Students in Wichita middle and high schools will no longer be going back to school in-person in a hybrid model after the Board of Education reversed an earlier decision amid skyrocketing coronavirus indicators. Wichita Public Schools will stick with the current learning model for the rest of the semester, keeping all older students online only while elementary students are in-person or remote, depending on the enrollment choice at the start of the academic year. The school board did not make any specific decisions regarding winter sports. Practices are set to start next week with the first competitions in less than a [...]

Wichita police might take a photo of your vehicle using an automatic license plate reader if you drive through high-crime areas. The pilot program is targeted at reducing violent crime in the city, which has had a 111% increase in drive-by shootings in one year, said Lt. Casey Slaughter. “It’s huge, it’s astounding,” Slaughter said of the increase in violent crime. “It’s one of those things where we feel as a department we’re obligated, certainly, to do something. And this is just one tool among many in the bag that we’re going to try to see if this will be something [...]

By every measure available, the coronavirus pandemic is worse than it has ever been in the Wichita area, according to the latest data provided by local and state government. The number of people in Wichita hospitals with COVID-19 has nearly doubled in two weeks. During that time, nearly one in four people who were tested had the disease. The coronavirus hospital situation in Wichita has worsened one week after a surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations caused the city’s two major hospitals to hit their capacities for intensive care unit patients. Source: Local News | Wichita Eagle