Sheila Sager doesn’t know if she should pack her bags. Her twins caught COVID. The electric company was threatening to shut off the lights. Her landlord was preparing to sell the house she rented, irritated with her pleas to get his cooperation on rental assistance paperwork. Sager was unemployed and behind on her bills — […]
Wichita
Posted inLocal Government
How a statewide anti-masking group played into Sedgwick County’s mask mandate vote
a Wichita Beacon analysis of over 1,000 emails county commissioners received ahead of the vote on the mask mandate found that anti-mask emails outweighed pro-mask emails by nearly two to one.
Posted inEducation
Wichita State betting on Hispanics becoming 25% of all students by 2030
Valeria Paunetto was torn between two identities when her family came to Wichita from Puerto Rico six years ago. “I was at a crossroads where I had to ask myself if I wanted to assimilate and play the game — to not be myself and be who others wanted me to be. Would I be […]
Posted inEducation
Lunch. Soccer. Class. COVID. Wichita students on starting new year of pandemic learning
What happens when the unprecedented becomes precedented? As Kansas schools wrap up the first month of a second year of pandemic learning, they’re still struggling with many of the same challenges as last year, even as they’re left with fewer tools to address them. But for Wichita area high school students, returning for another COVID-19 school year means the virus has become a regular part […]
Posted inWatchdog
Over 225 complaints have been filed against Wichita Police so far this year
If you’ve been mistreated by local law enforcement, there are avenues you can take to file a complaint against a police officer. The Professional Standards Bureau of the Wichita Police Department investigates allegations of misconduct against the department and its staff. The department’s website encourages citizens to report allegations of misconduct to an officer’s bureau commander or […]
Posted inLocal Government
‘Headlights to the future’: Wichita’s youth demand climate action now
Dolly Farha, 19, didn’t plan on returning to Wichita. After a seven-year stint in Massachusetts, she told herself that she wouldn’t ever come back. “To me, one of the biggest issues of Kansas and Wichita is it was created for … generations of the past,” Farha said. “Without that forward-thinking, headlights to the future … […]
Posted inLocal Government
Wichita economic development incentives topped $85 million since last September. Here’s how they work.
This summer, bulldozers, excavators and graders filled the sleepy residential North Riverside neighborhood. A once-vacant field at 11th and Amidon is becoming a new development of 40 single-family homes. Developer Jerry Jones said without the $1.7 million tax incentive Wichita offered him in February, the Riverside Housing Redevelopment District wouldn’t be single-family homes. “It definitely would’ve been a […]
Posted inWatchdog
Out of detention, into debt: How fines and fees bury young people in Kansas’ justice system
The moment a case is filed in juvenile court, the dollars owed rack up. There’s a $34 docket fee. Sedgwick County can tack on a law library fee up to $14. Kansas does appoint an attorney for free, but for any following casework the attorney can charge a “reasonable fee,” a number not specified in state law. NyKia Watkins said […]
Posted inEducation
How does Wichita Public Schools spend an average $15,000 per student?
Jennifer Owen helps nonverbal students find their voices. The speech pathologist for Wichita Public Schools specializes in augmentative and alternative communications, helping students with trouble speaking, reading or communicating their thoughts to do just that. She does her work with tools, often expensive ones, like tablets that help students with word and image icons. She’s […]
Posted inWatchdog
Wichita joins a long list of cities where gang data has been challenged
Update: A federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a gang list maintained by the Wichita Police Department will continue, though a judge dismissed three of its seven counts. The lawsuit, filed by Progeny, Kansas Appleseed and the ACLU in April 2021 on behalf of four Black men in Wichita, alleges that the gang list targets […]