Latest reporting from the Public Safety desk.
Public Safety
Olathe Public Schools moved varsity football to 8 p.m. starts and restricted other outdoor competition times the week of Sept. 1 as a historic heat wave grips the KC metro, days after William Jewell College running back MicahJo Barnett died during a game in 97-degree heat.
Public Safety
Johnson County Department of Corrections has added Mater, a certified therapy dog raised and trained by inmates through a vocational program, to support youth and staff across all its facilities, funded entirely by a University of Notre Dame grant.
Public Safety
Two supplemental cooling centers, including one at the Salvation Army in Olathe, will open Monday, Sept. 7, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. as a late-season heat wave keeps temperatures near 100 degrees over the Labor Day holiday weekend.
Public Safety
Bailey Throssell, a UCM senior and 2023 Olathe North graduate who interned with Lenexa Parks and Recreation this summer, died Saturday at an off-campus Warrensburg residence in what police suspect was an overdose.
Public Safety
A 43-year-old Kansas City, Kansas, man was killed Monday morning when his car left northbound I-35 in Olathe, struck a Lone Elm Road bridge pillar and caught fire, closing the highway and drawing a multi-agency emergency response.
Public Safety
Two football players have died during the 2026 season's opening weeks in the Kansas City region, extending a pattern of fatalities with ties to the Olathe area. Kansas does not mandate heat-safety protocols for high school football.
Public Safety
A deck fire at 1429 S. Tomahawk Lane in Olathe sent two women to the hospital Sunday, Aug. 30, and displaced a family of five, with discarded smoking materials identified as the apparent cause.
Public Safety
A Kia Niro T-boned an Isuzu box truck Wednesday afternoon at 135th Street and Black Bob Road in Olathe, rolling the truck and sending four people to the hospital, including an unbelted 3-year-old girl.
Public Safety
Johnson County has confirmed 221 Cyclospora cases linked to recalled Taylor Farms shredded lettuce, the highest count in the Kansas City metro area, as health officials say the regional outbreak may be peaking.
Public Safety
Toni M. Tyson pleaded guilty to two felony charges in Johnson County District Court for her role in a fatal February 2025 shooting at Wingfield Apartments in Olathe, with attempted murder charges dropped as part of a plea deal; sentencing is set for Oct. 16.
Public Safety
A Johnson County judge sentenced Luke Howard to 65 years and three months in prison Monday for fatally shooting his mother and aunt at their Lenexa home in February 2025, a case preceded by days of domestic disturbances and an eviction notice.
Public Safety
Andrew Ellmaker, 39, who was convicted of murdering Johnson County social worker Teri Lea Zenner in a 2004 attack at his Overland Park home, was found dead in his cell at the El Dorado Correctional Facility on Tuesday, Aug. 18; the cause of death is pending autopsy.
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