Wichita finds itself tossed back in time for a couple of weeks by a cyberattack on City Hall that’s upended basic ways of doing business online. So now residents need to head to Walmart or Dillons to pay their water bills. Parents who want to enroll their kids in swimming lessons must go to a […]
City of Wichita
Posted inHousing, Local Government, Wichita Journalism Collaborative
Wichita’s mayor backs municipal IDs, but city council objects they weren’t consulted
Some Wichita City Council members were surprised Thursday night when Mayor Lily Wu and City Manager Robert Layton announced to a large crowd the city’s commitment to municipal IDs and other initiatives that haven’t been voted on. One such commitment was to implement a municipal ID program, an initiative started by previous Mayor Brandon Whipple […]
Posted inLocal Government
Wichita’s bus riders want better service, but money is short
Samantha Richardson just started her new job at Pratt Industries in Park City. The only problem? Her 12-mile commute without a car. So she takes the bus. It gets close and it’s cheaper than Uber or Lyft. But Wichita’s bus network can feel anemic. Its flaws sometimes force Richardson to choose between putting in some […]
Posted inLocal Government
The Wichita police citizens board checked more complaints this year than the last five years
The Wichita Police Department closed nearly twice as many complaints about officer conduct in 2023 as it did five years ago, but the department says that shouldn’t set off alarms. Instead, it’s a sign of progress. The department resolved 359 complaints in 2019 compared to 646 last year. The increase stems from gradual changes with […]
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 inHealth, How To
Where to go in Wichita if you fall in the Medicaid gap
Kansas remains one of 10 states that haven’t expanded Medicaid, leaving 40,000-plus people in the state without government health insurance — or subsidies for private coverage. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly still wants the Legislature to expand that coverage — and so do more than two-thirds of Kansans. But Republican leaders in Topeka appear unlikely to […]
Posted inHousing, Local Government
Wichita counted 42 homeless deaths last year, but the count is suspect
At least 42 homeless people died in Wichita in 2023. But the actual number could be bigger. Neither Sedgwick County nor Wichita keeps records of people who die without stable housing. “We simply don’t have metrics,” said Shelly Steadman, the director of the regional forensic center in Sedgwick County. Without reliable data, it is harder […]
Posted inHousing
A Wichita young professional dreams of living downtown, but it’s tough to overcome high rents
Kyle Ritterbush is one of the young, entrepreneurial professionals Wichita politicians talk so much about wanting to keep. At just 20 years old, he started his video production business last year after graduating high school. He wants to grow it – hiring someone part-time, taking on bigger projects – all while here in Wichita. On the side, […]
Posted inAccountability, Local Government
Two killings, two very different cash bonds — and a debate about fairness in Wichita
Sedgwick County prosecutors charged 19-year-old Daryon Boone with first-degree murder in the September shooting death of a 69-year-old woman in Wichita. They charged 16-year-old Makyh Townes with second-degree murder in what his family contends was the accidental shooting of a friend several months earlier. Boone, who’s white, was released after posting a $500,000 bond. Townes, […]
Posted inDIY Democracy, Elections, Local Government
Wichita police group backs Wu over Whipple, blames mayor for officer shortage. What do the numbers say?
Mayor Brandon Whipple touts work that he’s done with the City Council to make those jobs available. Lily Wu, who’s facing off with Whipple in the Nov. 7 election, contends that the incumbent bears responsibility for the police department’s problems in recruiting more officers.