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For more than three years, solar panels have provided Spring Hill High School with energy — producing enough energy each month to power 95 homes, wash 13,500 loads of laundry or charge 15 million smartphones. The solar array, which sits in a field just northeast of the school at 19701 S. Ridgeview Rd., began operations in July 2022. Since then, district officials say it has reduced the district’s energy costs by about $258,000, or between $113,000 and $116,000 annually, not including current 2025 figures. Read more: Johnson County Post

When a clerk in Comanche County asked a group of students on a field trip whether they wanted to register to vote, Joe Ceballos raised his hand. It was an act that would set him on a path to being charged with voter fraud more than three decades later. Ceballos, the twice-elected mayor of Coldwater, Kansas, says he didn’t understand that as a Mexican immigrant he couldn’t vote in the United States. An honest mistake, he said. But now he’s found himself in legal trouble that threatens to upend the life he’s spent half a century building. He now faces felony [...]

One of 2025’s biggest movies is sending people flocking to Wamego to check out a unique Oz-themed museum. Wamego’s Oz Museum is marking an increase in visitors this fall following the recent release of the new movie “Wicked: For Good” which earned $226 million globally during its opening weekend. The film is a sequel to last year’s movie “Wicked” which is an adaptation of the Broadway musical based on the 1939 film “The Wizard of Oz.” Last year’s release of “Wicked” brought many new visitors to the museum and the Wamego area. Museum leadership believes additional advertising for the second release [...]

In a 70-minute work session, the Wellington school board met to determine whether or not to bring another school bond proposal to voters, and what cuts need to be made in order to get it passed. There was no vote at Monday night’s work session, as it was technically not an official meeting. In the end, this draft of the bond has been pared down to $17.8 million, nearly $5 million less than the one that fell to defeat at the Nov. 4 general election. Wellington school district voters rejected a $22.6 million bond by 125 votes. Several things were cut [...]

No two days are ever quite the same for Jessica Woodyard, public communications manager at the City of Hutchinson, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. "I absolutely love my job, and I’m passionate about what I do,” Woodyard said on a misty Monday morning in her office at city hall. From handling media requests to gathering information from different city departments to deciding the best communications tools to ensure that as many city residents receive needed information about what the city is doing, Woodyard’s days are spent in constant motion, especially with the upcoming winter weather season. Read more: [...]

Allen County is one of six counties across Kansas and Missouri that will participate in a Heartland Rural Innovators Initiative over the next 18 months in an effort to draw tech and innovation employers to the region. One of her biggest challenges as economic development director for Iola and Allen County is for Camille Lavon to operate proactively, and not reactively. A new initiative may change that. Allen County has been tapped as one of six rural counties across Kansas and Missouri to participate in the Heartland Rural Innovators Initiative. The 18-month program, coordinated by the Center on Rural Innovation (CORI), [...]

The Wichita City Council has moved a step closer to naming its next city manager — and the recommendation is a familiar name in Manhattan. Following an executive session Tuesday, the council voted 5-2 to enter contract negotiations with former Manhattan Assistant City Manager Dennis Marstall. Council members Mike Hoheisel and Brandon Johnson voted no. If negotiations are successful, the city council expects to take a final vote on an employment agreement at its Dec. 2 meeting. Read more: themercury.com

Pennies — or rather the lack of them — were a topic of discussion at Monday’s Pottawatomie County Commission meeting. Country Treasurer Lisa Wright was before the commission to update them on her department. One topic she brought forward was the mint discontinuing printing pennies. She said it creates an issue for the Treasurer’s Department in making change because counties, including Pottawatomie, will no longer be able to receive pennies. Fees within the counties will all be affected. Rounding down would cause issues with balances, so as a solution Wright asked the commission to approve the idea of rounding up to [...]

KDOT has agreed to undertake an updated feasibility study for the project which towns like Goddard and Maize said would be a game changer for them. The project has been discussed off and on since the early 2000s, and nearly 40% of highway rights of way have been purchased, mostly near Maize and Goddard. Read more: Wichita Eagle

The commissioner explained that there are definitions for dangerous animals and dogs, dogs with a known propensity to attack, cause injury, are vicious, have threatening behaviors on streets or are bred primarily for the purpose of attacking or to bite a domestic animal or human. “Then they just throw in Pit Bulls as though by definition a Pit Bull is going to be threatening and attacking." Read more: Hays Daily News