March 25, 2025 | By Laura McMillan/KSN
What was once the busiest branch library in Wichita may regain that title. The Wichita Public Library has reopened the Westlink Branch after an almost two-year remodeling project. The library at 8515 Bekemeyer, near Central and Tyler, has doubled in size, adding community meeting rooms, more study spaces, a drive-up window, an expanded children’s room, […]
March 18, 2025 | By The Active Age
A $42,047 consent judgment was entered in Sedgwick County District Court against the owner of a basement and foundation repair business and the business itself for engaging in deceptive and unconscionable acts under the Kansas Consumer Protection Act (KCPA). According to a news release, the matter was investigated by the Office of the District Attorney […]
March 17, 2025 | By Kylie Cameron/The Wichita Eagle
The former downtown library near Century II could become the Wichita Police Department’s new headquarters. At least, that’s the idea floated by Wichita Mayor Lily Wu at her first State of the City address Sunday night. “That would restore a great public asset with a civic use and put officers closer to a critical part […]
March 6, 2025 | By Celia Hack/KMUW
The city of Wichita created a land bank in 2021 to ease affordable housing development in the center of the city. But four years later, city staff have suggested dissolving it, saying it faces too many obstacles. Two vacant lots near 9th and Ash are dotted with plastic Dillons bags and crushed soda cans. Laurie […]
March 5, 2025 | By Meg Britton-Mehlisch/KMUW
Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran broke from many of his Republican colleagues during a trip to Wichita this week by reiterating his support for Ukraine and condemning Russia’s actions in the country. “In my view, the world is a safer place and, most particularly, the United States is safer whenever we are aligned with our allies, […]
March 3, 2025 | By The Active Age
Via Christi’s Cancer Outreach and Risk Assessment program is again offering colorectal screening kits, while supplies last, at no cost to anyone 45 and older. Those whose stool samples test positive for blood are followed up by a nurse navigator and, if they need and cannot afford a colonoscopy, funding is available through a […]
February 25, 2025 | By Celia Hack/KMUW
A new bill in Topeka proposes legalizing the use of prison labor to build housing. Current Kansas law limits the state’s corrections department – which oversees eight prisons – from establishing programs that allow inmates to learn the trade and manufacture or build houses, wrote Rep. Kyler Sweely in an email to KMUW. The new […]
February 21, 2025 | By Kylie Cameron/The Wichita Eagle
Tax valuations will increase for 87% of homeowners in Sedgwick County this year. The average median increase for residential properties is 9%. Notices will be mailed out March 1. Last year, 60% of residential property owners saw an increase in valuation, with a 10% median increase. Tax appraisal increases are driven by the sales prices […]
February 11, 2025 | By Chance Swaim/Wichita Eagle
Wichita Public Schools voters will decide this month whether to support a $450 million bond issue that would rebuild, consolidate and close schools throughout the city. The bond issue would pay to rebuild seven elementary and middle schools, close four elementary schools, convert two elementary schools to K-8 buildings and consolidate alternative school programs, among […]
February 10, 2025 | By Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas said a freeze on federal funding and change at the U.S. Agency for International Development left $340 million in lifesaving food grown in the United States sitting at domestic ports awaiting delivery to locations around the world where people were starving. On Friday, President Donald Trump said […]
February 8, 2025 | By Claudia Amaro/Planeta Venus
María Retana arrived in Wichita, Kansas, in 2001 as a minor. Like many immigrants, her family settled in the city in search of a better future. She is the youngest and the only girl among five siblings. Retana benefited from the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, an executive order established by President Barack […]
February 5, 2025 | By The Active Age
The Wichita Public Schools have scheduled a series of open houses to promote approval of a $450 million bond issue in a Feb. 25 special election. The bond issue, if approved, would keep the district’s mill levy at the same rate it is now. Otherwise, that levy would decrease in 2029. According to news reports, […]
February 4, 2025 | By The Active Age
An area resident was targeted in a “different twist on the age-old jury duty scam,” according to a news release from the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s office. The resident received a voicemail from someone claiming to be a sheriff’s sergeant, instructing the resident to call back immediately. Despite suspecting the call was a scam, the […]
February 3, 2025 | By Ainsley Smith/The Sunflower
Author and founder of the nonprofit Strong Towns Charles Marohn addressed a packed conference room at the Kansas Leadership Center in downtown Wichita Tuesday night. “We have two conversations going on right now when it comes to housing,” Marohn said. “In one of these conversations, housing prices must fall. They must fall and they must […]
January 31, 2025 | By Tammara Fogle
Gardening workshop The 2025 Design & Grow Workshop will be held Saturday, March 1 at the Sedgwick County Extension Center, 21st and Ridge Road. The morning session will cover native plant design, floral arrangements, resilient plant varieties and planning food gardens during droughts. Registration is $10 through Feb. 21; after that, it’s $15. Separate registration […]
| By Susan Armstrong
Dear Reader, Since February is the month of love, I’ve been thinking about the lost art of writing love letters. I still remember my grade school days when we drew hearts and flowers onto construction paper Valentines and carried them proudly home to our parents. For many generations, before email and text messaging gave us […]
January 27, 2025 | By The Active Age
The Kansas Department of Insurance recovered $1,490,565.11 for Sedgwick County residents in 2024, Insurance Commissioner Vicki Schmidt announced Monday. Last year more than $11.8 million was recovered for policyholders statewide. The total for Butler County residents was $137,441.85 and Harvey County residents $47,694.69. Funds are considered ‘recovered’ are calculated when Department staff assists individuals in […]
January 16, 2025 | By Matthew Kelly and Jonathan Shorman/The Wichita Eagle
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly opened the door to property tax cuts this year, a top Republican priority, during her State of the State address on Wednesday, but demanded that any changes must pay for themselves and not endanger the state’s fiscal health. The Democratic governor’s overture to GOP lawmakers came as Kelly insisted she wouldn’t […]
January 14, 2025 | By The Active Age
A new Kansas law may have an effect on the daily spending habits of residents. As of Jan. 1, Kansas merchants can legally add a surcharge of up to 4 percent on credit card transactions, as long as clear notice is provided to the customer before the sale. According to a news release from District […]
January 9, 2025 | By The Active Age
Here’s one to file in the we-didn’t-know-that folder. The statue of Joan of Arc that stands in front of the former downtown library building at 223 S. Main isn’t the one given to Wichita in 1970 by Orleans, our sister city in France. The original was put in storage after two decades of display in […]
| By The Active Age
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Senate Republican Conference this week ratified U.S. Senator Jerry Moran, R-Kan., as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. “I am grateful for the opportunity to serve as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs,” Moran said in a news release, “and I look forward to working on behalf of […]
January 5, 2025 | By Grace Hills/KCUR
Since Jan. 1, Kansans have no longer been paying state sales tax on groceries. They still pay city- and county-imposed taxes, but the former state tax of 6.5% was gradually reduced to zero over the past two years. A 2022 law set out a three-year plan to reduce the state’s sales tax on groceries, which […]
| By Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — Gov. Laura Kelly signed an executive order declaring a day of mourning for former President Jimmy Carter and she directed flags throughout the state be flown at half-staff. The governor said state of Kansas offices would be closed Jan. 9 in observance of funeral services for Carter in Washington, D.C., and in conjunction […]
January 1, 2025 | By Diana Breit Wolfe
As I turned over my treasurer’s duties at The Active Age last month, I thought back to my shaky start with numbers. It was in the seventh grade when Sister Catherine traumatized me over my failure to do a math problem on the blackboard. Two years later, I barely passed Sister Edwina’s ninth-grade algebra class. […]
| By Celia Hack KMUW
The rise of Instagram-famous food bloggers didn’t skip Wichita. Erin Clarke graduated from Kapaun Mount Carmel in 2004. She has gone on to amass millions of readers on her Well Plated blog and more than 400,000 followers on Instagram, where she shares easy, healthy recipes for home cooks. Clarke now lives in Milwaukee but returned to Wichita this fall […]