Dylan Lysen

Law enforcement officials say arresting homeless people for minor crimes like trespassing and vandalism will not help reduce homelessness. Experts say it will cost a lot of tax dollars and actually makes homelessness worse.

Demand for homes in Kansas is high, but construction of new homes has been slow for more than a decade. Kansas saw a significant drop in home construction after the Great Recession, contributing to a housing shortage today that drives up prices.

Advocates say homelessness in Kansas is mainly caused by a lack of affordable housing, not issues like mental health. Efforts to increase housing stock have built thousands of new units, but it’s not enough, and some communities oppose new developments.

Kansas Senate District 7 covers northeast Johnson County including Fairway, Mission, Mission Hills, Mission Woods, Prairie Village, Roeland Park, Westwood, Westwood Hills and parts of Overland Park and Leawood. Democratic incumbent Ethan Corson is running for another four-year term. This article is part of the 2024 KC Voter Guide.

Kansas House District 25, in Johnson County, covers Fairway, Mission Hills, Mission Woods, Roeland Park, Westwood, Westwood Hills and parts of Mission and Prairie Village. Incumbent Rui Xu, a Democrat, is running for another two-year term. This article is part of the 2024 KC Voter Guide.

The Clay Counts Coalition is launching a program aimed at raising awareness and improving access to mental health services for its rural agricultural community.

A bill in the Kansas Legislature would have provided millions of dollars to build homeless shelters across the state. But lawmakers let the bill stall in committee and left Topeka for the year without taking any meaningful action to address the growing problem.

Older foster children in Kansas who face aging out of care will soon be able to choose their own families. In the past, they had to sometimes choose between being adopted or keeping important foster care benefits like free college tuition.

Traffic tickets for low-income drivers can snowball into thousands of dollars of debt and revoked licenses. A new law aims to reduce fines and fees to help get them reinstated.<br/>

Families have been blocked from visiting inmates since March 1. A union president for prison staff believes an investigation justifying the tightened rules is dragging on as a way to circumvent the union’s contract.