Michael Mullen donates blood plasma every Tuesday and Thursday. He has for 12 years. The money it brings in — a little over $100 a week — augments what he makes as a chef. He’s come to rely on it. “It helps supplement bill paying,” he said recently, smoking a cigarette outside the Biomat USA […]
Plasma you sell in east Kansas City could end up in medicine an ocean away
Posted inCivic Engagement
Sedgwick County regulators hold up giant solar farm on Wichita’s outskirts amid objections from neighbors
Sedgwick County appeared poised to follow its ban on wind farms with widely vetted regulations that would allow acre after acre of solar panels pumping renewable energy into the electrical grid. Instead, the county still has a moratorium on the construction of large-scale solar farms. “Boils down to a simple phrase: not in my backyard,” […]
Posted inHealth
Internal tensions preceded sweeping changes at closed Wichita abortion clinic
Wichita’s largest abortion clinic remains closed more than a month after it stopped seeing patients, amid a dramatic shakeup in leadership and mass resignations by doctors and other key staff.
Posted inEducation
Wichita school district takes heat for not involving more people in its $2.1 billion plan for fixing buildings
Shana Balton expects a bigger say before endorsing Wichita Public Schools’ big buildings plan. “The board needs to be willing to meet the community,” she said, “so that board members can understand how we are feeling.” Balton, a teacher at Pleasant Valley Middle School, learned more about the long-range, $2.1 billion plan for school district […]
Posted inBehind the Beacon
How The Beacon helped bring attention to Wichita USD 259’s school district voting process
Beacon reporter Trace Salzbrenner published a series of articles in the summer and fall of 2022 that explored how Wichita elected school board members — and the ways that tended to stifle the votes of minority neighborhoods. His reporting showed that a citywide voting system essentially diminished the political influence of Wichita’s Black residents.. “I […]
Posted inKansas
Experts: U.S. hospitals prone to cyberattacks like one that hurt patient care at Ascension in Wichita
In the wake of a debilitating cyberattack against one of the nation’s largest health care systems, Marvin Ruckle, a nurse at an Ascension hospital in Wichita, said he had a frightening experience: He nearly gave a baby “the wrong dose of narcotic” because of confusing paperwork. Ruckle, who has worked in the neonatal intensive care […]
Posted inEducation
No zeros: How a new KCPS grading policy is meant to improve equity
Tricia McGhee, a KCPS parent, backs the 40% grade minimum. But she said the late work policy has been unclear and inconsistent in her daughters’ middle school.
Posted inLocal Government
Wichita Mayor Lily Wu supports nondiscrimination ordinance, but faces skepticism
Chris Pumpelly, founder of Proud of Wichita, said the LGBTQ+ community needs convincing that the mayor elected less than a year ago has their back.
Posted inBehind the Beacon
Marcus Clem joins The Beacon as the new Wichita education reporter
The Beacon welcomed Marcus Clem as its new Wichita education reporter last week. Clem has worked as a multimedia journalist with a concentration in education for News-Press & Gazette Company and as copy editor for The Topeka Capital-Journal and The Augusta Chronicle through Morris Communications. He’s been a member of the Education Writers Association for […]
Posted inState Government
Kansas might use STAR bonds to lure Chiefs and Royals. Here’s how they worked on other projects
Kansas lawmakers have returned to Topeka for a special tax-cutting session and are expected to vote on a STAR bond proposal to finance a new stadium.