Juliana Garcia

Nearly 40 residents spoke at Prairie Village's Sept. 6 city council meeting, and all but a few were opposed to the proposed updates to zoning standards. Many said they're concerned about increasing housing density worsening traffic, overcrowding schools and other issues that will “degrade the integrity” of Prairie Village.

Prairie Villagers will have until the end of this month to enjoy puttering around the city on Bird electric scooters.

This latest version of the much-watched Mission Gateway project devotes more space to residential units and less square footage to a proposed retail aspect and food hall. A previous agreement with the city expired after developers failed to make enough progress.

Prairie Village developed a sister city relationship with Dolyna, Ukraine, in the early 2000s. The western Ukrainian city is now acting as a hub for the collection of humanitarian aid during the Russian invasion.

Kansas City Ballet is expanding its south campus, located in Prairie Village's Meadowbrook Shopping Center at 95th and Nall Avenue. The expansion will allow the ballet school to offer classes for more advanced students and older adults.

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly signed a bill requiring the Kansas State Historical Society to give the Shawnee Tribe ownership of a cemetery where many of its tribe members are buried.

The Shawnee Mission school board's new plan completely removes a requirement that schools bring back masks if 5% of students are absent due to illness — the threshold that prompted seven elementary schools to bring back universal masking earlier this month.

Six elementary schools in the Shawnee Mission school district returned to wearing masks Monday. All of the schools surpassed the district’s 5% threshold of overall student absence rates related to illness.

School officials are on alert for threats following a shooting at Olathe East High school on Friday that injured three.

The cities of Prairie Village and Roeland Park extended their current citywide mask mandate through March 16, a month after the orders' original expiration dates. The unanimous votes by both city councils on Monday come as new COVID-19 cases have dropped sharply in Johnson County.