Girard City Council talks homelessness

The Wichita City Council has come under intense scrutiny for eliminating free parking downtown after the city shared the news on its Facebook page on Saturday: “Beginning January 1, 2025, all public parking in the downtown area will convert to paid parking.” Wichitans flooded the city’s Facebook post with more than a thousand angry comments. The anger continued at a series of heated in-person meetings hosted by the city. A downtown small-business owner started a petition that had more than 5,200 signatures by Tuesday calling on the city to halt the plan and offer free parking areas. It was a strong [...]

The Wichita school district is launching an experimental microschool in hopes of luring back some families that have left public schools. The new Creative Minds program features a one-room schoolhouse approach, with about 20 students from kindergarten through sixth grade learning from one teacher. It is housed at the for-profit Learning Lab space inside Union Station downtown — an education collaborative with ties to Wichita-based Koch Inc. District officials revealed the program during a special school board meeting recently, after quietly developing it behind the scenes. Its inaugural class includes about 15 children who were recruited from area families that had [...]

All Wichita dog and cat owners will now be required to microchip their furry friends due to a City Council vote during a 10-hour-long meeting Tuesday. Now, owners are required to microchip their dogs and cats 5 months and older. A microchip is about the size of a grain of rice and is implanted between the pet’s shoulder blades. The microchip includes a code with the owner’s information, but does not have tracking capabilities. The Animal Services Advisory board formed a committee last year to improve animal control ordinances in Wichita. The recommendations were first presented to the council in a [...]