The National Weather Service radar in Wichita is about to go even more high-tech. Wichita will be just the third place in the nation to receive something called Dual Polarization Radar. Dick Elder is the meteorologist-in-charge at the Wichita office. He says this radar enhancement will improve certain aspects of weather forecasting and monitoring:

The new radar will be operational by Monday the 18th. In the meantime, the Wichita office will use radar feeds from Topeka; Dodge City; Springfield, Missouri and Enid, Oklahoma.

Oil production in Kansas rose 2% in 2010 from the year before. Lynn Watney with KU's Kansas Geological Survey says the trend has been up for more than a decade.

The trend is heading in the opposite direction for natural gas production in Kansas. It was down 8 % in 2010 from 2009, mostly because new exploration has declined as gas prices slipped begining in mid 2008.

Six Southwestern Kansas Counties including Finney and Stanton have banned the discharge of fireworks this year. The drought gripping the region has dried out wheat and other vegetation that can easily be ignited. Ulysses town adminstrator Daron Hall says recent experience convinced officials to ban any substance that can be burned.

A grass fire that burned in Stanton County incinerated 60 square miles in March. Despite the fireworks ban in 6 counties, a few others including Greeley and Scott Counties are going ahead with July 4th fireworks displays.

The head of the state Democratic Party wants Kansans to scrutinize Governor Sam Brownback’s plan for transforming Medicaid. Joan Wagnon says Brownback voted several times as a U-S Senator to cut Medicaid funding. And she’s concerned that his administration’s efforts to cut at least $200 million from the Kansas program will force the reduction or elimination of critical services.

Wagnon, a former legislator and cabinet secretary, attended a public forum yesterday (WED) on the Medicaid transformation initiative.
The meeting was led by several members of Brownback’s cabinet who say that cutting costs isn’t their only objective. They say they also want to improve services and outcomes for the more than 300,000 low-income, elderly and disabled Kansans enrolled in Medicaid.

The Lawrence Humane Society is playing host to a large number of animals...especially cats and kittens. Kayse (KAY-see) Aschenbrenner (ASH-en-brenn-ur) is with Lawrence Humane, and says the group hopes a special promotion will help convince more people to adopt a pet:

The no-adoption-fee promotion will run until the shelter's cat population has stabilized. More information is available online at lawrencehumane.org.