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Transportation planners are getting an update on the trends of bicycle and pedestrian activity in the region.

The Wichita Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (WAMPO) enlists dozens of volunteers each September to count people riding bikes, walking, running or even skateboarding.

This year’s count, which took place on Sept. 20 and 22, shows a 16 percent increase in activity levels. Overall, the number of people biking and walking is up about 22 percent since 2012, when the annual count began.

Nearly 15,000 voters in Sedgwick County cast their ballots before today's primary election.

Wichita Public Schools will soon start another school year with a shortage of substitute teachers.

While the school district has fewer vacant teaching jobs this year, long-term substitutes will fill some of the remaining positions. That takes more substitutes out of the already small pool used to cover absent teachers.

When a substitute isn’t available to cover a class, those students are spread among other classrooms for the day, overloading the class sizes for some teachers.

The Sedgwick County election office was finalizing details ahead of the primary on Friday, holding a public demonstration of voting equipment to show that each of the more than 600 different variations of ballots will be tallied correctly on Tuesday.

Kansas officials will soon have an up-to-date map of broadband service availability across the state as a way to help close the coverage gap.

Wichita Public Schools welcomed hundreds of new teachers to the district at a new staff orientation Thursday morning.

The new teachers were greeted at Wichita Northwest High School with cheerleaders, a photo booth and a marching band.

“I am very excited to be starting the school year,” said Mike Flaigle, who will teach sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade math at Horace Mann Dual Language Magnet.

The number of vacant teaching positions in the district has been cut in half, from more than 100 last year to 54 this year.

The Wichita Family Crisis Center has seen a steady rise in clients each month since the beginning of the year.

The emergency shelter, formally known as the YWCA Women’s Crisis Center, is seeing a number of women, children and even more men since the name change in 2016.

Tracey Gay, director of client services, says domestic violence is about power and control. She says the numbers may be climbing due to more awareness of the problem.

Last year, Gay says, nearly 1700 clients were served, with 310 housed at the shelter.

Real Men Real Heroes, a mentoring program for young men, will host its 10th annual awards banquet in Wichita on Thursday.

Actor Ernie Hudson may be best known for his role in the 1984 blockbuster movie Ghostbusters. Real Men Real Heroes co-founder Buddy Shannon says Hudson will share some of his life experiences at the banquet.

Wichita Public Schools is expanding its credit recovery options for high school students struggling to earn enough credits to graduate.

Learning centers will be available for ninth- through 12th-grade students at each of the district’s comprehensive high schools in the fall. High school students will be able to use the centers to make up credits by taking a credit recovery course instead of an elective.