Thursday, August 13, 2026

Good morning. It's Thursday, August 13th. I'm Fletcher Jerome Powell, and this is Wichita's early edition from KMUW News. Jason Hendry of the Wichita band, The Velvet Fever, says his group's new recording is about honesty and integrity. Let's not make a cheap book. Let's make it real. That's coming up after the news. A foundation led by billionaire Bill Coke wants out of its lease at the Wichita Boathouse, and city leaders have learned that might come at a high cost. KMUW's Roger Nomer reports. The America Cubed Foundation leases the boathouse for a dollar a year in exchange for maintaining it. But now the roof needs repairs, and the city might have to pay for it if the lease ends. While the city could serve notice requiring the foundation to make the repairs, there are a few options to enforce it. Vice Mayor Dalton Glasscock says he was stunned that the only recourse might be to take back the building. My mind's just blown. Police say that we, this is not common practice in our real estate agreements now, that the only clawback is to do what they want the clawback to do. The city council will consider the lease terms at a meeting next month. For KMUW News, I'm Roger Nomer. Wichita Public Schools held a press conference Tuesday to clarify how it plans to enforce a new state law banning student cell phone use. KMUW's Daniel Cottle reports. A student caught using their phone will be asked to surrender it for storage until dismissal. With repeat violations, the school could call a parent to retrieve the phone. Students who refuse to surrender a device could be disciplined according to the student code of conduct. Lauren Hatfield is chief of schools for the district. She says the goal is not to punish students. But to support safe and focused learning environments and to help students get engaged in their learning and with one another. The district asks students not to bring their phones to school, but for those who do, each building will decide how to store the phones. The district says it is guiding administrators in an effort to keep enforcement consistent at each school. For KMUW News, I'm Daniel Cottle. Winfield Police and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation are investigating what they believe to be a murder-suicide that left six people dead, including four children. Law enforcement officials say 53-year-old Ronald H. Williams Sr. shot a woman and four children to death on Tuesday before turning the gun on himself. It happened at a home near 9th Avenue and Stewart Street in Winfield shortly before 9 a.m. on Tuesday. Winfield Police Chief Robbie DeLong says the victims include 44-year-old Kelly George and her four children, ages 3 to 9, as well as the suspect. He says counselors were called in to help first responders. I mean, obviously this was in my 20 plus years one of the hardest things I've ever seen. And so our goal will be to continue to support them past today and provide them the resources that they're going to need. DeLong says police had received previous reports of Williams acting aggressively in public.

An annual billboard campaign calling on the Kansas City Chiefs to change their name and end a longstanding fan tradition expanded its reach this summer. Salisa Colackel reports. The Kansas City Indian Center puts up these billboards every year when football season starts in the fall, calling on the team to change its name and stop the so-called tomahawk chop, which is popular with fans in Arrowhead Stadium. It's a stereotypical Hollywood kind of chant. and it freezes us into kind of this primitive image. That's executive director, Galen Krauser, a citizen of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. She told KCUR's up to date that this year, they put up more billboards to catch attention during the World Cup. Krauser also says the team's pending move to a new stadium in Kansas is one more reason to reevaluate its name and fan practices. I'm Salisa Collockel. Sedrick County health officials have confirmed at least 100 cases of the foodborne illness cyclospiriasis. Only two other counties in Kansas have reported more cases of the parasitic illness that causes severe diarrhea. Johnson County has 203 confirmed cases, and Shawnee County has reported 107 cases. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment has reported nearly 750 cases this year, according to a weekly update published yesterday. Data show cases are affecting all age groups. Officials in Liberal are warning people there to remain alert after a mountain lion was spotted near a southwest Kansas park. The city of Liberal said on social media this week that a mountain lion was spotted near Arcalon Park. Officials confirmed that it was a mountain lion and not a bobcat, which is more common in that area. City leaders say state wildlife authorities have been notified and visitors are being asked to stay aware of their surroundings and keep children and pets close by. Mountain lions are most active at dawn, dusk, and nighttime. A new fitness court opened yesterday at Osage Park in South Wichita. The court has seven exercise stations designed for people 14 years old and older and adaptable for any fitness level. An app helps people plan workouts and provides additional wellness resources. The court is a collaboration between the city, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas, and the National Fitness campaign. Wichita is one of more than 15 cities in Kansas that have fitness courts. The goal is to increase access to free exercise equipment and workouts. Wichita's other court is at Pat Garcia Veterans Memorial Park near 25th Street North and Broadway. The Wichita Children's Home broke ground yesterday morning on an expansion focused on helping children through grief and trauma. The Center for Children's Healing will expand access to trauma-informed mental health services for kids and families. The expansion will also include a new maternity group home on the Children's Home site in northeast Wichita. It will offer mother-and-baby suites, therapy, and other services for families.

Plans call for comforting elements, including natural colors and creative art studios. Officials say the goal is to help children feel safe to tell their stories while healing. Sedrick County Sheriff Jeff Easter says the local jail population is rising and his office has begun transferring inmates to facilities in other counties. Easter told county commissioners that the Sedgwick County Jail has just over 1,400 beds. There are currently around 1,350 inmates housed there. Easter says overall crime is down, but the jail's holding more violent offenders, including people who are awaiting trial on child sex crimes. He says about 90 homicide suspects also remain in jail while awaiting trial. waiting for competency evaluations at state hospitals. And now, KMUW's Luann Stevens brings us some upcoming events in Wichita and the surrounding area. The Odyssey Summer Concert Series continues tomorrow night with the band Lucky People. It's 8 p.m. at Napster Park in downtown Wichita. You'll need to bring a lawn chair or a blanket. Movies Under the Stars is Saturday Night and this week they're featuring the SpongeBob movie. It starts at dusk at the Hap McLean Park in Park City. You'll need to bring your own chairs or blankets to this one too. The cactus blossoms perform this Sunday afternoon at 4 at the Bartlett Arboretum in Bell Plain and again bring your own lawn chairs. KMUW's August pint night is next Wednesday afternoon at 5.30. We're meeting at Rain Bistro and Lounge. It's on Douglas in Old Town. As always, there's no agenda, just a chance to chat with other KMUW listeners and staff. Music Theater, Wichita, presents Hairspray this Wednesday through Sunday at Century 2, and the Derby Market at 3rd Thursday is next Thursday, starting at 5 p.m. at Madison Avenue Central Park. There's live music and vendors selling produce, meat, dairy, baked goods, and a whole lot more. Find out more about these events and others by going to KMUW.org. We'll be back after this. Support for KMUW comes from Fidelity Bank, banking for a stronger community and a better world online at Fidelitybank.com. Tomorrow on the range. What's in store for Wichita students this year? Plus, a food scientist explains what it takes to make things nutritious and delicious. So join us on the range, where we share stories about where we live and the people who live here. I'm Fletcher Jerome Powell, and this is Wichita's early edition. Wichita band The Velvet Fever releases its newest recording this weekend. It's called FreeW. Jason and Katie Hendry say the collection's title track was partially inspired by a photo taken by bassist Brian Bondrager, and with it they wanted to create musical settings that closely reflected the lyrics. KMUW's Jed Bodwin recently spoke with Jason and Katie Hendry, and here's Jed with more.

So how did FreeWriter kind of become the title track for this release? Because I always think about a title for a record as being something that's intended to steer us in a particular direction about themes and so forth. We were actually wrestling with what we wanted to call this collection of songs. Brian had a picture and he was just thinking on the lines of a single. Like, hey, let's release a single on streaming services. And so he just gave me the artwork with Freeriter. I'm like, let's just call the album that. Because it's a song. It's not exactly like what we would do in the, you know, the magic of music making world where you make that like your single release. But I thought it relates with the album. I like that song. And so let's go with that. Song itself is a play on the Beatles paperback writer. And so I was thinking about a paperback writer. You know, that's kind of like a cheap book. It may not even be that truthful or whatever. And so I was taking that with life. And so I was saying, let's live life and truth. It's a dual thing you see like writing and making it truthful, but then also you see the word love. and making that truthful. And so that's the idea, is like living not cheaply, but being, like, factual in what you do and being honest. And so it's like, let's not make a cheap book. Let's make it real.

So, Katie, you kind of designed some of the drum parts on that tune free writer to kind of mimic a typewriter. Well, I used to play drums at the church we went to. We went to the vineyard. And I was in, like, I play a hand percussion. And they had some timboles. So I bought Timbali drumsticks. That's one of my tricks is to just have a whole bunch of different types of sticks to play with to make things sound differently, differentiate the sound. So I had these Timbali sticks and that, I don't know, the thinness of the, you know, the instrument tapping. And so I was thinking about people's fingers tapping on the metal and the plastic of the typewriter. And there's a point in the song. I don't know if you call it a breakdown. Brian's doing something. But I do, like, visualizing in my mind sometimes when I play. You get that part.

And I'm just picturing someone just really getting into what they're writing, and then they hit that, I don't even know what it's called on the side, and you're like, you're finished with your line, the end of your sentence, and you're like, ching, and you hit the thing. You have this event coming up at Spectrum Music where people will get to hang out with you and listen to the entire record together. I know myself. I'm trying to get back to the way I used to listen to music. And I used to purchase an album and listen to it from first song to last song. I don't do that anymore. And so I know myself, I'm trying to get back to that. And so I feel like trying to get back into the physical form of music that helps introduce that back into other people's lives. The Velvet Fever will host a listening party for their new release, Free Rider, this Saturday from 5 to 6 p.m. at Spectrum Music in Delano. The band will also perform at Norton's on Saturday, August 22nd, from 4.30 to 5 p.m. as part of Forever Fest. Jed Bowdoin hosts Strange Currency Weeknights from 8 to 10 Saturday nights from 7 to 9 on KMUW. Thanks for listening to Wichita's Early Edition. We'll be back again tomorrow. For KMUW News, I'm Fletcher Jerome Powell. Right in a room filled with cars. The cars were green. Wichita's Early Edition is part of the NPR Podcast Network. You may have watched spelling bees before, but you've never seen one like this. KMUW's You're Spelling It Wrong, a spelling bee for grownups, has pizza, adult beverages, sassy judges, and fun for everyone. It's Friday, August 28th at the Mint Event Venue. Sign up to compete or just watch the show. You can find tickets and info at kmUW.org. The fatal shooting of a teenager at a protest in Seattle has gone unsolved for six years. This is open in your face. How are there no answers? Our investigation has uncovered new evidence and witnesses who say they've never talked to police. Did police ever call you? Not once. Listen to We Keep Us Safe, a new true crime series on the Embedded podcast from NPR.