News

Voters in northwest Wyandotte County on Tuesday will decide the fate of a proposed $32.5 million bond for ongoing improvements in Piper Unified School District. The item, if successful, would greenlight the second in a two-phase districtwide improvement plan to accommodate rising enrollment amid space limitations. Source: Local Kansas City Missouri & Kansas News |

Structural repairs to two of Wichita’s oldest high schools have cost nearly $60 million over the past three years — an expense leaders say prevents them from upgrading and repairing other district buildings. “This is the reality of our situation,” said Superintendent Kelly Bielefeld. “When we have these kinds of expenses going toward two buildings, the other 88 buildings are hard to keep up on.” About four years ago, crews discovered structural problems in a science wing at Wichita's East High School, which is more than 100 years old. School officials shuttered 18 classrooms in that wing of the school for [...]

Galena voters pass a bond proposal for school upgrades. USD 499 Bond Question: If the bond question passes, it would allow the school district to borrow $7.5 million to fix and improve school buildings, enhance safety, and build new facilities, without increasing taxes. Source: www.koamnewsnow.com - RSS Results in news/local-news of type article

State leaders approved recognizing the Fallen Firefighter Memorial in Wichita as the state's official memorial on Wednesday. The move comes after it was vandalized this week. On Tuesday, the Kansas Firefighters Museum took to Facebook to share that the museum and memorial had been vandalized. The Wichita Fire Department took it upon themselves to clean up the memorial on Wednesday, but the building cannot be power-washed. Source: KSN-TV

The McPherson Fire Department is inviting the community to celebrate the opening of its brand-new Fire Station 2 with a public open house on Saturday, May 31, from 9 a.m. to noon. According to a social post from the department, the special event will allow residents to tour the station, meet local firefighters, and learn more about the equipment and resources that help keep the McPherson community safe. Source: KSN-TV

Local and state leaders broke ground on the new South Central Regional Mental Health Hospital in Wichita. It happened at noon on Wednesday at 3901 S. Custer Ave., the site chosen for the new hospital in south Wichita. It is just west of Meridian and MacArthur Road. The hospital will have 104 beds for adults with acute mental illness. Sedgwick County will build it, and the State of Kansas will run it. Funding for the project comes from federal and state sources. Sedgwick County received $25 million in federal recovery funds for construction. The Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services [...]

Haysville's $80 million bond for school infrastructure improvements passes with around 75% of voters swinging in favor. Every one of the nearly 2,000 people who turned out in the race had their own reasons for voting, but all agreed that whether your answer was "yes" or "no", the topic is important. Source: KSN-TV

Riley County’s planning board is making progress on its short-term rental regulations. At Monday’s county commission meeting, the planning director presented a draft with updated language on licensing requirements and other rules for commissioner feedback. One planned requirement for short-term rentals (also called vacation rentals, commonly rented on sites like Airbnb and VRBO) is a responsible agent. Webb added a rule that the responsible agent must live in Riley County while guests are in the short-term rental. Source: themercury.com - RSS Results in news of type article

National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week is April 13 through 19, and it highlights the essential role dispatchers fill in emergency responses, according to Kyle McCaskey, Harvey County public information officer. The department has 24 people working there altogether, with four of those being part-time dispatchers and three being administrative. Source: Harvey County Now

The new law updates the Kansas Open Records Act and Kansas Open Meetings Act, and a provision in it says that any governing body or agency that “elects to live stream their meeting on television, the internet or any other medium shall ensure that all aspects of the open meeting are available through the selected medium for the public to observe.” That would affect the Lawrence City Commission, which currently does not include all parts of its meetings in its live broadcasts on YouTube. Source: LJWorld