Category: Latest News

City Council debates cuts or tax hikes as Wichita faces budget deficit in 2026

August 8, 2024 | By Trace Salzbrenner/The Beacon

TAKEAWAYS Wichita faces a looming budget shortfall, forcing the City Council to pick between raising taxes or cutting back services. “The city is facing challenges,” District 4 Council Member Dalton Glasscock said. “We’re thoughtfully weighing how we can still provide excellent service for our citizens.” City Manager Robert Layton suggested several cost-cutting measures for the […]

One-fourth of Kansas nursing homes ‘problem’ facilities

August 1, 2024 | By Tim Carpenter Kansas Reflector

A national coalition’s report says one-fourth of Kansas’ 300 nursing homes were categorized as problem facilities due to substandard care and persistent compliance issues. The Long-Term Care Community Coalition’s latest summary, based on the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ five-star quality rating system, showed 24.6% of nursing facilities in the United States were […]

Complete local nursing home ratings

| By The Active Age

Here are the most recent overall ratings of nursing homes in The Active Age’s primary service area of Butler, Harvey and Sedgwick counties, as determined by the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Five stars is the highest possible rating and one star is the lowest. For more detailed information about nursing homes, including […]

With journalists in short supply, Wichita Documenters keep eye on public meetings

July 31, 2024 | By Joe Stumpe

The journalism industry is in crisis, and there aren’t nearly enough reporters around to cover all the public meetings they used to attend. So what if a small army of citizens could be recruited to attend and make a record of those meetings? That’s kind of the idea behind Wichita Documenters, a program launched earlier […]

‘The Magnificent Seven’ ride again (and again)

| By Joe Stumpe

EL DORADO — They called themselves “The Magnificent Seven.” At least when no one else could hear. In truth, the group of seven friends from El Dorado High School’s class of ’67 weren’t the type to wind up in the headlines or principal’s office. “We weren’t the wild bunch, and I guess that’s a lot […]

PAW-SITIVE Vibes only

| By The Active Age

August Briefs: New VA office opens, help kids read and more…

| By The Active Age

Old time radio back EL DORADO — The Kansas Oil Museum is reimagining a live radio broadcast of the 1930s with a production called “Oil Town Jamboree!” Written by Ken Spurgeon, the show features music, drama and comedy along with guest stars Orin Friesen and Annie Wilson. The show takes place at 7 p.m. Saturday, […]

Jack Daniels story appeals to whiskey fan

| By Ted Ayres

“Love & Whiskey: “The Remarkable True Story of Jack Daniel, His Master Distiller Nearest Green, and the Improbable Rise of Uncle Nearest” by Fawn Weaver (Melcher Media, 2024, 355 pages, $28.00) As a young man, beer was my adult beverage of choice. In the autumn of my life, I am an inveterate whiskey drinker, […]

Bicycle great for exercise — and alibis

| By Ted Blankenship

Editor’s note: After taking a couple months off, Ted Blankenship reports that he is feeling much better and plans to resume his column on at least an occasional basis. The guy in charge of maintenance where we live is a nice guy (he changes light bulbs too high for us to reach), and […]

August quiz: Test your knowledge of aviation history

| By Nancy Wheeler

Wichitans take pride in the city’s aviation heritage. Take this test to see how far and wide your knowledge of aviation extends. The answers appear below. 1. What brothers are best remembered for making the first successful powered airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in 1903? 2. Who flew the Spirit of St. Louis […]

Is The Active Age a bit old-fashioned? No doubt about it

| By Joe Stumpe

As you might have noticed, The Active Age is in some ways an old-fashioned newspaper. For one thing, we still print and distribute many copies each month (about 57,000!) at a time when many publications are going online exclusively. Another way in which we are traditional is by keeping our editorial and advertising sides separate. […]

Battling ‘booze-controlled culture’

| By Garry Winger, Pastor

There is tremendous irony in The Active Age for June 2024. On the front page is the Spangles grannies article about the alcohol advertising. It makes it appear that alcohol is a good thing for seniors. On page 8 is the article about Myra Warren (McHenry) and the Kansas temperance movement. I have special interest […]

Savvy Senior: Do You Need a Digital Will and More

| By Jim Miller

How to Hire a Caregiver for In-Home Help How to Prevent and Treat Age-Related Macular Degeneration Kitchen Ideas for Aging-in-Place How Extreme Heat Affects Seniors: Tips to Stay Safe Dear Savvy Senior, My wife and I had our estate plan – including a will, power of attorney and advance directive – drawn up about 10 […]

Fried Okra Salad wins Farmers Market Recipe Contest

| By The Active Age

For Donna and Arlin Connell, the best day of summer is the first day they find okra at the farmers market. That means it’s time to whip up a batch of Fried Okra Salad. “We have this for lunch the very next day and never admit to anyone the two of us ate the whole […]

Check out these Farmers Market Recipe Contest entries

July 30, 2024 | By The Active Age

For Donna and Arlin Connell, the best day of summer is the first day they find okra at the farmers market. That means it’s time to whip up a batch of Fried Okra Salad. “We have this for lunch the very next day and never admit to anyone the two of us ate the whole […]

New Library Solar Benches Provide Free Outdoor Wi-Fi, Charging Stations

| By The Active Age

The first three of 12 total solar benches have been installed at three parks and neighborhood resource centers in Wichita. According to a news release, this is an initiative by the Wichita Public Library to expand wireless access to residents. The solar benches are located at: Evergreen Park, 2700 N. Woodland Atwater Neighborhood Resource Center, […]

‘Not today Parkinson’s’ is club motto

July 1, 2024 | By Bonnie Bing

Visit the Heskett Center on the Wichita State University campus, and you may come across a group of radicals. They’re the ones wearing colorful T-shirts with a slogan on the back — “Not Today Parkinson’s” — along with smiles and determined looks that prove they believe it. They’re also walking, taking aquatic classes, doing yoga […]

The ‘Big Ditch’ prevents major flooding. Could it serve another purpose?

| By Joe Stumpe

Eighty years ago this spring, the Little Arkansas River spilled out of its banks in a way that spelled big trouble. Swollen by heavy rain, the river and nearby Chisholm Creek drove an estimated 5,000 Wichitans from their homes, washed out bridges and covered much of downtown. In Riverside Park, the historic Park Villa building […]

Small is beautiful in Wichita weaver’s hands

| By The Active Age

When Ann Enix saw a pine needle basket at the Kansas State Weaving Conference, she was fascinated enough to buy a book and teach herself how to make them. She collected pine needles from around her cabin in Colorado and, later in California, found the long, fine needles needed to make tiny baskets like her […]

Pesto makes panzanella recipe pop

| By Tammara Fogle

With area farmers markets hitting their prime, the hunt is on for recipes that use their produce and other products to best advantage. This recipe from the Tuscan Women Cook program does just that. You can find tomatoes, fresh herbs, artisan bread and cheese, prepared presto and specialty oils and vinegars at many local markets. […]

Dog days of summer in the stars, or not

| By Susan Armstrong

During the summer, when I was a young girl, I peddled my bicycle to the city pool every day to escape the sweltering heat of the Kansas sun. From mid-July through the end of August, the world moved in slow motion. I would lie on my back and watch the clouds drift overhead or bury […]

Hospice care Is life, not death, sentence

| By Thomas Welk

When Jimmy Carter was taken under the care of a hospice program in February 2023, there were multiple news reports practically announcing that he had died. As of this writing, our nation’s 39th president is still alive. Electing hospice care is not a death sentence. Hospice takes care of someone who is living. Physical, social, […]

July quiz: The geography of American history

| By Nancy Wheeler

Think you know your American history? Try these questions about various important historical locations. 1. In what city would you find the Sixth Floor Museum, Dealey Plaza, and the grassy knoll where President John F. Kennedy was assassinated? 2. Pillaging the countryside and destroying property, Sherman’s March to the Sea in 1864 began in what […]

July Theatre

| By Diana Morton

Guild Hall Players, St. James Episcopal Church, 3750 E. Douglas. Hello, Dolly by Jerry Herman. Matchmaker Dolly Levi is a widow, a matchmaker, and also a professional meddler — but everything changes when she decides that the next match she needs to make is to find someone for herself. 8 pm July 18-20 and 7 […]

July things to do

| By The Active Age

Master Gardeners Sought The Sedgwick County Extension Master Gardener program will hold new training classes starting in September. Interested parties are encouraged to attend an informational meeting 2-4 p.m. July 18 at the county Extension Center, 21st and Ridge. Applications for the training program will be available at the information meeting and must be returned […]