The COVID-19 pandemic has many ongoing side effects — increased drinking, worse mental health and increased risk of diabetes, cancer and other diseases. And, in Wichita and other places, more traffic deaths. The increase in deaths comes despite a drop in auto accidents. Exactly why isn’t clear. “We just do not know why,” said Chad […]
Data
Posted inData, Local Government
Wichita’s roads are more dangerous than Johnson County’s. Here are the five worst spots
Nearly every day, vehicles collide at one of five Wichita intersections. Three of those locations fall along Kellogg Drive. In all, the city saw more than 10,000 crashes last year. And although Johnson County, Kansas, is home to about 80,000 more people, Sedgwick County traffic accidents killed and injured more people and caused more costly […]
Posted inData, Health
Syphilis rates climbed by over 2,000% in Sedgwick County in the last decade
For the first dozen-plus years of this century, syphilis was a rarity in Sedgwick County. Fewer than one of every 100,000 residents had the sexually transmitted disease. But in the last decade — mirroring a national trend made worse by the isolation and shifting behaviors spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic — the rate has skyrocketed […]
Posted inData, Health, Kansas State Government
Red tape and income limits have booted 82,000 Kansans off Medicaid since May. How can they get back on?
Robyn Adams struggled to support her husband and teenage daughter on $16,000 a year during the pandemic. Then the pandemic ended and her family lost its Medicaid coverage. “We went into panic,” she said. The family relied on a temporary expansion of coverage authorized by the federal government during the pandemic to weather the bills […]
Posted inData, DIY Democracy, Elections, Local Government
Lily Wu outraises all others in Wichita’s mayoral primary. Who is behind the money?
In the Wichita mayor’s race, there is one major takeaway from the filings submitted this week to the Sedgwick County Election Commission Office: Lily Wu, a first-time political candidate who calls herself “the outsider” in the race, is anything but. Wu is just one of eight candidates challenging incumbent Mayor Brandon Whipple in the Aug. […]
Posted inData, Kansas State Government, Watchdog
The month the Chiefs won the Super Bowl, Kansans bet $194 million on sports but the state got only $1,134
Update: Following publication of this story, Gov. Laura Kelly’s office issued a statement via Brianna Johnson, her communications director: “Governor Kelly agrees there are aspects of the sports betting legislation that could be improved. She will continue to discuss any potential changes with legislators.” It may not surprise you that in the same month the […]