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Archives for July, 2012
Tweet Not six months after crews began demolishing the former Tippin’s Restaurant building at Corinth Square, the new CVS Pharmacy location approved by the Prairie Village Planning Commission last July is preparing to open. Crews finished all significant construction work on the facility a week and a half ago, though the roof has not been [...]
Tweet Today the statehouse candidates share their thoughts on the second item in the questionnaire developed with input from our readers: 2.) State fiscal analysts project the tax bill signed by Gov. Sam Brownback in May could produce deficits reaching $2.5 billion by 2018. What specific government programs or services would you cut to balance [...]
Tweet As if the unstoppable force that is this summer’s heat weren’t enough… The Mid-American Regional Council has issued an Orange ozone alert for the KC area Tuesday. Here are the two most important steps MARC recommends to help keep local smog in check: 1. PROTECT YOUR HEALTH Ozone pollution can cause a variety of [...]
Tweet At the northeast corner of State Line and Westport Roads in Kansas City, Mo. — roughly half a mile from Johnson County and just feet from the state of Kansas — Google last week opened the home base of its new Fiber ultra-highspeed Internet and television service. For residents of northeast Johnson County, the new “Fiber [...]
Tweet Heads up if you get a late start to work Tuesday and Shawnee Mission Parkway is part of your morning commute: Crews will begin work to replace a temporary patch to a broken water main near the intersection of Pawnee Lane and Shawnee Mission Parkway around 8 a.m. Fairway Police Chief Mike Fleming sent out [...]
Tweet While the 16th century French knight watched his peers battling in the yard, the metal smith taught Viking wire weaving inside while the questers cleaned up after their experiments with the catapult. Such was the scene at St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church Saturday as it played host to the ”Feast of Eagles,” an [...]
Tweet Today we publish the first answers to the questionnaire our readers helped develop for candidates in local statehouse races. 1) In 2011, Kansas cut the amount of basic aid it provides to public schools by close to 6 percent. Where do you stand on public school funding? Is the current amount of aid sufficient? [...]
Tweet Fifty years after the Beatles came together — and just two days after their music helped provide the soundtrack to the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games — a group of young swimmers paid the group a special tribute before a hearty crowd at the Prairie Village Municipal Pool Sunday. Hundreds gathered on the scorched grass [...]
Tweet The stress from this summer’s prolonged drought is manifesting itself in a dangerous — and expensive —phenomenon: giant falling tree limbs. At least two Prairie Village trees this weekend shed major limbs, producing heart-stopping spectacles, though causing no injuries. A mature oak in the 2100 block of Cambridge Street dropped a huge limb Friday night [...]
Tweet Back from the brink of extinction, the annual Prairie Village Water Show is scheduled to make a triumphant – and thematically timely – return this Sunday. After nearly having to cancel the season after difficulty finding a coach, the Prairie Village Synchronized Swimming team has been treading diligently for the past several weeks all in preparation [...]
Tweet As the August 7 primary elections near, a request from the American Civil Liberties Union has prompted Mission Hills administrators to temporarily push pause on enforcement of a city ordinance limiting the number of signs homeowners can display in their yards. City Administrator Courtney Christensen said she’s contacted members of the city council to [...]
Tweet By Julia Westhoff Every year Jay (the family gardener) warns me to be prepared for an overabundance of tomatoes. And every year we get about 10 tomatoes. This year, however, the heat and a fancy new watering system have proven him right. Now the pressure is on me (the family cook) to use up [...]
Tweet Prairie Village’s innovative approach to improving homes that have fallen into disrepair was back in action this week. On Wednesday, volunteers from United Methodist Church of the Resurrection gave their time – and elbow grease — to spruce up a home in Ward III that had started to violate property codes. The volunteers removed five dead [...]
Tweet Two local elementaries were among the Shawnee Mission schools recognized this month for ahead-of-the-curve efforts to reduce waste and conserve resources in Johnson County. The Johnson County Board of Commissioners named Briarwood, Brookwood and Tomahawk to its list of Green Business Award winners. Brookwood received a Gold Level honor for its program composting cafeteria [...]
Tweet For the fiftieth installment of our award-eligible “Where’s that at?” series, we figured we’d take the opportunity to remind everyone that we do have parks here. It’s just that no one can go to them because it’s too preposterously hot outside. Sigh. Anydoodle, guess away. It’ll give you something to do when you’re stuck [...]
Tweet If you’ve known me long enough, you know that I boil my life philosophy down to three letters: ABB. Always. Be. Birdin’. So it’s been a good week at the Senter house. Last weekend, we spotted an American Goldfinch in the front yard. A couple days later, a Downy Woodpecker made an appearance. And [...]
Tweet Last night’s thunderstorms notwithstanding, we’re in the middle of the worst drought in decades. And to help the local citizenry weather out this intolerable weather, Johnson County launched a new website Wednesday called “The Heat is On.” The site provides the current weather and latest forecast, along with recent updates on local burning bans, [...]
Tweet Local actress Suzanne Welch says it’s nothing personal, Prairie Village. In fact, the reason our fair city became the namesake of her satire “A Prairie Village Home Companion” was simple: She and writing partner Jim Sturgill wanted to format the new Fringe Festival production around Garrison Keillor’s public radio fixture “A Prairie Home Companion.” [...]
Tweet SureWest, a traditional cable provider whose services compete with Time Warner Cable, is moving into northeast Johnson County — but how far it will come remains to be seen. Fairway residents earlier this week received a notice from the city alerting them to installation work that will be carried out by SureWest crews in the [...]
Tweet It was dug more than 150 years ago, serving as a crucial watering point for the brave souls making their journey along the Oregon and Santa Fe Trails. During the Civil War Battle of Westport, it became a place of relative peace, where soldier from the north and south could quench their thirst without [...]
Tweet A wave of recent unlocked car burglaries has gotten the attention of the Fairway Police Department, which issued a crime prevention awareness alert for residents today: In the last month or so several cities in the Northeast part of Johnson County have taken reports of unlocked cars being entered overnight; in addition to items [...]
Tweet Two candidates vying for spots on opposite sides of November’s District 25 state house ballot have at least one thing in common: They were more than a little surprised to see the list of election recommendations put out by the Kansas City Star last week. The reason, say Republican Bill Griffith and Democrat Scott [...]
Tweet Citizens for Higher Education, a business group promoting the idea that a strong higher education system fuels economic growth for the state, has released its list of endorsements for the 2012 Kansas legislature races. The group says candidates were endorsed “based on recommendations from higher education and legislative leaders, and the candidates’ positions on [...]
Tweet More feathered friends! Our neighbor’s bird feeder is apparently the in spot for the local lighter-than-air set lately. This li’l fella was hopping about yesterday and stopped just long enough for us to snap a couple of shots. Yes, the downy woodpecker is the most common woodpecker in the state. But…again, cooler than a [...]
Tweet Lock those cars at night, Villagers. Prairie Village police report that a burglar or burglars hit a string of unlocked vehicles in the neighborhood a quarter mile west of SM East between Sunday night and Monday morning, culminating with the theft of a 2004 Chevy Silverado pickup. Police investigators took half a dozen reports [...]
