Link List: 2022-23 water rate discusions
The city of Newton announced via social media Jan. 28 that utility rates will increase in February. That increase is result of a decision discussed in 2022 and finalized in…
January 2025
Read MoreLink List: 2022-23 water rate discusions
Events calendar
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City sets fireworks sales window, postpones discharge decision
After nearly 45 minutes of discussion the city commission was able to make about one half of a decision for the 2025 fireworks season.
Kansas’ tuberculosis outbreak is one of the largest in the U.S. since the 1950s
A tuberculosis outbreak that started in Wyandotte County, Kansas, has grown to be the largest in the U.S. since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention started tracking the illness in the 1950s, health officials said.
Can Trump just order new names for Denali and the Gulf of Mexico?
President Donald Trump’s executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska’s Denali, the tallest peak in the country, has resulted in lots of discussion. While for some, such renaming might seem less important than the big problems the country faces, there is a formal process in the United States for renaming places, and that process is taken seriously.
Newton man pleads guilty to sex crime
Mark A. Shields of Newton pled guilty Jan. 22 to Kidnapping, Aggravated Indecent Solicitation of a Child less than 14 years of age, and Aggravated Battery all related to the same minor victim.
Rural Kansans depend on Medicaid at beginning and end of life. D.C. proposals threaten program
In the public debate over Medicaid expansion in Kansas, a critical fact often gets lost: Large numbers of residents already depend on the program.
In the garden: Planting fruit trees in the back yard
Lots of homeowners will plant a few fruit trees in the back yard in hopes of harvesting delicious tasting fruit! We often forget that they need to be pruned to be productive so they get neglected.
Transgender Kansans urge lawmakers to reject bill banning gender-affirming care for youth
After years of attempts by Republican lawmakers, Kansas appears poised to join more than 20 other states in banning teens who have gender dysphoria from accessing gender-affirming health care.
Tinkering with taxes
My local public library has perhaps the best marketing of a tax-provided service ever. Patrons who check out items there receive a receipt that details the savings achieved by using the library. In 2024, my wife and I “saved” close to $5,000, according to this accounting.