Prairie Village

Prairie Village City Council voted 10-2 effectively ban short-term rentals inside the city, requiring all such properties have a minimum of a 30-day stay. Current owners will need to find a new use for their spaces by Nov. 1, 2025, or face fines of up to $500 per day.

The group leading the effort to recall Mayor Eric Mikkelson opposed the city's efforts to increase affordable housing options. On Monday, the group said they failed to get the required number of signatures to force a recall vote.

Prairie Village is considering a 30-day minimum stay rule for short-term rentals, which would essentially ban most Airbnb and Vrbo properties. It's the latest city in Johnson County to take up the issue.

Lawrin was owned by Herbert Woolf, the president of Woolf Brothers, one of the most important clothing stores in Kansas City history. Woolf also had an odd connection to political boss Tom Pendergast.

Racially restrictive deeds and exclusionary covenants are still scattered across the Kansas City metro, embedded deep in the bylaws of homes associations and subdivisions’ rules, even though they can no longer be enforced. Now, property owners have a way to remove the language from the documents.

In the wake of last year's contentious fight over zoning laws in Prairie Village, new bills in the Kansas Legislature would threaten local control over rezoning and limit cities' ability to stop citizen petitions. The proposals are being fiercely opposed by cities across Johnson County.

The two Kansas Senate bills appear to be a direct response to last year’s contentious fight over zoning that played out in Prairie Village. One bill would sharply curtail a city’s ability to rezone private property, and the other would strengthen petitioners’ efforts to put a question on a local ballot.

Born in Prairie Village, tenor Ben Bliss has a very busy international performing career, including performances at the Metropolitan Opera and the great opera houses of Europe. He will be starring in the Lyric Opera of Kansas City's upcoming production of "Romeo et Juliette." Brooke Knoll speaks with Bliss about his journey from Kansas to the great concert halls of the world, meeting his Juliet and what's on the horizon for him.

More than a dozen law enforcement agencies — from Overland Park to Prairie Village — will be encrypting their primary channels so listeners can't hear what police and dispatchers are saying over the air.

The complaints were filed nearly two months ago by resident Mike Sullinger, who has been a frequent critic of the council amid the ongoing debate over affordable housing and zoning changes. Sullinger claimed that the mayor and half the council had conflicts of interest, but members unanimously voted to dismiss the complaints.

Election Day 2023 featured several important races across the Kansas City area. Voters decided a number of mayoral, city council and school board races across Wyandotte and Johnson counties, and voters in Kansas City, Missouri, approved the continuation of a sales tax crucial to the public bus system.

Candidates supported by “PV United,” which has fought against proposed zoning changes that would allow for more affordable and multi-family housing options in Prairie Village, won four of six races on Tuesday night.