News

Efforts are underway to fill more than 4,000 vacant lots in Kansas City, Kansas, with a focus on the northeast area of the city. The initiative aims to turn empty spaces into attainable homeownership opportunities while decreasing the property tax burden on residents. New homes take shape as long-awaited plan to transform 4,000 vacant KCK lots comes to fruition. Michael Sutton, the Unified Government redevelopment coordinator and co-land bank manager, said the majority of the land bank properties are in the northeast, east of Interstate 635, north of Parallel Parkway and west of the river. Read more: KSHB News

Leavenworth County is the latest Kansas City-area community that could be seeing a data center come online. During a nearly six-hour work session at the March 18 Leavenworth County Commissioner meeting, commissioners heard from Kansas state employees and developer Cloverleaf about a proposed hyperscale data center. While no official filings have been made with the county regarding data center development, Leavenworth County Commissioner Mike Stieben told KSHB 41 News the proposal is "well beyond its preliminary phases." The project would be located on nearly 1,000 acres of land on Tailgate Ranch, just south of Tonganoxie. While specific details about Project Bluestem [...]

With the Wyandotte County property valuation appeal deadline quickly approaching on Thursday, March 26, neighbors are stepping up to help each other navigate the process. Residents are seeing a huge spike in property valuations this year. Jodi Maxey built her dream home in Edwardsville and moved in around September 2021. When she received her valuation, she saw the value of her house jump by $114,000. We met Tuesday to talk about the valuations. Maxey, who is a mortgage underwriter, pulled her own comparable properties and said she has no idea how the county came up with her house value. Maxey said [...]

The countdown to the FIFA World Cup 2026 is on, and Johnson County is preparing. Overland Park leaders met to discuss what they are doing, including what the event means for the area's transportation. Overland Park leaders discuss city and county preparations for World CupTo meet the demand, Johnson County World Cup buses will take visitors right from the airport to the Lenexa City Center and the Overland Park Convention Center. In addition, KC2026 buses will take visitors from two spots in Overland Park to matches and FanFest. Johnson County Board Chairman Mike Kelly previously told KSHB 41 the World Cup [...]

Short-term rentals in town will have a new registration process after a City Commission vote Monday aimed at preparing the city for World Cup visitors this summer. Kansas City will host six World Cup matches and three international teams this summer. In addition, the Algerian national team will stay in Lawrence. Regional planners are anticipating 650,000 visitors to the metro area. The resolution approved by commissioners Monday created a registration system for short-term rentals, like those from Airbnb and Vrbo. Eudora doesn’t currently have any regulations on short-term rentals. Read more: The Eudora Times

Reno County began assembling a task force on Wednesday, March 25, to look at the county’s approach to economic development, including data centers and battery energy storage facilities. During the Reno County Commission’s meeting, County Administrator Randy Partington said Commission Chairman Ron Hirst talked with him about establishing a committee following the recent approval of a job creation incentive for Superior Holding. Partington said it could make sense to involve the cities of Hutchinson and South Hutchinson, particularly as it relates to data centers and battery energy storage to establish similar expectations across the three jurisdictions for such developments. Read more: [...]

The Andale City Council is moving forward with plans to make the city website the official city newspaper. After briefly considering switching to a different local newspaper, the Times-Sentinel, City Attorney Andrew Marino suggested making the city website the city’s newspaper as a way to save money. This would mean the city would put legal notices up on their website instead of putting them in the paper for distribution. City Clerk Patty Hein said it would be easier for her but said there might still be some things needed to be sent out. Chad Smith said he was alright with this [...]

Deep Fission says its Kansas nuclear project will start with test wells, not a full reactor. Deep Fission is clarifying priorities for the company’s 1-mile underground nuclear reactor site in Kansas, now saying the group is only committed to drilling data acquisition wells in Parsons. In an email to the Kansas News Service, Deep Fission’s Vice President of Communications Chloe Frader said this was always the plan for this stage of the process. Deep Fission’s CEO, Liz Muller, echoed the sentiment in an interview earlier this month. “We’ve committed to doing a test well here, but again, we haven’t yet committed [...]

Heinrich was one of about 30 who attended Tuesday’s community conversation hosted by Thrive Allen County, where participants had plenty of thoughts about what they appreciated and liked about LaHarpe, followed by an even lengthier discussion about wants and needs. TUESDAY’S 90-minute talk started with the good stuff, highlighted by Thrive Allen County CEO Lisse Regehr’s note that TLC Garden Center has been awarded a $46,000 state tourism grant to fund a miniature golf course, and what promises to be the world’s largest watering can attraction. Participants noted LaHarpe has taken advantage of other grant opportunities to help address infrastructure improvements [...]

Following months of tense discourse about tenant right to counsel, Douglas County commissioners on Wednesday voted 3-2 for a pilot program that will grant some tenants facing eviction access to legal representation. In March 2024, Lawrence and Douglas County set a goal to establish a tenant right to counsel (TRTC) program for those facing evictions in Douglas County as part of the joint “A Place For Everyone” plan to end chronic homelessness. Over the course of more than a year, county commissioners have participated in a work session on TRTC and it’s been on the regular agenda four times. The pilot [...]