KS - February 28 2025

Aquifer Nears Crisis Point as Lawmakers Take Action

Immigration Crackdown Complex In SW KS, Where 20% Are Undocumented

Olathe Schools See Success, Concerns with New Cellphone Rules

Wichita $450M School Bond Teeters on Edge of Defeat as Mail Ballots are Counted

Sedgwick County Deputy Injured Breaking Up Inmate Fight

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Aquifer Nears Crisis Point as Lawmakers Take Action

Kansas's High Plains Aquifer supplies 90% of the water Kansans use each day, but about a quarter of it is dwindling to the point where it can't support large-scale irrigation. Within 50 years, almost half of the aquifer in southwest Kansas is expected to decline to "minimum threshold," meaning it can't pump 200 gallons per minute, according to Kansas State University. Given the crisis in water, it's one of the issues that both political parties in the Statehouse are tackling. The House passed an annual investment of $2.5 million until 2028 to fund domestic water quality sampling and to support local conservation districts. There are conservation districts in all 105 counties in Kansas. A House Bill that passed and is now introduced in the Senate would create a task force to evaluate the state's water program. The task force would evaluate risks to the water supply, identify steps to maintain water use over time and recommend short and long-term funding requests for water programs. What hasn't passed in either chamber is Gov. Laura Kelly's proposal to consolidate water agencies into a single office called the Kansas Office of Natural Resources. If enacted, it would consolidate work down throughout 14 different agencies into one office. It would combine agencies that deal with water rights, conservation, water quality and water policy under a single roof.
Source: CJ Online

Immigration Crackdown Complex In SW KS, Where 20% Are Undocumented

The story of Southwest Kansas is hard to tell without including immigrants. The towns in the region have almost doubled in size following the establishment of meatpacking plants and the massive western Kansas beef industry. That has brought population, money, infrastructure and sustained communities that otherwise might have shriveled like many rural towns. And that influx of immigrants has also created diverse demographics in a mostly white state. For towns like Liberal and Dodge City, almost 20% of the people are here without legal status according to the U.S. Census. It’s common to know someone who lives in a mixed status household. Aguilera [a therapist in Liberal] said her clients and peers are worried about their friends or parents who may not have permission to be in the United States. Clients have also shared that they are worried about going out to restaurants, seeing a doctor or even going to church.
Source: Kansas News Service

Olathe Schools See Success, Concerns with New Cellphone Rules

Prior to Olathe Public Schools implementing its cellphone policy, Lisa Mansfield spent a lot of time policing her classroom and asking her students to put away their phones. “From the classroom side of things, I think it was a [much] bigger challenge because it wasn’t consistent throughout the building,” Mansfield said. Olathe is one of the five Johnson County school districts that adopted a cellphone policy to curb phone use and the corresponding distractions during the school day. Alongside Blue Valley and Gardner-Edgerton, Olathe adopted its policies before the 2024-25 school year began. Shawnee Mission was the last to join the districts, adopting its own policy before the second half of the school year. Johnson County’s three largest districts — Blue Valley, Olathe and Shawnee Mission — adopted a policy that breaks down by grade level. In Olathe, elementary and middle schoolers are required to put their phones away for the entire school day, and high schoolers can use their devices during passing periods and lunch. Following suit, the Shawnee Mission school board adopted its policy in January before classes resumed. Elementary students need to put away all electronic devices for the entire school day. Middle schoolers need to keep their phones in their lockers, but they can check during passing periods. High schoolers can use their phones during passing periods and lunch, but they need to be stored away during class time. In Olathe, which implemented its policy at the beginning of the year, leadership and teachers spoke highly of the cellphone policies, but others have lingering concerns around its effectiveness.
Source: Kansas City Star

Wichita $450M School Bond Teeters on Edge of Defeat as Mail Ballots are Counted

A $450 million Wichita school bond initiative appears to have failed by a wafer-thin margin, with “No” votes holding a nearly 300-vote lead — or 1% — as mail-in ballots continue rolling in. Wichita Public Schools has declined to concede the race, its superintendent saying the district is waiting for every vote to be counted before deciding what to do next. On Tuesday, the bond had a narrow window to make up ground, as about 4,000 mail-in ballots requested by voters remained unreturned. But fewer than 1,000 ballots have arrived since then, with the “No” side adding to its lead. Updated unofficial results released Friday morning show “Yes” vote trailing 13,634 to 13,928, a 294 vote difference (up from 228 on the night of the election).
Source: Kansas.com

Sedgwick County Deputy Injured Breaking Up Inmate Fight

A Sedgwick County Jail deputy was taken to a hospital after being knocked unconscious while breaking up an inmate fight Friday morning; an inmate was also taken to have a Taser probe removed, sheriff’s office spokesperson Branden Stitt said. The fight happened in a men’s pod around 11 a.m. Friday and originally involved two inmates and “an improvised weapon,” Stitt said in a news release. In a later email, Stitt said it was a shank. Jail deputies went to break up the fight. “During the response, a third inmate struck a deputy in the head, causing the deputy to lose consciousness for a short time,” Stitt said. “The injured deputy was transported by Sedgwick County EMS to a local hospital with serious injuries but is expected to recover. One of the involved inmates was also taken to a local hospital for the removal of a taser probe.”
Source: Kansas.com

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Sources

1. CJ Online - https://www.cjonline.com/story/news/politics/state/2025/02/28/kansas-lawmakers-push-for-more-funding-task-force-to-deal-with-water/80318928007/?tbref=hp
2. Kansas News Service
3. Kansas City Star - https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/education/article301133274.html
4. Kansas.com - https://www.kansas.com/news/local/education/article301180454.html
5. Kansas.com - https://www.kansas.com/news/local/crime/article301189164.html