Local News

Local government officials say "behavioral health" is a problem ... what to do with people who have mental or drug abuse issues? Sedgwick County Commission Chair Pete Meitzner tells KNSS News an estimated 60% of the inmates in the county jail have mental or drug abuse problems. He says he'd like to...

A winter storm has coated roads and closed schools in parts of Kansas and Oklahoma. The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning Tuesday for several counties along the western border between the two states, where it predicted up to 7 inches of snowfall. The National Weather Service...

A Republican lawmaker is planning legislation that would force Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab to implement a 2019 law that allows residents to vote at polling places most convenient to them. Across the aisle, a top Senate Democrat says he may sue to force Schwab to comply with the law that...

Interest in growing industrial hemp as a commercial crop is up in Kansas where regulators are reporting a 30% rise in licensing applications for the second year of the state's research program. The Salina Journal reported that the Kansas Department of Agriculture received 276 grower applications...

A panel of attorneys has recommended a former Jackson County special prosecutor in Kansas face ethics charges for allegedly misleading jurors who found a man guilty of sex crimes that were later thrown out on appeal. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports the panel reviewed the Kansas Disciplinary...

On Monday federal environmental regulators said they have reached a settlement with Frontier Ag Inc. to resolve alleged clean air violations at three ammonia fertilizer facilities in Kansas. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said in a news release the alleged violations of the Clean Air Act...

A Kansas man has been sentenced for his role in the murder of a 72-year-old man at an Independence, Missouri home. Jackson County prosecutors say 34-year-old Xavier Otero, of Kansas City, Kansas, was sentenced Monday to 25 years in prison for second-degree murder and four other charges. Otero is...

A new pedestrian bridge has been completed and dedicated in honor of a former Sedgwick County Commissioner. The Tim Norton Pedestrian Bridge along Meridian was a project involving Sedgwick County, the City of Haysville, and the Wichita Area Metropolitan Planning Organization. The 907 foot-long...

City and State road crews are out, working to get ahead of another blast of winter weather.

Brandon Whipple has been Wichita mayor less than a month. He tells KNSS News he is trying to figure out "the culture" of city government and he is getting plenty of help from the professional staff in learning how things operate. Whipple say there is alot going on right now in Wichita and "we need...