Although springtime officially hasn’t arrived yet, you can tell it’s just around the corner.

Pre-spring typically brings the annual State of the City address by Mayor Michael Copeland.

It’s rare when an adversarial situation ends with each side feeling good. The “win-win” outcome largely is a myth.

That knowledge didn’t stop Olathe from trying to make everyone happy about removing a basketball court a resident built on city property.

Anyone on Wall Street or Main Street who has been asking “Has the economy hit bottom yet?” should be able to appreciate this simple answer: “No.”

Although the housing/foreclosure crisis and the related banking crisis have received the lion’s share of the blame and attention for the economic downturn, a larger and potentially more damaging shoe is still dropping—commercial property and lending.

Even though the most famous Grinch tale ever told ended happily, not many folks could have expected the story of a Grinch stolen from an Olathe home to follow suit.

But that’s just what happened when the Mark Allen family awoke Sunday morning and found the 6-foot-tall Grinch Christmas decoration on the driveway.

Even though the most famous Grinch tale ever told ended happily, not many folks could have expected the story of a Grinch stolen from an Olathe home to follow suit.

But that’s just what happened when the Mark Allen family awoke Sunday morning and found the 6-foot-tall Grinch Christmas decoration on the driveway.

Deer represent many things to different people. They are pretty, graceful animals that occasionally come into unfortunate contact with humans—especially when there are too many of them in the wrong place.

The situation at Shawnee Mission Park is one of those situations.

Dennis McKinney has some of your money—about $200 million to be exact—and he really would like to give it back.

McKinney, the new treasurer for the state of Kansas, was in Olathe last week. It was a visit designed to remind the public and the press what his office does, not to announce any political plans for 2010.

If you’ve never heard of Mike Press or Michael Wilkes, don’t feel too bad.

Neither one makes the news that often, and that usually is the way they like it. The Mike and Michael Show never will be confused with the Mike and Mike in the Morning show of ESPN radio fame.