Topeka area students won't need a ticket to ride city buses this school year. For the 11th year running, Topeka Metropolitan Transit Authority announced it will offer high school students free rides on fixed bus routes. This comes after the Topeka Metro board of directors approved extending the program on Thursday. All high school students with a valid student ID can ride fixed bus routes for free. They only have to present their valid student ID for the upcoming school year. The Kids Ride FREE! promotion, which offers local youth free transportation within the city limits, remains in effect through Aug. 15. Source: [...]

Manhattan city leaders want to hear from residents about their ideas and concerns about the city's Parks and Recreation Department. Manhattan officials want to speak directly with residents about topics relating to parks and recreation. Manhattan Parks and Recreation Director Aaron Stewart announced in a press release the city will hold public discussions this summer and fall where citizens can talk to him directly. "Park and Rec It" are discussions open to the public for residents to chat with Stewart about recreational programs, parks, trails, facilities or any other related topics citizens are interested in or concerned about. “Manhattan has a strong passion [...]

Law enforcement warns the public about violence training taking place at a local school this weekend. The Wamego Police Department (WPD) posted on social media that it will be using the Wamego High School for active violence training Friday, July 21 and Saturday July 22. The WPD, along with the Fire Department, Emergency Medical Services and other law enforcement agencies, will take part in the training at and around the high school. "The Wamego Police Department is committed to the safety of our citizens and it is important for the community to know that we are doing what we can to [...]

Emporia City Manager Trey Cocking joined the KSNT 27 News Morning show to speak about the newest pay structure that was recently approved by commission. Cocking said that the change came about as a daunting realization hit the city. "Last August, especially in public safety with our police and fire department, we realized we had a real problem," Cocking said. "We have 41 police officers authorized and we were down to 33 police officers in the department." He said the situation with the fire department was not much different. "...53 firefighters authorized and I think we were hovering around 10 short there," Cocking said. Source: [...]

Superintendent Reginald Eggleston with USD-475 joined the 27 News morning show to speak about exciting developments at USD-475. He confirmed they are moving into Morris Hill Elementary School and they will be having a ribbon cutting to celebrate the milestone on September 22. "We are very excited about it," Dr. Eggleston said. "The move-in will be in two phases, we are actually going to start this year with about 250 students." Eggleston said they are going to work on continuing the second phase of construction. "Then next year, we will add and be up to capacity which could be 590 students." The intent, Dr. Eggleston said, [...]

If there's one thing for certain after Tuesday night's city council meeting, the governing body believes they need a set-in-stone plan to attack the homeless problem in our community rather than jumping from idea to idea on how to deal with it. It was brought up in Tuesday night's meeting, statistically on average, it takes anywhere from three to five years for the city to become aware of a "new" encampment in the city. When these encampments are in non-camping areas, the individuals who live within the camps are given a 72-hour eviction notice. As of July 7th, the property maintenance division has [...]