Olathe East High School has been selected as one of 20 model high schools for 2010 by the International Center for Leadership in Education. The chosen schools will share their best practices at the 18th Annual Model Schools Conference, June 14-17 in Orlando, Fla. The conference is the nation’s premier event for K-12 education reform. Updated: Mar. 9, 2010 6:10 PM |Full Story

Teams of Olathe and Johnson County students earned two firsts and two seconds in the 2010 Kansas ProStart Student Invitational, March 3 at the Hilton Wichita Airport Executive conference Center.

State Sen. Karin Brownlee of Olathe will be part of a Federal Communications Commission working group examining changes or additions required for the next generation of emergency 911 services. Brownlee was instrumental in establishing the current wireless 911 system now in place throughout most of Kansas. Updated: Mar. 9, 2010 7:09 PM |Full Story

These are the most recent police reports of personal and property crimes and injury traffic accidents in your area, listed by city and ZIP code. Times and dates indicate when officers took the report, not when the incident occurred. Updated: Mar. 9, 2010 4:24 PM |Full Story

Dave Drovetta will make one of the most important decisions in his tenure as mayor when he selects replacements for recalled Gardner City Council members Mary Peters and John Shepherd. The two were voted out in a recall election Tuesday amid allegations that they broke the state’s open meetings law. Three council members remain on the council and Drovetta wants their full support for his selections. Updated: Mar. 5, 2010 7:27 PM |Full Story

Although city officials said the basketball court Jeff Lyons built in his Olathe backyard last year was a violation, all that remained of it Friday was a pile of concrete rubble. The court encroached on city parkland and city officials ordered Lyons to remove the court. He complied with that order, but how officials handled the violation has left Lyons dismayed and angry. He confronted council members about the problem at their meeting Tuesday. Updated: Mar. 5, 2010 7:27 PM |Full Story

After six months of study and debate, the Olathe School District board of education has approved installing artificial turf fields at all four of the district’s high schools. The board voted unanimously on Thursday night to accept a $2.5-million bid by Mid-America Golf and Landscape Inc. for the artificial turf fields and their installation. Funds to pay for the fields were approved by voters in the 2008 bond election. Work is expected to begin on the fields in mid-March. Updated: Mar. 5, 2010 6:22 PM |Full Story

The Olathe Police Department wants the public’s help in solving a murder from two years ago. The morning of March 5, 2008, officers were dispatched to the Olathe Water Production Plant, 8255 S. Gardner Road, where the body of Tammy K. Cochran, 37, was discovered. Her body had been burned and the incident has been investigated as a homicide. Updated: Mar. 5, 2010 5:22 PM |Full Story

Crime and domestic violence cases reported to the Johnson County district attorney’s office have declined 16 percent over the past four years. In the last year, District Attorney Steve Howe said the number of criminal cases has remained flat and domestic violence cases declined slightly. Updated: Mar. 5, 2010 5:17 PM |Full Story

Despite a struggling economy, almost 5 percent more in support payments flowed last year to Johnson County children. The Johnson County court trustee’s office, which collects most child support owed in the county, collected $88 million last year, up from $84 million in 2008, even though unemployment was higher. Updated: Mar. 5, 2010 5:17 PM |Full Story

These are the most recent police reports of personal and property crimes and injury traffic accidents in your area, listed by city and ZIP code. Times and dates indicate when officers took the report, not when the incident occurred. Updated: Mar. 5, 2010 5:22 PM |Full Story

MARRIAGES This list was provided by the Johnson County District Court. Updated: Mar. 5, 2010 5:22 PM |Full Story

For Ridgeview Elementary School Principal Kim Thorup, the Hispanic name raised immediate doubts about whether she should wait for the school interpreter to place the call. Once she proceeded, she wished she had heeded those doubts. The father, recognizing that the school his children attend was calling, but not knowing enough English to know why, became frantic. Updated: Mar. 5, 2010 6:22 PM |Full Story

GIFT LEADS TO NEW SCHOLARSHIP Olathe resident Peggy Huggins, who died in 2008, has left a $15,000 legacy gift to the Olathe Public Schools Foundation for the creation of the Kathleen Macoubrie Smith Scholarship in memory of her mother. Huggins’ mother had been an English teacher in Olathe. Updated: Mar. 5, 2010 6:22 PM |Full Story

Amanda came to TLC for Children and Families in October after several difficult foster home placements. The 9-year-old and her two sisters were removed from her mother’s home after suffering physical abuse from their mother’s boyfriend. Updated: Mar. 5, 2010 7:27 PM |Full Story