For Kansas Sen. TJ Rose, addressing Kansas’ widening housing shortage and growing housing unaffordability is a family matter. His son, Garrin, is a 24-year-old member of Gen Z who recently moved back to Johnson County. Rose worries that people in Garrin’s generation won’t ever be able to afford homeownership, something long considered a key tenet of the American dream. That fear isn’t totally unfounded. The median age of first-time homeowners in the U.S. has risen to 40 years old as the housing market squeezes more and more young people out entirely. At the same time, as construction trends move toward more [...]

Prairie Village and nearby neighborhoods of Overland Park are buzzing over England’s rise through the standings to the World Cup semifinals. A group of fans waited outside the barrier surrounding the team’s hotel in Meadowbrook Park Monday afternoon, hoping to catch a glimpse of them as the team returned from practice in Kansas City, Missouri. Read more: Johnson County Post

A year ago, Prairie Village and some of its residents were in the midst of a heated debate over whether the fate of a new $30 million city hall should be decided through a public vote. Now, months after voters endorsed the project by electing six city council candidates who backed it without a referendum, the city officially broke ground on Friday on the site of a former church that will be home to the brand new city hall on Mission Road. The current city hall, just to the north at 7700 Mission Road, will be renovated into an expanded municipal [...]

Concordia passed a new ordinance governing the utilization of e-bikes, e-trikes, and e-scooters, effective July 6. Chief of Police Brent Gering said the move was made due to a rise in reports concerning the vehicles. “The Concordia Police Department had begun receiving several complaints from the public regarding electric scooters [and] electric bikes on safety concerns from kids riding out in front of vehicles,” he said. “Then we were getting reports from the hospital of multiple injuries of younger people riding these scooters and having accidents.”  Riders can now only ride on sidewalks located in parks, residential areas, and along state and federal highways and [...]

Pittsburg is marking its 150th anniversary with a new exhibit that tells the story of the city's industrial rise and the people who built it. "Blueprints of American Grit," now on display at Miners Hall Museum, features a timeline of artifacts, documents, and photographs that chronicle Pittsburg's progress from its founding through today. The exhibit is free and open to the public. Lacy O'Malley, chair of the history committee for Pittsburg 150, said the exhibit was designed to help visitors understand the scope of the city's development over the past century and a half. Read more: www.koamnewsnow.com

Members of the public showed up for the Andover City Council meeting on Tuesday night to voice opinions both against and in favor of a new facility that is set to open near Central and Andover Road on Thursday. The council is being asked to vote on a special use permit for LifeSpring Recovery, an addiction treatment center. Renovations for the project are complete, but owners need a new special use permit because the original contract for the property expired. But, Andover residents are voicing concerns that the facility is too close to schools and neighborhoods. Read more: KSN-TV

The City of Clearwater is hosting a town hall meeting on July 21 to discuss the future of fire protection in the city after the Sedgwick County Commission voted to terminate mutual aid agreements. In May, the Sedgwick County Commission voted to terminate mutual aid agreements with Clearwater, Cheney, Mount Hope and Valley Center. The July 21 meeting will allow residents to learn about the current status of fire protection, hear about available options moving forward and provide feedback to the city. At the Segwick County Commission meeting in May, commissioners gave the communities 90 days to work with them to [...]

The El Dorado City Commission voted on Monday to invalidate an ordinance petition that would have stopped certain types of facilities from being built in the city, but commissioners also voted to put a temporary ban on the approval of these types of projects. Commissioners heard concerns from the city attorney about a petition with over 700 citizen signatures asking the city to approve an ordinance that bans the construction of large data centers and industrial, commercial or utility-scale energy storage systems. The petition says that if an ordinance is not passed, the city should put it up for a public [...]

The Salina City Commission has unanimously approved the creation of a water rate relief program. On Monday, commissioners adopted Resolution No. 26‑8362, authorizing the city manager to develop, implement and administer a pilot program for customers affected by water quality issues. “In the state of Kansas, we talked to KDHE — [the] Kansas Department of Health and Environment — and there are no other communities that are doing a program like this in Kansas,” City Manager Jacob Wood said. Read more: KSN-TV

Remediation steps to put out a smoldering fire at the Galena Landfill were successful, and the landfill operator will continue work to meet other state requirements, a health agency spokeswoman said Tuesday. The fire that has been alight at the landfill for weeks to months was still smoldering during a June 24 inspection, said Jill Bronaugh, Kansas Department of Health and Environment spokeswoman, in an email. But excavation work completed since then by landfill operator Jordan Disposal indicate the fire is out, she said. HOWEVER, Jordan wasn’t able to complete the required foot of soil cover over the area that KDHE [...]