Google Fiber, the much-hyped, barely launched Internet and TV service, is headed to Olathe. The Olathe City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved an agreement paving the way for the fiber-optic network to carry Google’s fledgling super-fast Internet service to southern Johnson County. The deal in many ways mirrors agreements made elsewhere in the Kansas City …
The fast-evolving Shawnee Mission School District has chosen a new leader who has experienced dramatic change on the Missouri side of the state line. The school board unanimously chose Independence Superintendent Jim Hinson on Monday night. (Read more: Kansas City Star: Front Page)
The way Lenexa Master Police Officer Bob Schluben sees it, the pain he feels is minuscule compared to that of the abused children and grieving families he is running for. His ambitious 2013 goal: to run 52 marathons in 52 weeks. “I think about them (the people in need) when I’m running,” said Schluben, 43, …
Just weeks after judges ordered Kansas to spend millions more on schools, the Legislature is crafting a plan to limit the courts’ role to decide education funding. Senators introduced a proposed constitutional amendment this week intended to stop the courts from telling the Legislature how much to spend on education. “We have a disagreement in …
Local residents have heard and accepted this story as gospel for a long time: Johnson County is the fastest growing part of the Kansas City area. New residents and businesses have been pouring into the county since the 1960s and will continue flocking there for decades to come. So let’s answer a few questions today, …
General Motors today announced plans to invest $600 million in its Fairfax assembly plant in Kansas City, Kan. That includes a new 450,000-square-foot paint shop, the installation of a new stamping press and other updates. It is one of GM’s largest plant investments ever, and builds on nearly $2 billion invested in Fairfax over the …
Five candidates emerged Tuesday to be the next mayor of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County. Now the question is: Can the new mayor continue the county’s dramatic resurgence? Already leaders point to a series of decisions the next mayor will help make to shape the road ahead for a county buoyed by the bold …
A Western states pipe dream got a cold splash of reality this week when the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation issued a long-awaited report on strategies to provide water to the parched states along the Colorado River. … The study concluded a 700-mile trans-Kansas pipeline would be cheaper on a per-gallon basis than some alternatives, like …
Talk is heating up again about the need for an outer loop highway on the outskirts of Johnson County. It’s been 17 years since Johnson County killed plans for the 21st Century Parkway, a 36-mile loop that would have cut a path linking southeastern to western Johnson County. But as population continues to push outward …
The latest round in the metropolitan economic border war is going for short yardage, with an insurance marketing company receiving $5 million in incentives to skip just a mile from Kansas City to Leawood. … Kansas economic development officials praised the announcement, but a local civic leader who is spearheading opposition criticized it as more …
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) is now accepting applications for Green Schools Solid Waste Management Grants. These grants provide funds toward implementing recycling projects in Kansas schools. Funds from these grants, ranging from $2,000 to $5,000, are used to reduce waste in school buildings and grounds through education, composting and recycling projects. …
The proposed Mission Gateway project is on stronger financial footing now that Wal-Mart has agreed to participate in a community improvement district that’s expected to generate $12.5 million to help defray development costs. Wal-Mart has dropped its objection to having a half-percent surcharge levied on sales at its proposed anchor store, to go toward the …
“We will have to remake our city.” So said the mayor of tiny Roeland Park, population 6,500, located in the northeast part of Johnson County. Her city of modest homes will take a body blow when Walmart moves from Roeland Park to nearby Mission in a couple of years. The city will lose $700,000 in …
A Prairie Village city councilman who violated the city’s ethics code should be removed from the council, the City Council unanimously agreed Monday night. The council determined that Councilman David Morrison violated two provisions of the code by allowing his friend Kelly Malone, a homeless man with a criminal record, to spend three nights in …
The Leawood City Council has decided the future of the former Leawood post office at the Ranchmart Shopping Center, and it does not include a bar or restaurant. The council gave unanimous final approval tonight to a new zoning category …. Restaurants or taverns are expressly prohibited in the “planned neighborhood retail” area. It was …