For decades, the Sedgwick County Jail has been overcrowded. A federal lawsuit in 1986 that capped the jail population and required a plan to deal with overcrowding at the facility was only the start. Since, multiple expansions and facilities have been built in an attempt to alleviate the numbers. But throughout 2021, the jail continued […]
‘We’ve become the substitute state hospital’: Four years later, Sedgwick County still calling for state mental health hospital
Posted inLocal Government
Dry ground and unmet promises: Parkville’s wetlands project is dead in the water
A wide expanse of plastic netting sits partially buried by dirt and vegetation in Parkville’s Platte Landing Park. Intended as the base of an ongoing wetlands restoration project, the netting has instead become an expensive — and dangerous — nuisance. The City of Parkville in 2017 signed an agreement to participate in a restoration project […]
Posted inEducation
Why Wichita USD 259 is fast-tracking repairs to this 99-year-old high school
Wichita East High School students and teachers are back to class for the spring semester, but some of them are returning to different classrooms. After discovering structural issues in the building’s science wing in the fall, school officials are shuttering the wing’s 18 classrooms until repairs can be completed. Teachers from those classrooms are continuing […]
Posted inHealth
COVID Help Desk: Your questions answered
Do you have a question about how the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the Kansas City area? The Beacon is here to help. We use our reporting resources to cut through the confusion and find clear, verifiable answers for our community. We’ll publish some responses and respond directly to others. To share a COVID question […]
Posted inEducation
Does remote learning cancel snow days? Not in Missouri and Kansas.
Several large area districts in Missouri are planning to take advantage of a statewide policy that allows districts to teach students remotely for several days during emergency situations such as severe weather or disease outbreaks.
Posted inLocal Government
From tall grass to tires, here’s how Wichita handles over 10,000 nuisance complaints a year
From a lawn with grass 12 inches too high to vacant homes with broken windows, the city of Wichita’s Neighborhood Inspections division takes complaints about major and minor neighborhood nuisances. For some residents, what appear to be minor code violations can hint at more serious issues. Aujanae Bennett, president of the neighborhood association in Northeast […]
Posted inEducation
Federal student loan repayments got pushed back — again. Here are 5 ways to make the most of the extra 90 days.
Here are a few steps experts suggest you can take to make the process more manageable when your federal student loan payments resume.
Posted inLocal Government
Five questions with Wichita’s two new incoming council members
This November, a shake-up to the Wichita City Council was clinched by the election of two political newcomers. Wichita’s City Council District 6 elected Maggie Ballard, defeating one-term incumbent Cindy Claycomb with 55% of the vote. Wichita’s City Council District 3 elected Mike Hoheisel, defeating nine-month incumbent Jared Cerullo with 50% of the vote. The […]
Posted inLocal Government
How an ordinance over bike lanes became a flashpoint for conversations about Kansas City infrastructure
It began with a Kansas City Council member’s concerns about bike lanes and their place in the long list of needs in Kansas City’s often overlooked, less-affluent neighborhoods. Those concerns coalesced into a proposed piece of legislation that included language calling for the city to remove existing bike lanes if neighborhood associations did not want […]
Posted inLocal Government
Hey, where’s that snowplow? Kansas City adopts a new method for guiding them
With winter in Kansas City, Missouri, comes snow. And with snow comes the full force of the KC snowplow crew. Responsible for clearing hundreds of routes each day, drivers have for years been forced to rely on old-fashioned maps to guide them. “I rode with a driver last season and he literally had a paper […]