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 […]
From tall grass to tires, here’s how Wichita handles over 10,000 nuisance complaints a year
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 […]
Posted inLocal Government
Accomplishments, regrets, advice from Wichita’s outgoing City Council members
Nearly four years ago, Wichita City Council member Cindy Claycomb was sworn into her seat after winning a landslide election for her District 6 seat. Nearly nine months ago, City Council member Jared Cerullo took office after the existing council appointed him, in a 4-to-2 vote, to fill a vacant District 3 seat. Now, Claycomb […]
Posted inHealth
COVID in 2021: A look back at data visualizations showing Kansas City trends in year two of the pandemic
As 2021 comes to a close, we’re taking a look back on local COVID data and trends, which offer an interesting glimpse into the questions and topics that shaped our view of the second full year of the pandemic. We updated some of our most telling graphics of the year to see what’s changed, what hasn’t and what data we’ll be watching in the future.
Posted inLocal Government
The goal for new Kansas City neighborhoods director: less enforcement, more engagement
If a new department head has his way, Kansas City, Missouri’s city government will act more as a helper and less as an enforcer in neighborhoods. The Kansas City Council approved the creation of a standalone Housing and Community Development Department and a separate Neighborhoods and Community Services Department — splitting what used to be […]
Posted inEducation
School lunch is a food and people business. Wichita USD 259’s challenge is finding either.
Rows of racks in Wichita USD 259’s vast School Service Center on Hydraulic Street in northeast Wichita are the second-to-last stops before distribution to the district’s dozens of schools. In the adjacent industrial kitchen, pizzas roll through conveyor-belt ovens, while enormous mixers pipe mashed potatoes into a machine that seals the food into large plastic […]
Posted inDIY Democracy, Education
Know your rights: How to make sure a child with disabilities can access education
An appropriate public education can look different for each child, and parents have a huge role to play in determining which services their child may need.