KBI Investigates Officer-Involved Fatal Shooting in KCK
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (KPR) — Police in Kansas City, Kansas, shot and killed a man suspected of breaking into an apartment complex. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation is examining the circumstances of the shooting, which happened around 5 am Sunday. Police were called to an apartment (in the 700 block of Nebraska Avenue) after 33-year-old Brian Hilt damaged property in an attempt to enter the building. The KBI says Hilt was armed with a firearm. Someone in the apartment called police. Officers arrived and encountered Hilt in the hallway. He was shot after he disregarded police demands to drop his weapon. He died at the scene. No officers were injured.
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Potential FBI Layoffs Could Affect Kansas Law Enforcement
UNDATED (KCUR) – With President Trump's new FBI director in place, employees at local field offices are bracing for possible layoffs. KCUR reports that there are about a hundred agents at the FBI office in Kansas City that covers all of Kansas and western Missouri. If the administration fires agents, Johnson County Sheriff Byron Roberson says, local crime fighting will be damaged, adding that “...it will severely hamper the ability of local law enforcement to do their job.” Local police and deputies work hand-in-hand with FBI agents on task forces, like the Joint Terrorism Task Force. In the last ten years, terrorism task force members have foiled bomb plots at Fort Riley, the Wichita airport and a plot to bomb a mosque in Garden City. (Read more.)
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Data Shows Flu Season Hitting Hard in Kansas
UNDATED (KNS) – Federal data shows Kansas has some of the highest influenza activity in the nation. The Kansas News Service reports that flu activity in Kansas, Nebraska and eight other states is “very high” – the highest level of classification by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Amanda Applegate with the Immunize Kansas Coalition says most people are getting sick with Influenza A, a strain of the virus that causes severe illness and can be deadly. “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure across the board. By far and above the best thing you can do to protect yourself from influenza is getting a flu shot,” she urged. Applegate says a flu shot does not always mean you won’t get the flu, but it does mean you’ll have a much better chance of avoiding hospitalization or severe illness.
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Kansas Closer to Opening New Mental Health Hospital
TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) - Kansas lawmakers have advanced a bill that will bring the state one step closer to opening a psychiatric hospital in South Wichita. The Kansas News Service reports that officials say the hospital would help address a growing need in the region. Half of the hospital’s 104 beds will serve adults who are in mental health crisis. The other half will be used to evaluate criminal defendants for competency. It’s in response to a shortage of mental health beds in the region that has pushed patients into emergency rooms, raising safety concerns. Work at the site began three weeks ago. Officials expect construction to be completed by October of next year and the hospital to open in January 2027. Lawmakers already appropriated money for the project, but the bill will formally establish the hospital in state code.
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Gas Leak Causes Explosion in Hutchinson
HUTCHINSON, Kan. (KAKE) — A gas leak in Hutchinson over the weekend caused a building to explode. No one was hurt, but officials say they nearly lost six firefighters, who were able to exit the building about 20 seconds before it exploded. KAKE TV reports that the gas leak was detected at Steffen's Auto Parts - in the southern end of downtown Hutch - around 9:30 Saturday morning. The gas leak prompted the evacuation of nearby residents. Fire officials say a 10-inch pressure gas line was feeding the fire, which burned throughout the day. The roof of the auto parts store collapsed and the building is a total loss.
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Kansas Legislature to Consider Transferring Shawnee Mission Historical Site
JOHNSON COUNTY, Kan. (Johnson County Post) – Kansas lawmakers will once again consider transferring ownership of a significant historical site in Johnson County out of the state’s hands. The Johnson County Post reports that nearly 200 years ago, Native American families sent their children to a boarding school run by Methodists at the Shawnee Indian Mission in present-day Fairway. A Kansas House committee this week will discuss a bill that would transfer ownership of that roughly 12-acre site to the Shawnee Tribe. A similar bill was introduced two years ago but didn’t get very far. This time, the bill has the backing of several other tribes in Kansas. Shawnee tribal leaders have long maintained that the mission site, which is under the control of Fairway and the state of Kansas, is deteriorating and needs millions of dollars worth of updating. Fairway officials oppose transferring ownership, and have suggested without direct evidence that tribal leaders would develop the site, possibly into a casino.
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Lawrence Community Gathers to Discuss Federal Budget Cuts to Haskell University
LAWRENCE, Kan. (KPR/LJW) — Students and staff at Haskell Indian Nations University are still reeling after the Trump administration cut nearly a quarter of the college’s workforce. Haskell and Lawrence community members gathered at a church over the weekend to learn the latest news and offer help to the university. Days prior, the Trump administration terminated 35 employees at Haskell, which is funded and operated by the federal government. The four-year school in Lawrence is for American Indians and was founded based on treaties between tribes and the U.S. in the 1800s. Angel Ahtone Elizarraras is president of student government at Haskell. “Haskell was built in 140 years, you know? This isn’t something that just happened in a day, and it’s not something that will collapse in a day," she said.
Eric Anderson, a member of the Citizen Band Potawatomi Nation and a professor at Haskell, attended the community meeting. “It’s very tight-knit, it’s very community-oriented, and because it is so small, yes it very much does feel like a family," he said. The recent firings were part of sweeping federal cuts ordered by the Trump administration. Haskell leaders are reportedly looking at fundraising efforts to rehire staffers through the school’s nonprofit foundation, which is independent of the feds.
(Find additional reporting in the Lawrence Journal-World.)
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Kansas Geological Survey: Water Declines Continue in the Ogallala Aquifer
LIBERAL, Kan. (KNS) — Despite local efforts to conserve water, new data reveals the Ogallala aquifer in western Kansas continues to decline. Last year, western Kansas received normal amounts of rainfall, but farmers say none of it came at the right time. The region overall lost an average of almost a foot of groundwater in 2024. Experts believe some parts of the aquifer have maybe 25 years of water left at this rate. Brownie Wilson, with the Kansas Geological Survey, says the declines were expected given the dry spring and summer. “Not quite as bad as the drought year of 2022 but it was definitely a step in that direction. The last year was pretty good for Northwest Kansas and west central Kansas, and that kind of reversed this year," he said. But those flash droughts that cause more groundwater pumping will become more frequent due in the future as a result of climate change. Every January, crews from the Kansas Geological Survey and other state agencies measure more than 1,400 water wells in western Kansas to monitor the health of the Ogallala aquifer.
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Kansas Bill Would Address Nonprofit Community Theater Taxation
WICHITA, Kan. (KMUW/KNS) — Music Theatre Wichita is pushing for legislation that staff members say would save the theatre around $75,000 dollars a year. The bill aims to provide a sales tax exemption for nonprofits operating community theaters, like Music Theatre Wichita. Currently, the theatre pays sales tax on building and set items as well as the tickets it sells, meaning it gets taxed twice. Angela Cassette, managing director of Music Theatre Wichita, says other entities often only pay sales tax on their end product. “I'm going to use Spirit Aerosystems as an example because they buy a lot of steel. When they buy steel, they do not pay sales tax on that steel. The tax comes on the end product. Music Theatre Wichita also buys a lot of steel because we build our sets with them. When we buy steel, we pay sales tax on our steel, and then we also pay tax on the end product, which is our tickets," she said. This is the fourth year the bill has been proposed to the legislature, but it's finding difficulty passing once again.
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Small Kansas Town Offers Up to $15,000 in Incentives to Attract New Residents
NEODESHA, Kan. (Governing Magazine) — A small town in southeast Kansas is offering a variety of incentives, including student loan repayment, tax breaks and housing to encourage people to move there. Governing Magazine reports that Neodesha, a town of 2,300 people in Wilson County, is working to attract new residents and combat rural population decline. The small town is about a two-hour drive from Wichita.
Through a partnership with the company MakeMyMove, Neodesha is offering various incentives to lure people. The full incentives package includes up to $15,000 in student loan repayment assistance, 100% Kansas state income tax waiver through 2026, a college scholarship incentive reaching up to $25,000 and more.
New residents can also receive a one-year family pass to the Neodesha splash zone, a six-month subscription to the local newspaper, a USD 461 school activities pass, two tickets to the Neodesha Chamber of Commerce’s annual auction and dinner, and more.
Chris Bauman, the city’s community development director, said they’ve seen interest from several states. “We’ve had some… interest from a variety of different states, New Mexico, Florida, Kentucky, Minnesota, Texas,” he said.
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Thousands of Prairie Acres in Western Kansas Conserved by Private Landowners
WESTERN KANSAS (KNS) — Landowners have decided to permanently protect about 9,000 acres of threatened prairie in western Kansas. The anonymous landowners worked with The Nature Conservancy to create a conservation easement in the Smoky Hill River basin about an hour from the Colorado border. This ensures those 9,000 acres will remain native grassland and a working ranch. Matt Bain, with The Nature Conservancy, says grasslands are our most threatened and least protected ecosystem on the planet. He says most of the Great Plains grasslands have disappeared - converted into cropland, for example. Yet this ecosystem can support rural livelihoods while storing carbon and helping maintain water quality and quantity on the Plains.
The Nature Conservancy will ensure the protected acres will remain native prairie that supports both cattle ranching and wildlife. Bain says Great Plains grasslands also store carbon and clean water supplies but they rapidly disappearing. “We’re losing about 2 million acres a year since 1992. So this is a really rapid loss of one of our most vulnerable ecosystems and it’s happening right in our backyard," he said. The conservation easement will benefit species such as mule deer, swift foxes, lesser prairie chickens and pronghorn.
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Salvation Army Gets $400,000 Gift to Help Residents Pay Gas Bills
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (WDAF) — The Salvation Army in Kansas City has announced it's getting $400,000 from the state of Kansas. The money will be used to supplement utility assistance programs. The Salvation Army’s news release claims that the money comes from a settlement with an energy supplier in Kansas. WDAF TV reports that the Attorney General sent the money to the Salvation Army to help residents pay their gas bills.
‘We were excited to hear about this gift and grateful to Attorney General Kris Kobach,” said Major Kelly Collins. “This $400,000 gift will surely make a difference for struggling Kansans and provide relief for seasonally high utility bills.” The AG’s office says the money will be made available in time for the March utility cycle.
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Midwest Learns to Cope with Extended Wildfire Seasons
UNDATED (HPM) — Wildfires have become more frequent, burning bigger areas during longer seasons - all exacerbated by a warming climate. Harvest Public Media reports that landowners in the Great Plains and Midwest are fighting fire with prescribed burns. Landowners intentionally burn millions of acres each year to lower wildfire risk, increase biodiversity and remove harmful plants. Although prescribed burning has been a practice for centuries, John Weir, a fire ecology expert at Oklahoma State University, says more people are interested in burning their land. “You got landowners that have 1,000s of acres that haven't burned before or have and people are seeing the need and the importance of it as well as having all these fire departments here realizing that, ‘Hey, we've got, we've got to start helping the landowners," he said. As climate change affects weather patterns, Weir says people may have to shift when they burn their land.
Fires have become more frequent, burning bigger areas during longer seasons. Eric Hunt, agricultural meteorologist with the University of Nebraska extension, says wildfires have become a concern in areas of the Midwest and Great Plains where they have not historically been an issue. “Until the recent years, we've had some severe drought conditions, particularly in the fall and particularly right around harvest time, where we have had combines catch fire, and then sometimes those fires has spread through fields and have done significant damage," he said. That includes parts of Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois. Last year, blazes started earlier in the year in some parts of the Plains.
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A New Scam Involves Text Messages About Unpaid Kansas Tolls
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — Many Kansans have been receiving text messages claiming they have not paid a Kansas Turnpike toll. Authorities say it is the same scam that went around last year. KSNW TV reports that some messages appear legitimate, but they are not. No matter how the message looks, the Kansas Turnpike Authority says the link in the message takes you to a payment website not associated with the turnpike. The bottom line? Don't click on any suspicious text messages, emails or links.
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Kansas Public Radio Raises Nearly $54,000 During One Day, One KU Fundraising Campaign
LAWRENCE, Kan. (KPR) — Kansas Public Radio took part in the university-wide One Day, One KU fundraising campaign, and raised $53,694 from 335 donations. The organization plans to acquire a new, reliable vehicle with the funds. The station has been without a vehicle for the past five years. KPR General Manager Feloniz Lovato-Winston said the fundraising campaign was an enormous success, thanks to the generosity of listeners. That generosity enabled the station to qualify for bonus funds from the KU Endowment, which will add to the overall total.
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