording with how county staff interpret when a 500-foot separation distance between units can be waived, so that decisions are based on clear standards and not arbitrary in nature. Short-term rental regulations have been in place since Riley County adopted its updated land-development regulations in 2022. County counselor Jacob Hansen told the planning board Monday that staff didn’t have any clear direction on when and how to interpret when a [...]

Synopsis: K.S.A. 2-611 mandates that county residents elect the members of county extension councils. Because this statute concerns elections, counties may not invoke their home rule authority to exempt themselves from it. Read more: Kansas Attorney General Opinion 2026-3

The Kansas Supreme Court heard oral arguments this week in a long-running dispute over an amended planned unit development application by the Riley County Commission, which Prairiewood Holdings LLC has appealed. The dispute centers on whether a protest petition from neighboring landowners has met the legal threshold under state law. The county board initially ruled the protest petition did not apply because the project was only a PUD and not a rezoning. The Court of Appeals disagreed, holding that because the amendment increased building square footage by more than 1% county regulations required the same process as a rezoning, including allowing [...]