Kansas City pharmacists walked off the job last September to protest working conditions and brought widespread attention to the troubled retail pharmacy business. The industry is battling economic pressures, changed buying habits and labor shortages.
Wichita
Posted inLocal Government
A resident’s guide to reporting potholes, busted streetlights and other problems in Wichita
Imagine you’re driving down Douglas Avenue and hit a pothole that wasn’t there last week. Or you’re walking your dog one evening and notice a streetlight is out or someone dumped some tires on the side of the road. You can be part of the solution. “Just because residents see a pothole or community issue […]
Posted inKansas
Kansas foster care not ‘capable of making the changes,’ advocates warn
It’s hard for Kansas foster children to get adequate mental health care. And if they do, an audit of the state’s foster care system said, it may not come quickly. The report released this week concluded that caseloads run too high, children get moved to new homes too often and they still sleep in offices […]
Posted inState Government
Kansas settled a lawsuit by promising better foster care. The latest audit shows it’s failing
Kansas foster children are not getting proper mental health treatment, they’re moved between too many homes and caseworkers carry excessive workloads, a report released Monday auditing the state’s foster care system says. The court-mandated report paints a bleak picture of the Kansas foster care system — a system that is not only showing no improvement […]
Posted inElections
Homeless in Kansas? Here’s how you can still vote
Being homeless in Kansas City, Kansas, comes with its own set of challenges. Wyandotte County has no permanent emergency shelters. And it has notably fewer resources and less funding available for homeless services than the Missouri side of the Kansas City area. Yet several agencies in that city and Wichita can help homeless people with […]
Posted inLocal Government
As Wichita pauses its divisive parking plan, other cities may be models
Wichita’s downtown parking is a math problem city leaders are struggling to solve. Wichita has over 6,000 parking spots, divided between metered and free spaces, on streets and in parking garages. Each one brings in about $227 a year but costs about $400 in labor and maintenance. Complicating the equation is some $9 million of […]
Posted inEducation
Wichita schools are adapting to help more English learners succeed
Ana Lopez arrived in Wichita from northern Mexico, knowing only a few English words. Unable to talk with classmates or understand her teachers, she started out at Curtis Middle School feeling shy, nervous and frightened. Then, Wichita Public Schools placed her in an intensive language class with only one other English learner. “My teacher,” Lopez […]
Posted inLocal Government
Judge approves sweeping changes to Wichita Police’s gang database
Playing basketball with the wrong set of people or frequenting the wrong gas station could land you on a Wichita Police Department list of gang members. Community activists say police make snap judgements that label people as gangsters without any criminal record. That’s about to change. Judge Eric Melgren, chief judge of the U.S. District […]
Posted inEducation
How a Wichita State program could help solve Kansas’ teacher shortage
Raising five children and working as a teacher’s aide in Newton left Emily Crawford with too little time to take college classes to become a teacher. So she became an apprentice — earning a teacher’s salary ahead of schedule. All those hours tied up in the classroom helped pave her path to a college degree, […]
Posted inState Government
Johnson County opens a facility for kids in mental health crises
Pulling children out of a mental health crisis is tricky. Some have just run away from home while others are coming off a violent attack on a sibling or parent. They’re thinking impulsively, acting desperately and sometimes doing irrational things to change their situations. That can land them at the Johnson County Juvenile Intake and […]