Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly and top Republican legislators agreed Tuesday to try for now to encourage Kansas counties to adopt local mask mandates rather than consider a statewide rule as the state experiences its biggest surge in new coronavirus cases of the pandemic. Kelly had a private Zoom meeting with eight leaders of the GOP-controlled Legislature, six of them Republicans, and participants said afterward that they discussed encouraging greater mask use. The state health department reported Monday that the state’s rolling seven-day average for new cases set a record of 815 a day for the seven days ending Monday. Kelly issued a [...]

Halloween is just days away and state leaders are recommending new ways to still have fun, while staying safe. Streets and sidewalks in local neighborhoods are usually filled with little witches and super heroes on Halloween. But what will it look like this year during a pandemic? "Our plans for this year, we're really not going to do very much different than we normally would. We usually pass out candy in our neighborhood,” says Kristi Burchfiel, who plans to still hand out candy. Everyone we talked to expects a crowd waiting at their door, just like every other year. Source: KAKE [...]

The Hutchinson Public Schools Board of Education on Monday approved a modified learning plan that will allow groups of students to return to the classroom the week of Nov. 2, while maintaining small groups. Under the plan, students will continue to eat in small groups, with elementary students eating in their classrooms. On Mondays and Wednesdays, roughly half of students will attend school in-person while the other half attend on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Students will attend in-person on alternating Fridays, with the first group going one Friday and the second group on the next. Source: KAKE - News