The Wichita Eagle (Sunday)
KS landlords may be held more accountable for bad conditions
When the eastern-Kansas city of Gardner ordered Aspen Place apartments closed for unsafe living conditions last May, Candice Montgomery came home to a frantic neighborhood. She and other residents of the Gardner housing complex only had 48 hours to...
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Retiring city manager reflects on past and future of Wichita
In his 16 years in Wichita, City Manager Robert Layton has watched the city’s skyline change. His office, on the 13th floor, sits on the southeast corner of City Hall. The south-facing windows give Layton, also known as just “Bob,” a view of the...
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The story behind the Kansas Museum of History’s grand reopening
Bell doesn’t recommend taking on two new babies at the same time. Bell was hired to lead the Kansas Museum of History in June 2022 when she was eight months pregnant with her son, Felix. After Felix was born and she started her job in September of...
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Phil Ruffin on his Park City complex: 'Blow your mind'
As a billionaire businessman who already owns two popular, profitable casinos in Las Vegas, Phil Ruffin Sr. knows a thing or two about what brings in customers. So even though his new Gilley’s entertainment complex in Park City only has pari-mutuel...
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New holiday attraction ripped straight from Hallmark movie
It’s missing the roasted chestnuts, the blanket of freshly fallen snow, and the corny-yetheartwarming love story. Otherwise, the new Somewhere in Winter attraction that opened on Thanksgiving and will run through Jan. 4 in the Coleman parking lot at...
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Coldwater mayor blames voter fraud charge on honest mistakes
When a clerk in Comanche County asked a group of students on a field trip whether they wanted to register to vote, Joe Ceballos raised his hand. It was an act that would set him on a path to being charged with voter fraud more than three decades...
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City may narrow Douglas: 'Going to cause traffic wrecks'
The city has brought back a plan to narrow Douglas Avenue from Washington to Grove, and a lot of people who own businesses there or frequent that area are not happy about it. “They’re going to make 15,000 cars a day really angry,” said David Holt, who...
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Inspirational limestone house on prairie starting to crumble
In the spring of 2004, while working on a project about a legacy Flint Hills ranching family, cattleman Pat Sauble drove me and reporter Roy Wenzl into a pasture near the Chase and Marion county line. On the southern edge of that pasture, near the...
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New SNAP recipients look to food pantry amid uncertainty
On a chilly Thursday morning, a couple dozen volunteers gathered in front of the Wild Flower Community School in Wichita to give boxes full of food to families in need. The Table of Hope Food Pantry, a service of Metropolitan Community Church,...
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Belle Plaine’s tourism plan: Create the world’s largest teapot
The big ball of twine in Cawker City. The giant Van Gogh painting in Goodland. The Big Brutus electric shovel in West Mineral. All are included on an elite list of quirky roadside attractions in Kansas that are famous for being unusually large. And...
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Wichita school board candidates list top priorities
Nine candidates for four seats on the Wichita school board are making their final campaign pushes as the Nov. 4 election approaches. Those chosen will be responsib— le for the Wichita school district’s policies and for managing its nearly $1 billion...
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Ceasefire begins, Israel says, as Gazans return to north
Thousands of people began the long walk from the south to the north of the Gaza Strip on Friday after the Israeli military announced a ceasefire that mediators hoped would lead to the end of the two-year war. Men carried bags, women carried young...
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Kansas man paints brighter future for sight-impaired kids
Legally blind and largely retired, Balbir Mathur sits quietly in the basement of his Wichita home, dripping brightcolored paint onto canvas he can barely see. What began as a retirement pastime for the 89-year-old founder of Trees for Life has turned...
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Kansas fails again to meet foster care settlement outcomes
For the fourth consecutive year, Kansas has failed to meet requirements of a foster care settlement meant to make kids more safe and stable, a report released Monday said. Attorneys and advocacy groups that filed the class action lawsuit seven years...
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Historic theater will be part of new food hall project
One of Wichita’s once-majestic theaters will be part of a food-hall concept that its owners hope could be open in a little more than a year. The Nomar Theater at 2141 N. Market — which opened in 1929 but has been shuttered since the mid-1980s — is...
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Exploration Place has a bright future — and a new rocket
You know those big, electronic monument signs that display photos, videos and graphics to advertise businesses at their entrances? Well, Exploration Place president and CEO Adam Smith decided on something else to announce the new 6 1/2-acre playground...
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Police use data to target gun crime hot spots in Wichita
In part of east Wichita, a gun crime was 9.4 times more likely to happen at or within 300 feet of a gas station. It was 5.2 times more likely within 300 feet of a bar and 3.6 times more likely within 300 feet of a phone store. That’s what Wichita...
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State Department plans to investigate all 55M visa holders
The U.S. State Department plans to vet all 55 million foreigners in the United States on visas, looking for overstays, threats and “terrorist activity.” “The State Department revokes visas any time there are indications of a potential ineligibility,...
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Hackers lurked in court systems for years, took sealed files
Russian government hackers lurked in the records system of the U.S. courts for years and stole sensitive documents that judges had ordered sealed from public view, according to two people familiar with the matter and a report seen by Bloomberg...
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What’s it like to build something even bigger than arena?
If you think your job is complicated — perhaps you feel you have too many bosses to answer to or employees to keep track of — consider Stacy Christie’s position. As the person responsible for overseeing construction of the new 350,000-square-foot,...
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Building slump limits Wichita housing choices
Natalie and Alex Beauchamp have moved five times in the past four years. They’ve fit their lives into apartments across Missouri and the Kansas City area. It’s only recently, when Alex Beauchamp’s promotion required a move to Wichita, that the...
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Half of Kansas nursing home investigator jobs are vacant
Two weeks before Joan Cody died, a Kansas employee urged state regulators to investigate alleged abuse and neglect at her northeast Kansas memory care facility. “I don’t normally reach out unless I believe (state) intervention is necessary, but I must...
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Tariffs on Russia could hurt wary US farmers
American farmers are bracing for another blow should President Donald Trump proceed with his plan to impose steep tariffs on goods imported from Russia, raising the price of a key ingredient in crop producand tion. The United States imported $1.3...
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‘We’re missing one’: Schutte family’s road through grief to glory
The buzzer sounded, but Halstead girls basketball coach Derek Schutte didn’t hear it. Not really. All around him, players surged, fans screamed and the Dragons celebrated a 13-point comeback to win the first girls high school basketball state title in...
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Restoration work to begin for historic Riverside Park pagoda
The oldest building in Riverside Park has inspired a lot of questions through the decades, with the main one being: “Why is there a pagoda sitting in Riverside Park?” So said Zadi Owens, who technically is programming director for the Friends of...
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Downtown Wichita businesses brace for paid parking
Downtown barber Javier Garcia sees paid parking downtown a lot like his 17-year career — a change being made to keep up with the times. When he began, he took in only walk-in clients, then started scheduling with pen and paper. Now he uses a mobile...
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Aaron Wirtz talks meth, prison and redemption
In an adulthood filled with pivotal moments, there’s one that stands out to Aaron Wirtz. It’s not when he became the outrageous Super Car Guys pitchman nor when police raided his west Wichita home. It wasn’t going to federal prison for possessing...
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Fatherhood, restaurant expansion behind Jon Rolph’s resignation
A lot of people probably wondered the same thing when they heard Jon Rolph is leaving the Kansas Board of Regents two years early: Is he OK? The Wichita businessman has had a public battle with cancer, which he openly shared in an extensive story in...
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Democrats crowd into race for open Wichita City Council seat
Three seats on the Wichita City Council are up for reelection this year — all currently held by Democrats. But only one will have a primary election in August. That race is packed with some of the city’s best-known Democratic candidates: a former...
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Hillside Nursery celebrates 100 years in business
There aren’t many businesses so invitingly idyllic that you’d want to pop by with a sack lunch, plop down on a vintage glider and escape reality over your lunch hour. You can at Hillside Nursery. Tall trees line the front of its 8 acres at 2200 S....
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WICHITA REMEMBERS
A field of American flags on display at the Machinist Union near I-235 and South Meridian blow in the wind on Wednesday night. The display is placed every year to commemorate Memorial Day.
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Russia, Ukraine hold first direct peace talks in 3 years
Russia and Ukraine began their first direct talks in more than three years in Turkey, amid U.S. and European skepticism about prospects for a peace deal to end the war. Negotiating teams from the two sides met in Istanbul’s Dolmabahce Palace on...
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Kansas story too big to bury: Etzanoa and the scholar who won’t quit
Donald Blakeslee, who sometimes suffers the slings and arrows of fellow scientists, has yet another dazzling Native American story to tell about the anYet cient Quivira culture that he says was central to much of North America north of Mexico. Some...
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How AmeriCorps cuts affect kids and food programs in Wichita area
A recent Thursday at Bartlett Arboretum in Belle Plaine was just like any other volunteer day after a busy tulip season: people were scattered about the large swath of land preparing the gardens for the summer season, and its AmeriCorps members were...
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Wichita discussing options as deficit looms
Facing a deficit of several million dollars in coming years, Wichita elected officials are talking about the possibility of increasing or adding taxes. Options could include a 1% city sales tax or a property tax rate increase, officials said during a...
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Federal cuts shrink mental health, substance abuse programs
Mental health and substance use treatment providers in Kansas are scrambling after the Trump administration pulled $7 million in federal grants from the state. Much of the funding was set to expire in the coming months. But, with nearly two-thirds of...
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Part of Park City’s Champtown hits snag but stays on course
of the $500 million Champtown development in Park City has hit what developer Matt Baty called a “bump in the road,” but he said that won’t affect its success over the next three years. “This project is full speed ahead.” There are plenty of signs...
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Wichita considers ‘strong mayor’ form of government
Wichita’s mayor have more power? Or should an unelected city manager continue to be the city’s most powerful official? As it stands, the mayor is the only official elected citywide. But she has no executive powers and can’t enact her agenda without...
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Kansas high school wrestler triumphs through grief
seconds separated Willy Jon Morales from a lifelong dream. Needing an escape in sudden-death overtime of the heavyweight championship match at the Class 4A state wrestling tournament, the Augusta senior could clearly hear one voice in a crowd of...
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Wichita plans to turn old water plant into emergency backup
Wichita took steps this week to protect its public drinking water supply in case of a catastrophic failure at its new $574 million water treatment plant. The new plant — Wichita Water Works — is expected to be certified and permitted for safe...
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Trump’s first 50 days: Cuts, deportations, court pushback
President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office – a symbolic measuring stick for a new president – are halfway through. Trump is leading a charge to cut federal spending, the federal workforce and foreign aid in his return to the White House, while...
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For-profit Kansas prison could become ICE detention center
On the outskirts of Leavenworth sits an imposing concrete structure ringed with razor wire fencing. The prison hasn’t held an inmate in over three years, but its for-profit operators intend to change that soon. Before being shuttered in 2021,...
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Fired Haskell Indian Nations University coach working for free
Less than two miles from the University of Kansas, home of one of the most storied programs in college basketball, Adam Strom, the 48-year-old coach at Haskell Indian Nations University — tiny with 978 students, beleaguered and long overshadowed — blew...
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Here’s what to know about $450M school bond issue vote
Voters in the Wichita school district have a big decision on Tuesday: whether to approve a $450 million bond issue to modernize schools. The bond issue would pay to rebuild seven elementary and middle schools, close four elecenter, mentary schools,...
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Wichita Public Schools isn’t alone in enrollment decline
Public school enrollment has been falling in Wichita for years, following a national trend that has left many districts wondering how to best use resources going forward. Since the 2014-15 academic year, Wichita Public Schools has lost nearly 10% of...
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Wichita district bond issue would rebuild seven aging schools
The biggest expense in the Wichita school district’s proposed $450 million bond issue is the plan to rebuild seven schools. Those buildings — Adams, Black, Caldwell, Irving and McLean elementaries and Coleman and Truesdell middle schools — range in...
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Hundreds gather for prayer vigil after airline tragedy
Kathie Arnold, who helps thousands of visitors a month by manning the information desk at City Hall, took a brief break from her job just before noon Thursday to slip into the back row of the City Council chamber. She was one of hundreds who came to...
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Donors to Wichita school bond groups won’t be identified yet
Wichita voters are likely to be bombarded with political ads over the next month asking them to vote for or against a $450 million school bond issue. But they won’t find out who’s funding the campaigns or how much they’re spending until the end of the...
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National spotlight on Wichita for skating contest
Olympic gold medalists, world champions and the best figure skaters in the country will be hosted by Wichita when the U.S. Figure Skating Championships come to Intrust Bank Arena this week. Not only will Wichita be mentioned several times on national...
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Snow total so far this month ties for 12th snowiest January
Wichita had 5.9 inches of snow fall on Thursday, bringing the January total up to 9.5 inches, according to National Weather Service data. That amount, as measured at the Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport, already ties for the 12th snowiest...
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Kansas senator blames DCF in fentanyl death of toddler
A Wichita woman failed two drug tests while pregnant, but the Kansas Department for Children and Families did not intervene until the child was born with drugs in his system, according to agency documents. Kaiden McCullough “required morphine to treat...
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Kansas lawmakers want Tribal Nations University away from feds
Sen. Jerry Moran said Monday that he will propose legislation to remove Haskell Indian Nations University from control by the Bureau of Indian Education, a sweeping move that comes as the university has been criticized for failing to protect its...
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China to have 1K nuclear weapons by 2030, report says
The Chinese Communist Party intends to add more nuclear arms to its growing arsenal while expanding its global influence and sovereignty, a Department of Defense report says. The 182-page report is titled “Military and Security Developments Involving...
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$1 an hour for parking likely for downtown Wichita
The city of Wichita plans to start charging visitors a dollar an hour to park in downtown Wichita and the Old Town entertainment district starting in summer 2025. Parking in those areas is free now, with a few exceptions. The Wichita City Council is...
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Several businesses coming to Andover’s Heritage development
Heritage development is taking a big step forward with new businesses and a buyer for about three acres where a senior independent living facility is going to open. “We’re just getting started, even though we’ve been workcludes ing on it for quite a...
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Sedgwick County residents unlikely to see property tax relief soon
Property owners in Sedgwick County are unlikely to see any significant county property tax relief in the next year. A public vote on a new sales tax to support county arts, culture and recreation programming — while lowering the property tax mill levy...
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Kansas teen grabs female hunting record for biggest US buck
(Editor’s note: Stories about some of the biggest whitetail bucks killed in Kansas are being published now as the annual mating season hits full gear and hunters take vacation (or sick days) and weekends and evenings to take part in the action.) After...
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‘Most hated tax’ is top priority, state GOP lawmakers say
For months Kansas Republicans campaigned on promises to take action on property taxes as soaring home values in recent years enraged voters. Now comes the time to deliver. After Republicans bolstered their supermajority in the Legislature in last...
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Wiles will be first female White House chief of staff
President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday named the comanager of his presidential campaign Susie Wiles as his White House chief of staff, elevating a longtime Florida political hand who has helped orchestrate some of the most crucial Republican wins in...
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