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Kansas weighs investing millions in shelters after years of increased homeless populations

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Kansas weighs investing millions in shelters after years of increased homeless populations


On a single night in Kansas last year, there were about 2,636 homeless people living in the state, including about 400 in Shawnee County, according to the statewide Point in Time Count that likely undercounts the total number.

But there are less than a thousand shelter beds available statewide.

The House Committee on Welfare Reform is tasked with finding ways to address the growing homeless population in the state, which reached the highest levels it has seen since 2014 after six consecutive years of rising homeless populations.

The committee heard a bill, House Bill 2723, which would establish a $40 million grant fund that would go to communities around the state that create a plan to create more shelter beds. Grants would only go to cities that do the following:

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  • Provide the same amount of money they receive.
  • Submit a building plan to create or improve a shelter.
  • Collect data on the populations the shelter serves.
  • Enforce laws criminalizing vagrancy and public camping.
  • Prioritize Kansas residents who’ve lived in the state for more than eight months.
  • Provide “wraparound” housing service.

Those wraparound services aren’t defined in the bill, which several legislators and advocates raised concern about. But legislators got a better sense of what those services include at a March 14 briefing from homeless service providers and cities seeking to expand their services.

Shelters, services and statutes

Of the 2,636 homeless people identified in the latest Point in Time Count, 943 resided in rural areas. Several legislators on the reform committee raised concerns about equitably distributing funds to address both categories of homelessness. McPherson Housing Coalition runs a non-congregate shelter in the 14,000-population town, hosting up to 10 families in separated tiny homes.

To get the shelter up and running cost around $1 million, said MHC’s executive director Chris Goodson. The most important part, though, is the social services included to help get families back on their feet.

“You can build affordable housing, but if you don’t offer social services of some sort to help families work through those roadblocks, it’s not going to work,” Goodson said.

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City officials from Wichita presented their idea of addressing homelessness in a much larger City. Their proposal is to refurbish Riverside Hospital into a complex that includes a congregate shelter, where people share rooms for an overnight stay, as well as solo non-congregate rooms, low-income housing, space for homeless services, dining rooms and classrooms.

“The more that we can bring under one roof,” said Troy Anderson, Wichita’s assistant city manager. “There are efficiencies of scale, there are efficiencies in trying to achieve that functional net zero because there’s not a lack or a confusion of trying to connect one resource to another.”

The “functional net zero” of homelessness is effectively getting more people out of homelessness than are becoming homeless. Anderson said if they can consistently graduate people toward housing stability, it’d eventually mean that the homeless population is almost entirely temporarily displaced people, rather than chronic homelessness, which accounts for about 25% of Kansas’s homeless population.

Wichita has the largest homeless population in the state, and its proposal may have the highest price tag. The city said it would likely be asking for $20 million, half of the total grant money available in HB 2723, to construct the complex.

Advocates from all over the state spoke to the committee, from Liberal to Wyandotte County. Though smaller communities will need less money for their projects than larger communities, their less resourced local governments may have additional barriers to proposing than more heavily staffed urban areas.

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Committee-members considered earmarking a certain amount for more sparsely populated areas or allowing cities to bolster their applications with donations from nonprofits.

Is the bill enough to address homelessness in Kansas?

Some homeless service providers had quibbles with the bill, including the provisions on enforcing vagrancy laws, that the data collection doesn’t feed into other reports, that nonprofits should be able to apply for funds and including a severability clause that would ensure the program continues if parts of the legislation are struck down in court.

One conferee, though, sharply differed from the others in their rejection rejection of “housing-first” policies that offer transitional housing, pointing to increases in homeless populations in areas that adopted a housing-first approach.

“Obviously homelessness and there’s many factors, but we believe housing first is making the problem worse, it focuses dollars away from shelter and toward permanent supportive housing,” said Andrew Wiems, of Cicero Action, a group that last year advocated for legislation that would criminalize public homelessness.

House Bill 2723 had its hearing on March 5 and isn’t scheduled for debate on the House floor, but if passed could significantly impact the scope of homeless services in the state.

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“From the conversations I’ve had with prospective bidders, communities that are considering applying for the funds, I feel like the $40 million, with the one-for-one match which would be $80 million, I think would be sufficient to address the chronically homeless population that we’re looking to target with our funds,” said Andrew Brown, deputy secretary for programs of the Kansas Department of Aging and Disability Services.



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So, Is Taylor Swift Styling a Chiefs vs. Commanders Outfit Tonight?

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So, Is Taylor Swift Styling a Chiefs vs. Commanders Outfit Tonight?


At 8:15 p.m. ET on October 27, Monday Night Football viewers weren’t one hundred percent focused on the field where the Kansas City Chiefs faced the Washington Commanders. They were scanning the stands for a glimpse at Taylor Swift’s game-night outfit.

Last week, when the Chiefs played the Las Vegas Raiders, Taylor Swift spent the night at Arrowhead Stadium largely unnoticed. Her look for the evening—a Chanel 25 bag, Prada corset, short shorts, and her diamond engagement ring by Artifex Fine—was only revealed during a post-game trip to 1587 Prime with fiancé Travis Kelce.

This week, the “Opalite” singer’s play is still unpredictable. While Kelce made his tunnel walk before the game in a Showgirl orange chore jacket and pants, Swift’s own Chiefs vs. Commanders outfit remained under wraps.

Travis Kelce took the traditional tunnel walk to the locker room for the Kansas City Chiefs vs. Washington Commanders game. Taylor Swift was not seen before the game.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

By the end of the first quarter, reports from Arrowhead Stadium said Swift’s attendance hadn’t yet been confirmed. No vintage Chiefs jackets, no glitter freckles, no Joseph Cassell Falconer styling, no sighting of the singer, period. There’s a chance that she is attending the game but remaining off-screen. If Swift does make an appearance, or hits 1587 Prime after the ref blows the final whistle, Marie Claire editors will update this story with all the details.

Taylor Swift wearing a Charlotte Simone coat

Last season, Taylor Swift made several stops by the Arrowhead Stadium tunnel in Chiefs-centric fashion.

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(Image credit: Getty Images)

This NFL season, spotting Taylor Swift’s Kansas City Chiefs game-day outfits has seemed harder than a reversing a twenty-point loss with two minutes left in the game. For the Chiefs vs. Detroit Lions, Swift’s Ganni jersey dress was identified only by a snippet of its custom stitching shown on the nighttime broadcast. The singer appeared to skip the Chiefs vs. Philadelphia Eagles game altogether—until a friend of Swift’s and Kelce’s shared photos of her plaid Jonathan Simkhai set, Chanel necklace, and Gucci slingback heels following the match. Even the season opener, against the Los Angeles Chargers, went by Swift-less. (However, the singer had a valid excuse to skip an outfit: The game was held in Brazil.)

Taylor Swift posing with Travis Kelce and wearing a plaid two piece set with slingback heels

Taylor Swift has skipped tunnel walks this NFL season, instead making quiet appearances with friends following the Chiefs’ games.

(Image credit: @kanebrown)

Instead, Taylor Swift’s Life of a Showgirl style has taken up all her center-stage photo ops this October. The singer made a quick press circuit through London and New York City in the lead-up to her album’s release, stopping by Late Night’s couch in Wiederhoeft and The Tonight Show‘s interview in a Giuseppe Di Morabito mesh dress. The only snapshot of her everyday style arrived at an Oct. 8 dinner, when she wore a fall plaid mini skirt and knee-high boots to visit New York City’s Eighty Six.

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Taylor Swift wearing Wiederhoeft on the Late Show With Seth Meyers

Taylor Swift wearing Wiederhoeft to Late Night with Seth Meyers.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Taylor Swift’s tunnel walks at Arrowhead Stadium have been missed. Between her first two seasons, more than 30 Kansas City Chiefs game outfits received their own red carpet treatment: dedicated photo sessions where style experts could catalogue Swift’s Chiefs-colored Vivienne Westwood sets, her head-to-toe Chanel runway pulls, and her Dior saddle bags.



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Colorado man dies in western Kansas vehicle rollover

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Colorado man dies in western Kansas vehicle rollover


WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) – A vehicle rollover killed a Colorado man in western Kansas Sunday morning.

The Kansas Highway Patrol said the crash happened in Hamilton County, just after 8 a.m.

36-year-old Morgan Stephens of Burlington, Colo. was driving a 2024 Ram truck when it went off the road onto the right shoulder, overcorrected and spun clockwise into the ditch, rolling multiple times. KHP said Stephens was not wearing his seatbelt.

Stephens was taken to the hospital where he died from his injuries. No other vehicles were involved.

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Kansas Lottery Powerball, Pick 3 winning numbers for Oct. 25, 2025

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The Kansas Lottery offers several draw games for those aiming to win big. Here’s a look at Oct. 25, 2025, results for each game:

Winning Powerball numbers from Oct. 25 drawing

02-12-22-39-67, Powerball: 15, Power Play: 2

Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Pick 3 numbers from Oct. 25 drawing

Midday: 4-4-9

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Evening: 8-8-9

Check Pick 3 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning 2 By 2 numbers from Oct. 25 drawing

Red Balls: 02-04, White Balls: 09-13

Check 2 By 2 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Lucky For Life numbers from Oct. 25 drawing

21-32-34-35-44, Lucky Ball: 05

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Check Lucky For Life payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Lotto America numbers from Oct. 25 drawing

02-31-33-35-50, Star Ball: 07, ASB: 02

Check Lotto America payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Super Kansas Cash numbers from Oct. 25 drawing

05-10-15-19-28, Cash Ball: 11

Check Super Kansas Cash payouts and previous drawings here.

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Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results

Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your lottery prize

All Kansas Lottery retailers will redeem prizes up to $599. For prizes over $599, winners can submit winning tickets through the mail or in person at select Kansas Lottery offices.

By mail, send a winner claim form and your signed lottery ticket to:

Kansas Lottery Headquarters

128 N Kansas Avenue

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Topeka, KS 66603-3638

(785) 296-5700

To submit in person, sign the back of your ticket, fill out a claim form, and deliver the form along with your signed lottery ticket to Kansas Lottery headquarters. 128 N Kansas Avenue, Topeka, KS 66603-3638, (785) 296-5700. Hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. This office can cash prizes of any amount.

Check previous winning numbers and payouts at Kansas Lottery.

When are the Kansas Lottery drawings held?

  • Powerball: 9:59 p.m. CT Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
  • Mega Millions: 10 p.m. CT Tuesday and Friday.
  • Pick 3 Midday/Evening: 1:10 p.m. and 9:10 p.m. CT daily.
  • 2 By 2: 9:30 p.m. CT daily.
  • Lucky for Life: 9:38 p.m. CT daily.
  • Lotto America: 9:15 p.m. CT Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
  • Super Kansas Cash: 9:10 p.m. CT Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.

This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Kansas editor. You can send feedback using this form.



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