On Sept. 24, Deputy Dwayne Shoop, a former Johnson County Sheriff’s deputy turned animal control officer, was called to wrangle the American jackal that had been stuck for several hours near West 135th Street and South Spoon Creek Road. Video of the encounter was posted by the sheriff’s office on social media. “It’s typical,” the deputy later said about getting a call regarding a coyote. After a call from the property owner, Shoop said he came upon the coyote that was hanging by its left leg in the fence. The coyote had a bewildered face with wide eyes and an open [...]

As General Motors assembly lines in Fairfax prepare for a nap next year, paving the way for a $390 million investment in electric vehicle production, the auto manufacturing giant and a handful of its Kansas City area suppliers have signaled they’ll cut some jobs for good. Beginning in November, production will slow at the commercial hub in Kansas City, Kansas, the effects of which will cascade across the Missouri River and into the Northland. Five metro area companies that do business with General Motors recently notified workers of plans to either suspend operations or shut down entirely. Source: KC Star Local [...]

Kansas City, Kansas, Mayor Tyrone Garner has pointed to concern over monthly bills as a reason to take a critical look at the Board of Public Utilities, saying some in the community perceive that the publicly owned asset is more of a “burden” than a “benefit.” Unlike most in the Kansas City metropolitan area, Kansas City, Kansans, get both electricity and water services through a century-old publicly owned utility founded in 1909. The BPU, a nonprofit governed by a six-member elected board, has shrunk its workforce, by far its largest operating cost, over the past several years. Elected BPU board members [...]

The Johnson County city goes all-out for its annual Spinach Festival at Sar-Ko-Par Trails Park each year. The festival’s spinach-themed food offerings, rock-skipping contest, baby crawling contest, live music, crafts and more have attracted thousands of visitors during the event’s 40-year history. But many Lenexa residents are unaware that the celebration’s roots stretch back 90 years, to Johnson County’s great spinach boom of the 1930s. For a few years, Lenexa was known as the Spinach Capital of the World. It’s hard to imagine today, with most of its land dedicated to urban developments. Source: KC Star Local News

As diagnosed tuberculosis cases in Wyandotte County this year have eclipsed those seen across all of Kansas in 2023, local public health officials are putting forward a roughly $1 million plan to deal with the outbreak and prevent further spread of the disease. Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, commissioners on Wednesday evening greenlit a months-long health department program that will use leftover federal COVID-19 pandemic relief money to stem the rising number of cases. Under the plan, public health officials plan to work with schools and employers to advise precautionary measures. Another component would involve routine, one-on-one [...]

Overland Park has named Doreen Jokerst, leader of the University of Colorado Boulder Police Department, as its next police chief. She will be the first woman to run the department. Jokerst, who has served for six years as the assistant vice chancellor for public safety and chief of police overseeing the Boulder campus, will replace former Overland Park police chief Frank Donchez, who resigned last year. The city spent several months conducting a national search for a new leader for the department, which included hearing from community organizations and neighborhood groups. “Doreen brings vast experience to our team, with service and [...]

Less than two months after a decision to cap property tax revenue, Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, commissioners passed budgets Thursday with significant cuts to city and county services that will take shape next year. Over the past two weeks, local government leaders identified roughly $15.4 million in spending to carve out. Reductions were necessary, according to top staffers, as costs will naturally rise to meet contractual obligations, employee cost-of-living raises and inflation. No public employees will be laid off or furloughed, according to county administration. Dollars were saved in large part through the reductions of unfilled [...]

With buildings in disrepair and estimated construction costs mounting, Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools officials are putting forward a $180 million bond issue to finance school rebuilds that voters may consider Nov. 5. The seven-member elected school board voted 6-0 Tuesday to advance a proposed investment in aging buildings that district leaders say is long overdue. In dollars and cents, the new proposal is less than half of the more ambitious plan that voters widely rejected during a single-issue special election three months ago. And district leaders say its passage would not increase the tax rate, a major sticking point during [...]

Seven years ago, a drive-by shooting became the first case District Attorney Mark Dupree handled as Wyandotte County’s top prosecutor. Bullets had pierced the front door of a home, busted out windows and flattened the tires of a vehicle parked outside. One year later, the district attorney said, damage done to that very home and vehicle remained unfixed. “What can we do about this?” Dupree recalled asking Damon Daniel, executive director of Kansas City’s Ad Hoc Group Against Crime, in 2017. “And it took us about seven years to figure it out — to find the funding.” During a Tuesday press [...]

Keep your distance from mosquitoes if you’re in Kansas in the near future. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment has issued high-risk and moderate warnings for West Nile virus across the state. Johnson and Wyandotte counties, located in the northeast region, are in moderate-risk areas, while Wichita, found in the south-central region, is in a high-risk area. About half of Kansas is considered high-risk areas because there are a high number of mosquitoes in those regions, and that increases the chances of residents being bitten by a mosquito carrying the virus, according to the state health department. A moderate risk [...]