News

The North Newton City Council decided to explore the idea of possible bicycle and e-bike regulations during its regular Monday night meeting. This matter arose at the February meeting, when Councilman Dennis Campbell brought up an e-bike accident that occurred in town. The person rode on the sidewalk on 24th Street, Campbell said. At that meeting, Campbell distributed a journal containing information about e-bike safety and cities with e-bike ordinances. This is a council-driven matter, City Administrator Brad Harris said. Mayor Ron Ratzlaff talked about information he brought, one of which was a summary of Newton’s related ordinances. Harris said staff [...]

Property owners who live outside of any city in Johnson County looking to use their property for short-term rentals will have new regulations designed to allow access to potential economic benefit while protecting quality of life for surrounding properties. The Johnson County Board of County Commissioners approved the new regulations on Thursday. The regulations apply to property owners who are hosting short-term stays of fewer than 30 nights. Before Thursday’s vote, Johnson County zoning regulations did not address short-term rentals. These new regulations can help ensure that potential hosts have a flexible and clear set of requirements to follow, while neighbors [...]

The proposed STAR bond incentive district for the Kansas City Chiefs’ new stadium and team headquarters, announced late last year by Kansas and team officials, covers the bulk of Wyandotte County and a large swath of Johnson County. But Shawnee, one of the Johnson County cities included in the still-unfinalized district’s boundaries, wants to exempt some areas within its city limits, perhaps for a potential STAR bond district of its own. In December, the Chiefs announced plans to build a new $3 billion domed stadium in Kansas City, Kansas, along with a new training facility and headquarters in Olathe, supported by [...]

The city of Prairie Village turned 75 years old on Feb. 19, but the city’s year-long celebration kicks off later this month. Prairie Village’s 75th anniversary celebrations begin at the end of March and continue throughout the year until the city’s birthday party in October. Other northeastern Johnson County cities, including Merriam, Fairway, Leawood and Westwood, celebrated their 75th anniversaries in the past few years. The cities of Roeland Park and Mission are also celebrating their 75th anniversaries this year. Prairie Village Councilmember Inga Selders, who is the chair of the city’s 75th Anniversary committee and a lifelong resident, said she [...]

Spring Hill Police, along with other departments in southern Johnson County, rolled out online logs earlier this year detailing calls for service from the previous 24 hours — completing a countywide effort to encrypt emergency radio calls that attempts to still provide near real-time information about radio traffic to the community. A 2022 federal policy requires law enforcement to encrypt their radios, with the goal of protecting personal information like Social Security numbers and health conditions. In an effort to remain transparent while still encrypting their radio channels, agencies across Johnson County began transitioning to 24-hour call-for-service logs in 2024 that [...]

For William Von Steiger, the unlikely first step toward a better life began two years ago with a burning car. Von Steiger, an Overland Park veteran who served a year as an Army paralegal specialist before his discharge in 2008, started the car fire during a particularly dark time, he said. “Coupled with drug and alcohol use and not knowing how else to deal with my emotions, it just was a really rough time,” he said. “I kind of lashed out at the world.” But with the military service (he said he was honorably discharged for medical and mental health reasons), [...]

Wichita State University launched a new system on Thursday that’s designed to collect data from across the state and store it in one place. The Kansas Data Trust can collect information like demographics and service utilization in a secure way that can be used by public agencies, researchers and nonprofit organizations. Nigel Soria, a research manager for the project, said those details will help answer difficult questions relating to issues like homelessness and education. Read more: KSN-TV

A large crowd turned out Thursday for Sedgwick County’s town hall meeting on data centers. The Sedgwick County Board of County Commissioners adopted a 90-day resolution — set to expire April 17 — to review and develop zoning regulations and pause any potential data center applications. Lori Kraus, a Colwich resident who spoke against the projects, said she wants commissioners to take constituents’ concerns seriously. “I spoke on national security,” she said. “I think it’s one topic that they did not address. Especially anyone in news, it’s very apparent that they are a soft target because the military does use these [...]

The Food Bank of Reno County celebrated the grand opening of its new facility in Hutchinson on Thursday. Lance Patterson, chairman of the food bank, said the new facility is five times larger than the previous one and is designed like a grocery store. “It’s really, really cool to see how much the community rallied around this project, how much people care about our community, and how much this looks and feels like a real grocery store,” Patterson said. Each person who visits the food bank will be given a certain number of points to spend based on the size of [...]

As data centers remain a hot topic across the state, an informational meeting in Hutchinson on Thursday aimed to calm fears over the facilities. The Hutchinson/Reno County Chamber of Commerce hosted the event with state officials and energy and artificial intelligence companies. The speakers said they hoped to combat misinformation. They pushed for the positives, arguing that data centers drive economic growth by creating jobs and drawing business. The main concerns people express about data centers typically revolve around energy consumption, particularly the use of water. Read more: KSN-TV