Kansas
Why an entrepreneur has no regrets about moving from Hawaii back to her Kansas hometown
- Audra Dinell doesn’t regret moving from Hawaii to her home state of Kansas in 2020.
- While being closer to family was one draw, another was affordable living in the Midwest.
- Kansas has a lower cost of living than Colorado and Hawaii, the states Dinell lived in previously.
Audra Dinell, 38, said her move back to Kansas from Hawaii felt like she was starting over.
“We miss a lot of things about the places we left — the people, culture, mountains, and ocean — but no, we do not have any regrets about moving back to Kansas,” Dinell, who moved from Kansas to Colorado before living in Hawaii, said.
Amid the pandemic in 2020, she had an idea for a career shift and wanted to become a homeowner again after leasing a place in Hawaii.
She also moved back to be closer to family and for the “ease of living” in the Midwest where she said “things were easily accessible, affordable.”
Dinell and her husband moved from Wichita, Kansas, to Colorado in 2012 for her marketing career. They had their first child before they left Colorado for Hawaii in 2017 because of a job opportunity for Dinell.
Dinell said, “Hawaii was magical.” The high cost of Honolulu life wasn’t as pleasant.
“The cost of living moving from Honolulu to Wichita was shocking,” Dinell said.
Indeed, the latest data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis shows that Kansas is much cheaper than the states she left behind. As of 2022, Colorado and Hawaii were 2% and around 11% more expensive than the national average, respectively. Meanwhile, Kansas’ cost of living was 10% lower than the national average.
Dinell said Wichita, which has a population of almost 400,000, is lively. She also likes the Midwest’s community feeling.
“When I left in 2012 versus coming back in 2020, I have personally felt this energy, this collective energy, of just people lifting up our city and bringing cool things and sharing ideas and helping each other out,” Dinell said. “I just think it’s such a vibrant, cool place to be right now.”
Dinell said moving back to Kansas during the pandemic felt risky but was the right choice. After having the chance to live elsewhere, she’s happy she, her husband, and their two kids took the one-way trip to the Midwest and that she gets to live in her dream neighborhood.
Dinell and her husband also sold many of their belongings because they didn’t want to deal with the shipping delays, adding to the feeling of starting over.
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Work and life in Kansas
Work was one of the things that drew Dinell back. Before the family moved to Kansas in 2020, Dinell considered starting a women’s leadership collective.
“My husband and I were talking about potentially moving home already, and I thought about this experience that I had while working in Honolulu with a professional women’s organization, and I thought, ‘I wonder if Wichita has anything like that?’” she told BI.
She said she found a “hole in the market” for this type of community and founded The Thread.
“We help women become more confident and build up their professional communities by working on their power skills,” Dinell said.
Dinell finds people in the Midwest are helpful, including for professional opportunities.
“One of the things I noticed is in the Midwest, there are less gatekeepers than in some of the other cities I’ve lived and worked in,” she said. “I’m able to get a coffee meeting with the president of a large nonprofit and really get to know different people in the community who I can help and who want to help me grow my career and business.”
While Dinell and her family are enjoying Kansas, she said she’s still able to afford visits to Colorado and Hawaii, given the Midwest’s cost of living.
Meanwhile, she finds there are a lot of fun activities for her kids in Kansas, such as going to the science center. She also likes the local parks for her children. Dinell also enjoys the restaurant options.
She loves where she’s at now, but Dinell said she misses some aspects of living in Hawaii and Colorado. Dinell liked biking to breweries and hiking in Colorado. In Hawaii, she would hang out at the beach multiple times a week. She said she thinks the people in Hawaii are great, and the state has ideal weather.
Dinell suggested people who are thinking about moving to the Midwest to book a trip to see what it’s like.
“I have friends who have visited us from Hawaii, Colorado, many different cities, South Carolina, and they’re always so surprised,” she said. “They’re like, ‘I can’t believe I didn’t know this was here.’”
What was your moving situation like? Reach out to this reporter at mhoff@businessinsider.com to share.
Kansas
Kansas State All-American forward Ayoka Lee is out indefinitely with a fractured bone in her foot
Kansas State forward Ayoka Lee will be sidelined indefinitely after an X-ray and MRI exam revealed the All-American fractured a bone in her foot in the second quarter of the No. 10 Wildcats’ win over Arizona State.
The school called it “probable” that Lee will return before the end of the season, but more will be known in the coming weeks.
“It’s not good,” Kansas State coach Jeff Mittie said after the 81-69 win Sunday over Arizona State. “It’s not going to be a week or two.”
Lee only played 13 minutes in the game, leaving for good with 4:21 left in the first half.
The Wildcats, who do not play again until visiting Colorado on Saturday, entered the week 19-1 and 7-0 in the Big 12, and they are riding a 14-game win streak, the fourth-longest in Division I women’s basketball. The Wildcats’ only loss came against No. 13 Duke in the Ball Dawgs Classic in late November.
Lee is a big reason for their success. The 6-foot-6 forward from Byron, Minnesota, is averaging 16 points on 65.4% shooting, even though she’s played limited minutes because of a number of blowouts. She also is averaging 6.3 rebounds and 2.3 blocks.
Lee set the women’s Division I scoring record when she had 61 points against Oklahoma in January 2022. She is already Kansas State’s career scoring leader with 2,482 points, and she holds school records for rebounds, blocks and field goals.
Lee also has had a history of injuries, though. She redshirted as a freshman while recovering from a knee injury, and she missed the entire 2022-23 season because of surgery on the other knee. She also sat out several conference games a year ago after she hurt her ankle, and Mittie has limited her minutes at times this season in an effort to keep her healthy.
The Wildcats will lean more heavily on Missouri State transfer Kennedy Taylor, Imani Lester and Eliza Maupin while Lee is out.
“I think it’s just the next-man-up mentality, and I think Eliza came in and played really well for us,” Kansas State guard Taryn Sides said after the win over the Sun Devils. “We don’t really know a whole lot about Yokie. Hopefully she’s OK.”
Out of all the former Oregon Ducks to play in the NFL this year, there’s a case to be made for quarterback Bo Nix having one of the biggest break out seasons. For the first time in over nine years, Nix helped lead the Denver Broncos to their first playoff appearance with a 31-7 Wild Card game loss against the Buffalo Bills.
Nix’s numbers for his inaugural season in the league are warranting many to campaign for the young quarterback to win “Rookie of the Year” accolades, with Nix joining fellow former Duck and Tampa Bay running back Bucky Irving as a finalist for the Pepsi Zero Rookie of the Year voting.
Amongst those campaigning for Nix to get his flowers, are those comparing his numbers to that of the regular season statistics for one of the best quarterbacks active in the league: Kansas City Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes.
When look at Nix’s and Mahomes’ numbers from both of their 2024 seasons, the similarities are glaring and in some ways favor Nix over Mahomes. In the passing game, Nix punched in a 66.3% completion percentage, whereas Mahomes clocked in with 67.5%. Nix came in third in the NFL for touchdowns with 29 total while Mahomes boasted 26. Both Nix and Mahomes almost mirrored each other for their pass ratings, with Mahomes at 93.5 and Nix at 93.3.
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Nix also threw 12 interceptions compared to Mahomes’ 11 interceptions this season. As for sacks, Nix was taken down 24 times with Mahomes being sacked 36 times.
For the rushing side of the game, Nix’s numbers compared to Mahomes showed the strength of the former Ducks’ ability to extend a play with his legs. Nix rushed for 430 yards off 92 carries in 2024, picking up four touchdowns. Mahomes got 307 yards off 58 carries with two touchdowns. Nix racked up two rushing fumbles compared to Mahomes’ single rushing fumble of the season.
This comparison between Nix and Mahomes shows serious promise for the Denver rookie quarterback, who earned NFL’s Rookie of the Month in October and also made the second most touchdown passes by a rookie in NFL history.
Ncaa Football Oregon Stanford Football Stanford At Oregon / Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
From a two loss start to the regular season marked with several rookie mistakes, to shining as the clear future for the folks at Mile High, Nix had the clear support of his teammates the entire way. Nix was the first rookie to be named captain of the Broncos since 1967, and was the first rookie starter for the Broncos since the 1980’s with John Elway. Denver right tackle Mike McGlinchey, who has a long-storied history in the NFL, spoke about Nix’s intangibles that helped the former Duck step up to be a clear leader this season.
“I think once we got around him in the building for a week or two—a couple weeks in April—you’re like, ‘Oh man, this kid is made of the right stuff. Obviously, when you’re in shorts in April and May and doing OTA practices, you really can’t tell what kind of a football player he is really until we get into August, and when we put the pads on and all that kind of stuff,” McGlinchey said.
It’s clear with these direct comparisons to one of the best quarterbacks still playing today, that Nix has a bright future with the Broncos going forward.
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With their thrilling 27-25 win over the Ravens, the Buffalo Bills have advanced to the AFC Championship game for the first time since 2020.
Buffalo will travel to face Kansas City Chiefs on Jan. 26 at 6:30 p.m. with a trip to Super Bowl LIX on the line. This marks the 4th time in the last 5th seasons that the Bills and Chiefs will meet in the playoffs.
The Bills defense forced 3 turnovers in their victory over the Ravens in the AFC Divisional Game. Buffalo intercepted Ravens QB Lamar Jackson once, forced a fumble on Jackson and forced a fumble on TE Mark Andrews.
QB Josh Allen ran for two touchdowns and RB Ray Davis ran for his first career postseason TD.
The Bills and Chiefs met in Buffalo earlier this season with the Bills taking home a 30-21 win.
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