When Bob Harte took his two young kids shopping with him at an organic gardening store in Kansas City, Missouri, he had no idea that he had inadvertently set in motion a series of events that would — eight months later — lead to the Harte family watching helplessly as armed sheriff’s deputies searched every corner of their house for nonexistent evidence of a marijuana grow operation. [More]
kansas
This Farm In Kansas Is The Default Address For All American Internet Users
By 4.11.16
The geographic center of the United States, as all elementary school students know, is in Kansas. When some services that map a device’s Internet Protocol address don’t know where someone using a website is located, they point to the front yard of a farm in Kansas. The octogenarian owner and her tenants had no idea until recently why they were being harassed. [More]
Dear Sonic: Please Don’t Store Any More Hamburger & Hot Dog Buns Next To The Toilet
By 5.29.15
Imagine you’re at a fast food joint and you’re taking your young child to the bathroom. Of all the possible things you could find in the lavatory, one of the least-expected would probably be whole trays of buns for hamburgers and hot dogs. [More]
Uber Halts Operations In Kansas After Legislature Votes To Mandate Background Checks, Insurance Coverage
By 5.6.15
It seems like every few months a new city or state announces it will no longer allow Uber to operate in its jurisdiction. But in a slight change of pace, the ride-sharing company is actually taking itself out of the equation in Kansas. [More]
Health Officials Link Blue Bell Ice Cream Products To Listeriosis Outbreak; Company Recalls Treats
By 3.16.15
Three months after candy apples contaminated with Listeria bacteria were linked to seven deaths, another sweet treat may contain the bacteria and could be a contributing factor in at least three deaths. [More]
Faith V. Greed: The Battle Between Faith-Based Organizations And The Payday Loan Industry
By 3.10.15
“The Bible condemns gaining wealth through usury; and the writers of Scripture warn about gaining wealth through exploiting the poor… [but] The State of Alabama allows Payday lenders to charge an annual interest rate of 456%.” [More]
AT&T “Intervenes” In City’s Public Broadband Project, But Says They Won’t Interfere
By 12.3.14
A small city in Kansas has a fiber network that currently serves local government and civic buildings. They also have a plan in mind to expand that network and offer inexpensive gigabit fiber connections to every resident and business. That’s great news for the locals, but not such great news for the incumbent ISP, AT&T, which has won the right to “intervene” in the process. [More]
Comcast Cancels Event At Home Of Lawmaker Who Wants To Ban Municipal Broadband
By 7.29.14
As we mentioned earlier today, 20 states have laws on the books that ban or severely limit municipal efforts to launch broadband services that compete with the likes of Comcast, Time Warner Cable and their cronies. And several states, including Kansas, are trying to enact industry-backed laws of their own to prevent cities from offering competitive Internet service. Comcast was supposed to be showing off its home security service at the home of the Kansas lawmaker who introduced that state’s ridiculous legislation, but has backed out of it after the media started asking questions. [More]
Taxi Driver Paid $600 To Be Unwitting Accomplice In Bank Robbery
By 4.14.14
We’ve written before about triple-digit taxi fares, but it’s usually a case of sketchy drivers taking advantage of naive customers or passengers who don’t realize there are less-expensive options. So here’s a story of how a cab driver in Kansas was paid $600 to help a bank robber make his escape. [More]
Proposed Kansas Bill Banning Municipal Fiber Expansion Has Met Its Doom
By 2.21.14
A proposed law in Kansas that would have prevented the expansion of publicly-owned fiber broadband networks in the state is very thoroughly dead, according to one of the bill’s biggest opponents. [More]
Kansas Cable Lobbyists Deny Hatred Of Google Fiber, Will “Tweak” Restrictive Bill Language
By 2.3.14
Cable lobbyists seem to be buckling under the pressure of consumer unrest in Kansas. Last week, the Kansas Cable Telecommunications Association announced a protectionist bill that would all but squash some city’s hopes of getting improved broadband service. [More]
Kansas Legislature Wants To Stop Any Other Kansas Cities From Getting Google Fiber
By 1.30.14
The Kansas state legislature is currently considering a bill that would prohibit municipalities in that state from building out their own municipal broadband networks. Completely coincidentally of course we’re sure, Kansas City is home to the country’s first Google Fiber municipal network. [More]
Former City Councilman Warns Residents: Walmart Shoppers Will Bring Down Property Values
By 8.21.13
Everyone has an opinion on Walmart and the impact it has on a community whenever a new store is opened. But some residents of Kansas City suburb say a former city councilman went too far when he recently distributed a letter claiming that a new Walmart in the area would attract an undesirable element and ultimately result in a drop in property values. [More]
Mistake On McDonald’s Order Leads To Police Standoff
By 1.9.13
A simple fast food order turned into a prolonged police standoff in Wichita, KS, this morning. [More]
Kansas Couple Convicted Of Ticket Scam, Sentenced To Prison
By 4.15.11
A University of Kansas ticket official and her husband were convicted of aiding a $2 million illegal ticket ring in which they admitting to stealing and selling basketball and football tickets. [More]
KFC Customer Gets Money Bag Instead Of Drive-Thru Order
By 2.24.11
All those morons sitting in jail right now because they got caught trying to rob a fast food joint are going to feel silly when they hear about the guy in Kansas who drove off with a bag full of KFC’s cash when all he wanted was some fried chicken. [More]
Couple Buys Dream Home For $300k, Get $900k Bill For Dam Maintenance
By 8.18.10
That’s “dam maintenance” not “damn maintenance. A Kansas couple scored what they thought was their dream home for $300,000: 20 acres with a beautiful view of the lush foilage-surrounded lake, bound in by a dam. A dam that has tree roots digging into it and could cost $900,000 to repair. And, under an agreement with the city from the 70’s that never turned up in the title search, is their responsibility to repair. And, title insurance will only cover the first $330,000. [More]
Kansas, You Are The Smartest Drivers, NY, The Dumbest
By 5.30.10
Every year GMAC ranks the average scores of their national driver’s test by state — and this year Kansas had the smartest drivers and New York the dumbest. Here are the top 5 and bottom 5 from the ranking: [More]
