Category: Local Interest

How would Wichita’s $450M school bond issue affect property taxes on your home?

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 […]

Kansas’ Moran, Davids sound alarm on delay of USAID food aid to starving people worldwide

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 […]

Kansas Latinas distribute almost 35,000 “red cards” informing immigrants of their rights

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 […]

Public invited to tour Wichita schools, ask questions about proposed bond issue

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, […]

New twist on jury duty scam, DA’s office says

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 […]

Expert: Three steps Wichita can take to beat ‘housing trap’

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 […]

Upcoming Events: Gardening workshop, chili feed and more

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 […]

A love letter to The Active Age’s readers

| 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 […]

Kansas Insurance Department recovers nearly $1.5 million for Sedgwick County residents

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 […]

Gov. Kelly opens door to property tax cuts, but she’s reluctant

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 […]

Paying by credit card may now cost up to 4 percent more

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 […]

City’s original Joan of Arc statue displayed again

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 […]

Moran officially Chairman of Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs again

| 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 […]

Grocery bill a little lower? Kansans no longer paying state sales tax on groceries

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 […]

Gov. Kelly declares day of mourning for former President Carter

| 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 […]

Life in numbers all adds up

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. […]

Popular food blogger inspired by her grandmothers

| 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 […]

Donate for chance to win Botanica membership

| By The Active Age

Donate at least $50 to The Active Age, and you could win a family membership to Botanica. The Active Age holds a drawing for a family membership each month from among people on our Honor Roll list of donors. This month’s winner is Sara Bearden. Donations may be made by calling 316-942-5385; through our website, […]

Ready, set, read: Here are the categories for the 2025 #ReadICT Challenge

December 30, 2024 | By Suzanne Perez/KMUW

When I created the #ReadICT Challenge nine years ago, I never imagined it would take off the way it has or that the unveiling of each year’s new categories would elicit so much excitement from readers around the world. But here we are, ready to launch the 2025 challenge — a partnership of KMUW, The […]

Programas locales de lavandería ayudan a satisfacer las necesidades de higiene de la comunidad sin hogar de Wichita

December 24, 2024 | By Piper Pinnetti/Wichita Journalism Collaborative

Cobertura de nuestros socios, Español, Sevicios Sociales, WJC / December 20, 2024 / 5 minutes of reading Cobertura de nuestros socios, Personas sin hogar, Vivienda, WJC, WJC Stories / 12 de diciembre de 2024 / Wichita Journalism Collaborative / 5 minutos de lectura Tres programas están ayudando a satisfacer las demandas de ropa limpia y […]

Kansas law prohibits landlords from retaliating against tenants for reporting poor living conditions. But it lacks enforcement and leaves tenants compromising their health and safety to avoid eviction, a new survey shows.

| By Dylan Lysen/KMUW

Many low-income renters in Kansas live in decaying homes with health hazards and believe there is little they can do to improve their situation, a new survey shows. Some renters avoid submitting maintenance requests or reporting their poor living conditions to authorities because they fear retaliation — like an eviction — from their landlords. Experts […]

Los precios de la vivienda en Kansas se han disparado. Aquí hay tres ideas para hacer que las casas sean asequibles

December 23, 2024 | By Dylan Lysen/KMUW

KMUW | Por Dylan Lysen Los precios de las viviendas y los alquileres se han disparado en los últimos años debido a la escasez de viviendas. Eso está llevando a un aumento en las personas sin hogar y podría estar perjudicando la economía. La escasez de viviendas en Kansas ha provocado un aumento vertiginoso de […]

Wichita finds about 6,000 water lines that will need to replaced under new federal lead pipe rules

December 14, 2024 | By Celia Hack/KMUW

The city of Wichita has alerted about 6,000 water customers that their pipes could be at higher risk for lead contamination and will need to be replaced under the federal government’s new lead pipe rules. The new rules, laid out by the Biden-Harris administration in October, require drinking water systems to identify and replace lead and some […]

Wind Surge President Jay Miller retires

December 13, 2024 | By The Active Age

Wichita Wind Surge Team President Jay Miller has announced his retirement from professional baseball after a 42-year career. According to a news release from the team, Miller began his second stint as President of the Wind Surge in January of 2023 following the team’s sale to Diamond Baseball Holdings. Under his leadership, the team experienced […]

Homeless advocates urge city not to pass new illegal camping ordinance

December 12, 2024 | By Carina Branson and Aditi Lamba/KSN

The debate over illegal camping in Wichita is set to go to City Councilmembers next week. The council is considering changing rules to remove those camps more quickly, but this has prompted a petition from some who are calling for more compassion for the people in the community experiencing homelessness. The proposed amendments would allow law […]