Something that’s not news: It’s hot.
But not even triple-degree temperatures could put a damper on a successful community cookout, or alter the plans of demonstrators from around the country who came to Wichita on the 25th anniversary of the first Summer of Mercy to pray and protest abortion. Here’s a look at some of the other stories you may have missed this week while you were sitting in front of your air conditioning unit.
A community together: The sights and sounds of the First Steps Cookout
Instead of a planned protest, local Black Lives Matter activists teamed up with the Wichita Police Department to host a cookout Sunday intended to unite the community. The First Steps Cookout caught national attention and even earned Police Chief Gordon Ramsay an invitation to the White House to discuss new approaches to community policing.
Then and now: The Summer of Justice
It’s been 25 years since anti-abortion rights activists held what they called the Summer of Mercy in Wichita—the site of Dr. George Tiller’s clinic, one of just a few sites in the country that offered late-term abortions. Demonstrators with Operation Save America hope their Summer of Justice will continue that original work, but Julie Burkhart, director of the South Wind Women’s Clinic—which she reopened two years ago after Tiller was murdered—says 2016 is nothing like 1991.
Sedgwick County Election Office open for voting
In-person early voting started this week. Fifteen more sites around Sedgwick County will open in the coming week, just days before the primary election. Election Commissioner Tabitha Lehman says there are nearly 281,000 registered voters in Sedgwick County now, up from the 2014 primary.
Kansas GOP delegates line up behind presidential nominee Donald Trump
Kansas Republican Party Chairman Kelly Arnold—who also serves as the Sedgwick County Clerk—reported from the Republican National Convention in Cleveland that although former candidate Ted Cruz won the state’s March caucus, the state’s delegates are supporting official nominee Donald Trump. “I expect to hear and see strong leadership,” Arnold said.
