Unified Government of Wyandotte County/KCK

As the new leader of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, Watson will take over the role amid serious budget problems despite rapid development around the Kansas Speedway. Voters also weighed in on five open commission seats and reelected the Wyandotte County Sheriff.

On Nov. 4, voters around Kansas City will decide a number of critical local issues in their communities, including multiple mayoral races, whether to "abandon" Prairie Village's form of government, if Independence can keep its four-day school week, and more.

A major breach of the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department reveals, for the first time, a list of alleged officer misconduct including dishonesty, sexual harassment, excessive force, and false arrest.

Cedric Warren and Domonique Moore, whose murder convictions were tossed last year due to prosecutorial misconduct, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Thursday. They say they were railroaded by Roger Golubski, then a police detective, because the mother of one of them refused his sexual advances.

This year’s candidates for mayor include a 30-year attorney and a nonprofit executive. They told The Beacon about the biggest issues facing Wyandotte County, including property taxes, public safety, staff culture and affordability.

Las mujeres que ingresan al juzgado del condado de Wyandotte, en Kansas City, Kansas, afirman que sus sostenes con varillas activan los detectores de metales hipersensibles y que, inmediatamente, son inspeccionadas a la fuerza por agentes femeninas. La oficina del sheriff afirma que se trata de una medida para proteger el juzgado.

Women entering the Wyandotte County Courthouse in Kansas City, Kansas, say their underwire bras are triggering hypersensitive metal detectors, and they are then forcibly patted down by female deputies. The sheriff’s office says it’s protecting the courthouse.

The Unified Government could vote this week on an ordinance that would make it illegal for people to sleep outside on public and private property. But without a single overnight shelter in Wyandotte County, community groups say the crackdown will only worsen conditions for unhoused residents.

Attorneys for the family of Charles Adair, 50, whose death was ruled a homicide, saw body camera footage of his death Tuesday. It showed Wyandotte County deputy sheriff Richard Fatherley kneeling on Adair’s back for a minute and a half, they said.

A coroner's report found that 50-year-old Charles Adair died by "mechanical asphyxia" at the Wyandotte County Detention Center after a deputy kneeled on his back and restrained him. A similar tactic caused the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Critical questions remain about how a 50-year-old Kansas City, Kansas, man died in the Wyandotte County Jail more than two months ago. Charles Adair’s death has been ruled a homicide, but new details reveal striking similarities to the death of George Floyd in 2020.

Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, commissions voted Monday to raise property taxes but also cut the Board of Public Utilities PILOT fee.