After graduating from William Jewell College, Overland Park Councilmember Drew Mitrisin left the Midwest for Washington, D.C. A Missouri native, Mitrisin says it was a call from his father-in-law about five years later that brought him and his wife back to the area. They settled in Overland Park and now live in the Nall Hills neighborhood with their young daughter. “We knew that we wanted to come home because we wanted to raise our family, we wanted to have access to good schools, and we wanted to have great jobs. And that’s what we found,” he said. A new Kansas Department [...]

The city of Mission is working on a new tree preservation ordinance, the latest city in northeast Johnson County to look at ways to maintain its mature tree canopy. The Mission City Council during a committee meeting on Wednesday voiced support for a possible ordinance that would outline how to protect, remove and replace trees throughout the city but stop short of stricter regulations like requiring permitting for removal of trees on private property. Other neighboring cities, including Fairway and Prairie Village, already have tree preservation ordinances on their books, either modifying or approving those regulations in the past five years. In Roeland Park, a tree preservation ordinance [...]

After seven years of serving Johnson County, a K9 officer for the Lenexa Police Department is retiring from the force. Having racked up hundreds of deployments and drug finds, Kobi, a 10-year-old Dutch Shepherd, served his last shift on July 5. His partner officer Sgt. Rich Sanchez got to formally announce the end of his final day of duty over the police dispatch. For Sanchez, it was tough making the call, but after Kobi suffered some hip issues and his sense of smell lost its sharpness, it was time to let him be a civilian dog. “I know he could still do [...]