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Archives for January, 2013
Tweet My brother-in-law Greg Shelton has an interesting practice he calls “The American Holiday rule”. According to this rule, one is allowed to do anything one wants on holidays that are only celebrated in America, such as July 4th. Birthdays also fall under this category (these are Greg’s rules, not mine). Gluttony and debauchery are [...]
Tweet A 1989 SM East graduate has landed the top spot at the city of Boston’s public high school dedicated to the visual and performing arts. The Boston Arts Academy this week announced that Anne Clark has been named Headmaster after a nationwide search. Clark is a founding faculty member at the academy, and had [...]
Tweet Destruction of green space. Lack of fit with the surrounding neighborhoods. Oversaturation in the market. Deleterious impact on home values. These were among the concerns expressed Thursday at a citywide meeting on the Tutera Group’s proposal to build a $50 million, 376-unit senior living community on the site of Mission Valley Middle School in [...]
Tweet Rep. Barbara Bollier of Mission Hills was one of the state lawmakers quoted in yesterday’s New York Times examination of Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback’s plans to eliminate income taxes: Representative Barbara Bollier, a Republican representing the suburbs of Kansas City, questioned why the state was cutting taxes at a time of sagging revenues. “It’s [...]
Tweet As you might imagine, Johnson County Sheriff Frank Denning’s anti-gun control opinion piece on the Sheriff’s Department’s website caused quite a stir. Denning’s article drew derision from the Kansas City Star’s editorial board. And yesterday the Pitch jumped in as well… We received several inquiries after posting Denning’s comments on Monday, and decided to [...]
Tweet I’ve been listening to a lot of Pink Floyd, lately. Which has got me thinking about walls. Which is why I took a picture of this wall. Where’s it at?!?!?
Tweet Two SM East graduates are among a select group of University of Kansas students to receive funding to conduct research as undergrads. Holly Lafferty and Jason Bates are part of the group of 58 students recently informed they will receive research grants through the Undergraduate Research Award program at KU. Bates, a KU junior, [...]
Tweet So when it comes to burglaries in Prairie Village, there’s good news, and there’s bad news… The Prairie Village Police Department’s final tally of crime statistics for 2012 show a marked drop in residential burglaries from 2011. Police logged 45 residential burglary reports in 2012, a 22 percent drop from the 58 recorded in [...]
Tweet Ed Peterson of Fairway has been elected 2nd Vice Chair of the Mid-America Regional Council (MARC) Board of Directors. Peterson is county commissioner for the first district representing northeast Johnson County. He is a former mayor and city councilor in Fairway. He also is a partner with the law firm Finnegan, Conrad and Peterson. [...]
Tweet Bruce McNabb’s exit as head of the Prairie Village Public Works Department last week has prompted a change to the city’s residency requirements for staff — a change City Administrator Quinn Bennion hopes will attract a talented pool of applicants for the open position. Prior to last night, city statute required that the city’s [...]
Tweet Prairie Villagers: You now have the right to protest. With a unanimous vote Tuesday, the Prairie Village City Council approved a new ordinance that gives people who live near the site of proposed developments requiring Special Use Permits the right to formally file protest petitions. Under the new law, if property owners representing 20 [...]
Tweet Much like two spongy yellow cakes wrapped tightly together under a thin film of plastic, SM East graduates Austin and Zach Hurst look a lot alike. They’re twins, in fact. And if their longshot bid goes according to plan, the 26-year-olds will become purveyors of the Twinkie brand. The Twinkie Twins, you might call [...]
Tweet A number of new candidates joined the races for northeast Johnson County city offices before filing closed Tuesday — and many of those were in Fairway. Mayor Jerry Wiley is still running unopposed, but Fairway now has contests for each city council seat. The Fairway council races are: First Ward: Chris Gigstad and Melanie [...]
Tweet Just a reminder to lock those doors, folks… Prairie Village police have filed reports on 10 attempted or completed burglaries in January, including an incident Monday in the 4600 block of 72nd Street. Capt. Wes Lovett said a burglar or burglars entered the home through an unlocked door between 4 and 6 p.m. They [...]
Tweet State titles in tennis, golf and swimming are relatively commonplace at 7500 Mission Road. But even SM East’s debate and forensics coach was caught a bit off guard when he found out the school’s four-speaker team had taken the Kansas State High School Activities Association’s 2013 championship. “I said, ‘Are you kidding me?’” said [...]
Tweet Voters all across the Shawnee Mission School District will have at least one contested race to bring them to the polls in April. Mark Read of Overland Park is challenging incumbent Cindy Neighbor for the at-large seat that is up for election this year. In the other two spots the incumbents are unchallenged with [...]
Tweet Public Works Director isn’t the only position the city of Prairie Village is looking to fill. Chris Engel, who served as Assistant to the City Administrator for nearly six years, started a job last week as the Assistant City Administrator in Merriam, a role in which he’ll take on increased responsibilities. “I’m definitely leaving [...]
Tweet The deadline to file for spring elections is noon Tuesday and among the candidates who have declared their intent to run is Fairway Mayor Jerry Wiley, who is seeking a second term in office. Wiley defeated John St. Clair four years ago in a highly contended election. As of now, Wiley is unopposed for [...]
Tweet The SM East’s boys basketball team’s magical string of victories to open the 2013 season came to an end Saturday as the Lancers fell to host McPherson High School in its statewide invitational tournament Saturday. The Lancers, now 10-1, fell 40-53 to the Bullpups. They’d beaten Wichita’s Maize High School 64-47 Thursday and Blue [...]
Tweet In an effort to keep our readers’ better informed about the state government actions that impact our communities, we’ll be featuring regular update columns from northeast Johnson County’s elected officials in the legislature: Rep. Barbara Bollier, Rep. Stephanie Clayton, Rep. Melissa Rooker and Sen. Kay Wolf. Check back on Mondays to find out what’s [...]
Tweet Johnson County Sheriff Frank Denning last week posted an opinion piece on the Sheriff’s Department’s website in which he took a forceful stand against the gun control measures being debated at the national level. Echoing many of the sentiments of the National Rifle Association, Denning argues that the best means to prevent mass shootings [...]
Tweet It’s official: SM East will have a new principal to start the next school year. Dr. Karl Krawitz, now in his fifth year at East, is retiring after this year. Krawitz had told the PVPost.com in August that he was considering retiring after this year because his eldest son had taken a job transfer [...]
Tweet Mission Hills residents David and Kathy Wysong’s contributions to the expansion of Johnson County Community College’s culinary program will be recognized in perpetuity at the school’s new Hospitality and Culinary Academy. The Wysongs were among four donors who contributed more than $200,000 for construction of the state-of-the-art facility. The donors will each have a [...]
Tweet Redevelopment and strong finances were the two themes of the day for northeast Johnson County mayors during he annual “State of the Cities” addresses they gave Thursday. The projects ranged from Mission’s East Gateway, only approved by the council the night before, to the rehabbing of Corinth Square in Prairie Village, a project that [...]
Tweet By Julia Westhoff This weekend begins one of my favorite dining out traditions – Kansas City Restaurant Week. From January 18th-27th, over 125 Kansas City restaurants will offer special, super-affordable menus, with proceeds benefiting Harvester’s Community Food Network and two other non-profits. Numerous Prairie Village restaurants will be taking part this year. Some restaurants [...]
