Kansas City family's float wins 3-peat in St. Patrick's Day parade

Published

12 months ago

March 17, 2025

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The O’Sullivan Clan has walked in Kansas City’s St. Patrick’s Day parade since it began 51 years ago. This year, the family’s float won a three-peat.

Kansas City family’s float wins 3-peat in St. Patrick’s Day parade

The O’Sullivans won the grand prize in 2023 and first place in the family division in 2024 and 2025.

Irish Wit and Wisdom was the theme for this year’s parade, which the O’Sullivan family said it knows a thing or two about.

Lily O’Shea Becker/KSHB

Debbie O’Sullivan

“We feel like all of our family members have been given the wit and wisdom of the Irish way, so today we are celebrating O’Sullivan University,” Debbie O’Sullivan said.

At O’Sullivan University, you can get your Bachelor of Blarney, your master’s in malarkey and your doctorate in shenanigans, Debbie O’Sullivan said.

Dressed in green caps and gowns, the O’Sullivan Clan — about 40 to 50 family members — took to Kansas City’s Midtown streets to celebrate their heritage with the community.

“Celebrating our Irish heritage is so fun with the city that we love,” said Ella Martin, Debbie O’Sullivan’s daughter.

Leading the clan was Micky O’Sullivan.

Screenshot 2025-03-17 at 5.18.02 PM.png — Robert “Micky” O’Sullivan

“Well, they say I’m the patriarch because all the rest of them are gone,” he said.

Over the years, Micky O’Sullivan has witnessed all the St. Patrick’s Day parade shenanigans and themes, but he said the meaning of the day has stayed the same.

“It’s all family, you know, that’s how it started, all family,” he said.

Stacey Byrne said she remembers “pomping [the floats] like crazy” as a kid.

“It’s family, it’s tradition, just generations of love,” she said. “Just like if the Chiefs didn’t make it, we’re still going to be happy because we’re here all together.”

The clan won’t stop at a three-peat.

Screenshot 2025-03-17 at 5.17.51 PM.png — Ella Martin

“I’ve grown up in this parade with my family, and it’s so fun to carry on that tradition every year,” Martin said.

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KSHB 41 reporter Lily O’Shea Becker covers Franklin and Douglas counties in Kansas. Share your story idea with Lily.

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Related Topics:3-peat clan Featured float Kansas City Kansas City News o'sullivan family parade st patricks day three-peat

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RESULTS: NE Kansas high schools to play Friday after Tuesday sub-state wins

Published

22 hours ago

March 4, 2026

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RESULTS: NE Kansas high schools to play Friday after Tuesday sub-state wins

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – Below is a look at the results from Tuesday night’s high school basketball sub-state semifinals in Northeast Kansas.

Editor’s Note: This story will be updated with what schools are hosting when that information becomes readily available.

WIBW Scoreboard

BOYS

5A East Boys: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results

KC Washington 68, Highland Park 38
Shawnee Heights 49, De Soto 37 (will play Leavenworth Friday)

5A West Boys: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results

Topeka West 55, Hutchinson 32 (will play Bishop Carroll Friday)
Emporia 61, Great Bend 41 (will play Maize South Friday)
Seaman 73, Valley Center 51 (will play Hays Friday)

3A West Franklin Boys: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results

Burlington 60, Osage City 35 (will play Baxter Springs Friday)

3A Sabetha Boys: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results

Hiawatha 73, Oskaloosa 48 (will play Heritage Christian Friday)
Silver Lake 58, Sabetha 39 (will play Perry-Lecompton Friday 7:30 p.m.)

GIRLS

6A West Girls: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results

Washburn Rural 60, Wichita South 32 (will play Derby)
Topeka High 69, Maize 45 (will play Liberal)
Manhattan 67, Free State 21 (will play Wichita East)

4A East Girls: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results

Rock Creek 71, Parsons 23 (will play Tonganoxie)
Wamego 54, Labette County 33 (will play Bishop Miege)
Hayden 2, Athison 0 (will play Baldwin)

2A Eskridge/Mission Valley Girls: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results

Rossville 71, KC Christian 49 (will play Maur Hill-Mount Academy)
Lyndon 61, Jeff. Co. North 31 (will play Valley Heights)
Valley Heights 65, Doniphan West 41 (will play Lyndon)

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Doe v. State of Kansas | American Civil Liberties Union

Published

1 day ago

March 3, 2026

Press Room

Doe v. State of Kansas | American Civil Liberties Union

In early 2026, the Kansas state legislature passed SB 244, a law which prohibits transgender people from using public restrooms on government property that align with their gender identity and establishes a private right of action that allows anyone who suspects someone is transgender and in violation of the law to sue that person for “damages” totaling $1,000.

The law also invalidates state-issued driver’s licenses with updated gender markers that reflect the carrier’s gender identity. In February 2026, transgender people across the state received letters from the state Department of Revenue’s Division of Vehicles informing them that their driver’s licenses “will no longer be valid,” effective immediately. SB 244 also prohibits transgender Kansans – or those born in Kansas – from updating the gender marker on state-issued birth certificates and driver’s licenses in the future.

The same day SB 244 went into effect, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Kansas, and Ballard Spahr LLP filed a lawsuit challenging SB 244 in the District Court of Douglas County on behalf of two transgender men who had their driver’s licenses invalidated under the law. The lawsuit charges that SB 244 violates the Kansas Constitution’s protections for personal autonomy, privacy, equality under the law, due process, and freedom of speech.

“The invalidation of state-issued IDs threatens to out transgender people against their will every time they apply for a job, rent an apartment, or interact with police,” said Harper Seldin, Senior Staff Attorney for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Rights Project. “Taken as a whole, SB 244 is a transparent attempt to deny transgender people autonomy over their own identities and push them out of public life altogether.”

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Kansas

Kansas City man sentenced for cocaine trafficking, possession of illegal firearm

Published

2 days ago

March 3, 2026

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Kansas City man sentenced for cocaine trafficking, possession of illegal firearm

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – A Kansas City man was sentenced in federal court for his role in a drug trafficking conspiracy and possession of an illegal firearm.

According to the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri, 22-year-old Antoine R. Gillum was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison without parole.

His sentencing stems from a June 2024 incident in a metro gas station. KCPD investigators contacted Gillum inside and found that he had discarded a 9 mm pistol in an aisle between the merchandise. He also discarded a pill bottle containing multiple illegal substances: cocaine base, oxycodone/acetaminophen and oxycodone.

Officers searched the vehicle Gillum had arrived in and found approximately 32 grams of cocaine base.

On May 6, 2025, Gillum pleaded guilty to one count each of possession with intent to distribute cocaine and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica Jennings. It’s a part of ‘Operation Take Back America,’ a nationwide Department of Justice initiative to eliminate cartels and transnational criminal organizations.

No further information has been released.

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