Roeland Park police remind residents not to leave running cars unattended. With bitterly cold weather coming early this year, Roeland Park police are reminding residents about a city ordinance that prohibits leaving cars unattended. Thieves can easily steal cars left running in the driveway by their owners, who are hoping to warm them up in the morning before the commute to work. “It is that time a year again for auto thefts to increase because citizens leave cars running unattended,” said Roeland Park Police Chief John Morris. “We hope to decrease the totals this year and will be out looking for violations. We encourage citizens to be aware of the law and report anything suspicious to the police.”

Study suggests total costs of getting a ticket in Prairie Village are high. A new study from consumer finance site NerdWallet suggests that the true cost of a traffic ticket in Prairie Village is nearly six times the cost of the actual ticket when you factor in insurance increases over the following three years. [True Cost of Speeding in Kansas after Insurance Increases — Nerdwallet]

Sylvester Powell Jr. Community Center site for food drive. Donation boxes for collecting non-perishable food items for northeast Johnson County families have been placed at the entrances of the Sylvester Powell Jr. Community Center. They’ll be in place through through Dec. 20.

Roeland Park approves street light bonds. In the last step necessary to purchase its street lights from KCP&L, the Roeland Park City Council approved sale of $650,000 in bonds at 2.2 percent interest rate. The current $180,000 rental payment of KCP&L will be used to pay the debt service on the bonds and provide for maintenance of the street lights. Once the bonds are retired in 2020, the city should realize about $120,000 per year in savings. Several other area cities have completed similar purchases in recent months.