It is closing in on a weekday lunch hour with few signs of life on an April morning at the southeast corner of Broadway Avenue and East William Street. On the corner, a parking lot. To the west, the distinctive Depression-era Petroleum Building sits empty. To the south and east, toward the Intrust Bank Arena, only an occasional door advertising a consultant or property management office breaks up long stretches of brick wall. Take a good last look. Jeff Fluhr, president of the Greater Wichita Partnership, promises that the intersection and beyond will soon be transformed by the new biomedical ..read more

A $300 million project about to be built downtown will give Wichita State University a unique opportunity to give students the most modern training possible in a health care world that is undergoing “tectonic” changes, says Gregory Hand, WSU dean of the College of Health Professions. As health care becomes more about teamwork among doctors, nurses, physical therapists and social workers, the biomedical campus will be a space where students from WSU, WSU Tech and the University of Kansas can practice that kind of collaboration, he said. In the process, they’ll have an up-to-date floor plan tha ..read more

With armfuls of pamphlets, fentanyl test strips and naloxone, Morgan Jennings shows up around Wichita on a mission: trying to stop opioid overdoses. For Jennings, every opportunity to distribute naloxone, a medication that reverses opioid overdoses, is a chance to honor the people in her life affected by substance use disorder. She lost her father to alcoholism in 2000 and a good friend to fentanyl in 2016. “That was a huge life change for me,” Jennings said. “It made me realize that this could really happen to anyone, and if I want to stop seeing my friends pass away, then I need to do somet ..read more

Takeaways: Kansas public universities can face fines for requiring DEI statements during hiring processes. Despite a political divide, the law passed without gubernatorial opposition. Universities in Kansas largely feel unaffected by the law and continue to prioritize diversity and inclusion efforts. Requiring job candidates to talk about diversity, equity and inclusion during the hiring process could subject public universities in Kansas to $10,000 fines.  A new law bans colleges from requiring statements of support or opposition to political ideologies or movements during admission ..read more

Doctors diagnosed Kelsey Vetter with a mild form of cerebral palsy before she turned 3 years old.  She hasn’t seen a doctor about it in more than a decade. “That weighs on me every day,” she said. “I know I need to get myself checked out. … But I’m afraid of those medical bills piling up.” Since the 38-year-old aged out of her parents’ health insurance plan, she hasn’t had any medical coverage. (Her cerebral palsy affects her balance and coordination, but not enough to qualify for disability.) Vetter has worked retail jobs, part-time positions and contract grant writing. But none of that ..read more

The Wichita Police Department closed nearly twice as many complaints about officer conduct in 2023 as it did five years ago, but the department says that shouldn’t set off alarms. Instead, it’s a sign of progress.  The department resolved 359 complaints in 2019 compared to 646 last year. The increase stems from gradual changes with both the investigation process at WPD and the types of complaints seen by its Citizens Review Board. Capt. Jason Bartel, who oversees the Professional Standards Bureau, the department’s internal affairs unit, said the growth shows the evolution in WPD’s handli ..read more

As Julie Moore and her elderly parents prepared to move from Oklahoma City to Wichita, they had some very specific needs.  They wanted to be close to family and friends north of the city. And with Moore working from home, they needed enough space for her to do her medical coding and for her parents to have some room of their own.   They also wanted a relatively new house with few maintenance issues. And, of course, they needed a place they could afford.  But even in one of the country’s most affordable housing markets, the Moores still struggled for nearly a year to find t ..read more

The 3,517 people previously classified as “inactive gang members” and “gang associates” will be struck from the list under a settlement agreement approved by the City Council earlier this month, meaning they legally can no longer be subjected to heightened police scrutiny and harsher punishments. Under the supervision of a court-appointed special master, police will also be required to conduct an annual audit of the 1,728 people designated as “active gang members” to determine whether they meet stricter criteria to qualify for inclusion in the Wichita gang list and its corresponding database ..read more

Takeaways: Kansas lawmakers may have the votes to ban gender-affirming care for transgender youth. A bill failed last year when a handful of Republicans voted against their party. This year’s bill is different, but it has the same goal.  Conservative Kansas lawmakers couldn’t ban gender-affirming care for transgender children last year after Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed the bill and Republicans fell short on an override vote. This year, they’ve passed a more restrictive ban and run into another veto from Kelly. Yet a veto override that would outlaw puberty blockers, hormone tre ..read more

Takeaways: State motor fuel tax revenue has dropped by 27% in Kansas since 2002 because of increasing fuel efficiency of cars, giving the state less money for street repairs. States are experimenting with different ways of collecting taxes from fuel-efficient cars and electric vehicles, such as road-usage charges and extra registration fees. Wichita is gaining more lane miles of roads and highways, funded by the federal government. That makes it more expensive for the state and local governments to repair roads and potholes. The signs of springtime are among us: The smell of new flowers ..read more