Serving Kansas City (Wyandotte County) Kansas for over 50 years!
The Unified Government has four drop-off sites for Christmas tree recycling.
The recycling sites are at City Park, 2601 Park Drive; Alvey Park, 4850 Metropolitan; Stony Point Park, 531 N. 86th, and Wyandotte County Park, 126th and State.
The recycling sites will be open from Dec. 28 to Jan. 31, according to an announcement on the UG Facebook page.
Before recycling, residents are asked to remove all ornaments, ribbons and other materials from the tree.
by Tim Carpenter, Kansas Reflector
Topeka — Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s list of second-term executive branch vacancies climbed to three with retirement of the state’s fire marshal.
Kelly, who will be sworn into office Jan. 9 following reelection in November, must replace state fire marshal Doug Jorgensen, who was among the few holdovers from the administrations of Republican Govs. Sam Brownback and Jeff Colyer.
Kelly has also launched the search for individuals to nominate for Cabinet posts in the departments of transportation and administration.
She is expected to wait until January to nominate replacements for Julie Lorenz, who led the Kansas Department of Transportation, and DeAngela Burns-Wallace, who was secretary of the Kansas Department of Administration. Both appointees would be subject to confirmation by the Kansas Senate.
Jorgensen, appointed fire marshal by Brownback in 2011, was at the Kansas Bureau of Investigation for 28 years. He was retained when Kelly took office in 2019.
“He has worked tirelessly to protect Kansans and property from devastating fires and to support communities in times of loss,” Kelly said.
Jorgensen will retire in January, but temporarily serve as deputy fire marshal to assist with transition to his replacement. The Kansas Senate also has confirmation authority over fire marshal appointments.
Three years ago, Jorgensen raised questions about shallow investigation of fatal fires in Kansas. He told state legislators cases were “falling through the cracks.” He pointed to six fatalities — including one homicide — resulting from explosions or fires in a one-year period that hadn’t been thoroughly investigated.
In 2013, he generated controversy by proposing the fire marshal’s office resume oversight of the explosive industry in Kansas. The office lost power to issue permits in 2010 when an assistant attorney general inadvertently deleted that regulatory authority. Explosive industry representatives objected to his proposal.
“I have thoroughly enjoyed serving three governors as the State Fire Marshal for the last eleven years, and most importantly, supporting the state fire service and helping keep the citizens of Kansas safe,” Jorgensen said.
Kansas Reflector stories, www.kansasreflector.com, may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
Look for warmer temperatures with breezy south winds on Thursday, according to the National Weather Service forecast.
Today’s high will be near 60 with winds gusting as high as 33, the weather service said.
A cold front will move through Thursday evening, but temperatures should remain above normal through the weekend, according to the weather service.
Rain chances will be limited through the weekend with better chances for precipitation on Monday, the weather service said.
Today, it will be mostly sunny with a high near 60 and a south southwest wind of 14 to 17 mph, gusting as high as 33 mph, the weather service said.
Tonight, it will be mostly cloudy, with a low of 30, according to the weather service. A west wind of 8 to 13 mph will become light after midnight, with winds gusting as high as 24 mph.
Friday, it will be partly sunny, with a high near 44 and a light and variable wind, the weather service said.
Friday night, it will be mostly cloudy with a low of 30, according to the weather service. A calm wind will become southeast around 5 mph.
Saturday, it will be partly sunny, with a high near 50 and a light and variable wind becoming south around 6 mph in the morning, the weather service said.
Saturday night, it will be partly cloudy, with a low of 33, according to the weather service.
On Sunday, New Year’s Day, it will be partly sunny with a high near 54, the weather service said.
On Sunday night, it will be mostly cloudy with a low of 43, according to the weather service.
On Monday, there is a 70 percent chance of rain, mainly after noon, the weather service said. The high will be near 59.
Monday night, there is a 50 percent chance of rain before midnight, with a low of 38, according to the weather service.
Tuesday, it will be mostly sunny, with a high near 47, the weather service said.
Tuesday night, it will be partly cloudy, with a low of 26, according to the weather service.
Wednesday, it will be partly sunny, with a high near 37, the weather service said.