Public housing in Wichita is coming to an end. In late January, the Wichita Housing Authority announced plans to sell its 352 single-family public homes. And last September, the authority closed on a deal to convert its 226 other public housing units, which are apartments for seniors, into Section 8 housing. Section 8 units receive […]
Celia Hack
Hack covers local government for The Wichita Beacon. She is a Report for America corps member. Follow her on Twitter @CeliaHack.
Posted inLocal Government
A neighborly solution to Wichita’s problems with bulky waste, inoperable cars and too-tall grass
Chelsea Lee’s home had never received a nuisance citation from the city of Wichita before last year. But 2021 was rough for her. First, she spent a week in the hospital in critical condition with a liver infection — and, without health insurance, a pile of bills. Later that year, her back started acting up. Lee, 44, […]
Posted inWichitans You Should Know
Photography with style: Why Hannah Thompson built her business in Wichita
Hannah Thompson has the special skill of transporting people from Wichita to wherever they want to go — but not by plane, train or automobile. She does it with photography. Thompson’s photography business — Reel Photography, LLC, which opened in November 2020 — is unique in that she edits many of her portraits to transform her subjects. […]
Posted inLocal Government
Wichita rolls out a new ‘Forum’ for feedback to more easily engage with residents
Many Wichita golfers are not pleased with the city of Wichita’s proposal to hire a private management firm to oversee city golf courses. As happened in the debate over privatizing management for Century II, a multitude of citizens spoke out in protest. But this time, Wichitans had a new tool to express their concerns. Starting […]
Posted inHealth, Local Government
Who do you call in a mental health crisis? Hotlines and hospitals to know in Sedgwick County.
Editor’s note: We updated this story on Feb. 23 to include the Mental Health Association of South Central Kansas. Sedgwick County is in the midst of a communitywide conversation around mental health, law enforcement and juvenile justice in the wake of Cedric Lofton’s death. One question has been recurring: whom to call in a mental […]
Posted inLocal Government
‘It’s an equity issue’: Wichita has no plan for its 84 miles of unpaved roads
The streets of the Orchard Breeze neighborhood are where Dan Warren grew up. They’re where he rode his bike growing up. Where he tossed the morning news into driveways on his paper route. Warren, 67, still lives on the streets of the west Wichita neighborhood. But instead of loving those streets, he fears them — and […]
Posted inLea en Español, Local Government
‘Es un problema de equidad’: Wichita no tiene un plan para sus 84 millas de caminos sin pavimentar
Las calles del vecindario de Orchard Breeze son donde creció Dan Warren. En esas calles montaba su bicicleta mientras crecía. Donde tiraba el periodico con las noticias de la mañana. Warren, de 67 años, todavía vive en las calles del vecindario oeste de Wichita. Pero en lugar de amar esas calles, las teme y teme […]
Posted inHealth
‘Why am I still here?’: Three Wichita-area nurses on the personal toll of the pandemic
The numbers are clear — COVID cases in Kansas reached an unprecedented peak in January. Local Wichita hospitals were not spared. “Over the last several weeks, we’ve seen numbers of hospitalizations that were even higher than the peak from 2020,” Dr. Samer Antonios, chief clinical officer at Ascension Via Christi, said in January during an event […]
Posted inLocal Government
‘Supposed to rehabilitate’: What to know about the Sedgwick County facility where Cedric Lofton was restrained
On Sept. 24, the Wichita Police Department brought 17-year-old Cedric Lofton to Sedgwick County’s Juvenile Intake and Assessment Center, later describing him as “paranoid” and “behaving erratically.” Hours after his arrival, county corrections employees restrained Lofton face-down until he became unresponsive. Two days later, he died in the hospital. His death — which the district attorney […]
Posted inLocal Government
Wichita’s latest plan for its single-family public housing units: Sell them all
The city of Wichita outlined a plan to rehabilitate most and sell all of its 352 single-family housing units on Tuesday. The plan would end the city’s public housing program. Most of the proceeds from the sales would go to the city’s new affordable housing fund, which aims to boost affordable housing development. The proceeds […]