The Emporia Police Department is rolling out a striking redesign for its 13-vehicle fleet, aimed at enhancing visibility and community engagement. The decision to update the department’s vehicle aesthetics came after careful consideration and collaboration within the department, according to Police Chief Ed Owens, as the department’s new vehicles become available through a fleet agreement with Enterprise Leasing. Source: Emporia Gazette

For the first time ever, the Environmental Protection Agency announced a national regulation targeting per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water. Often termed “forever chemicals,” PFAS have permeated air, water, and soil, posing enduring environmental and health risks. “Drinking water contaminated with PFAS has plagued communities across this country for too long,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan, according to a CBS News report. The regulations will have sweeping effects across the country, including municipalities like Emporia. City of Emporia Communications Manager Christine Torrens told The Gazette this week that the city is working proactively to address concerns regarding PFAS [...]

The City of Emporia approved a resolution to establish a public hearing that would potentially create a community improvement district at the Emporia West Plaza during a Wednesday meeting of the city commission. The CID would impose an additional 2% sales tax for the stores located at 1312 Industrial Rd., including Tractor Supply Co., Dollar General, Rent-A-Center, Boost Mobile, Ichiban Asian Bistro, Metro by T-Mobile, Taekwondo, Oriental Massage, and House of Ma Restaurant, and the upcoming El Rio Bravo Supermarket. Special Projects Director Tayler Wash said the CID would include improvements of parking facilities, infrastructure improvements, landscaping, lighting, utilities and more. [...]

The City of Emporia placed third in at the Berkeley Springs Water Tasting event, where more than 100 entries from five continents were up for consideration. The winners were announced Saturday. This is the second year in a row the city has earned a top-four finish. The competition is hosted by Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia. The city took third in the Municipal Water category, behind Santa Ana, California, and the City of Montpelier, Ohio. According to a written release, the municipal water category saw a U.S. sweep, from the West Coast to the East Coast, [...]

The Lyon County Emergency Communications Center will present the 911derWoman Academy: Finding Your Career in 911, from Feb. 6 - 7 at the Anderson Building. 911derWoman Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit started by Sara Weston after the death of her close friend that began as an online support group. The membership of 911derWoman across the world has grown from a group of 100, to over 15,000 women on social media. 911derWoman now not only has a large presence online, but has grown its mission to include educational offerings that are both virtual and in person. According to a written release, the two-day academy [...]

The Chase County Commission approved a 3.5% cost of living adjustment across the board for county employees at its meeting Monday morning. Commissioner Matt Miller said he was in favor of making the 3.5% increase standard for all county employees, regardless of full-time or part-time status, to help with cost of living increases. “The departments have done a good job of getting some internal pay scales and structures put in place. We have made a lot of progress there with department heads meeting and updating our leave policies. Those are definitely big steps forward,” Miller said. “I encourage us as we [...]

Matfield Green Works is starting the new year with a new dream: The Green. “We are holding onto our dream of a new gallery and welcome center in the former Bank Art Space but shifting focus to an immediately achievable goal: The Green is a welcoming park on the property we own across the street from the Bank,” the board of directors announced Thursday. “We are excited about this simple project that will benefit the entire community.” According to the board, the Green will provide a much-needed public toilet, accessible parking, picnic shelter, drinking fountain/ pet watering and bottle filling station, [...]

City commissioners were undecided on how to proceed with possible rental registrations and updates to the vacant property ordinance on Wednesday afternoon. According to the Director of Building and Neighborhood Development, Kory Krause, the city last discussed rental registration “364 days ago,” but it has come up several times over the last few years. Krause said a rental registration program would help ensure safer rental properties and improve accountability of rental units within the City of Emporia. “We’re still having problems,” Krause said. “We do have issues with rental properties. We’ve had some bad landlords here in town.” He mentioned that about [...]

The lights are back on for nearly 3,000 Evergy customers in Emporia after an "equipment failure" took power offline for more than two hours Thursday afternoon. The outage, caused by a downed power line, knocked power out for 2,739 customers in Emporia according to the Evergy Outage Map. The outage was first reported just before 3:30 p.m. The outage stretched along U.S. Highway 50 from just west of Prairie Street and east to Sylvan Street, along parts of 12th Avenue, down Commercial Street, and south on Highway 99 past the David Traylor Zoo. As of 5:40 p.m., about 56 customers were still reported to [...]

Alma Cheese Curds is the 2023 Coolest Thing Made in Kansas — People’s Choice, after six weeks of competition, the Kansas Manufacturing Council announced Tuesday. The winner was announced during the KMC Kansas Manufacturing Summit held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Wichita. “The KMC is excited to celebrate Alma Creamery ‘s cheese curds as the 2022 Coolest Thing Made in Kansas. Thank you to everyone who nominated and voted for their favorite Kansas-made products. It has been a fun competition,” said KMC Executive Director Brandie McPherson. “The manufacturing industry is an important part of the Kansas economy." Source: Emporia Gazette