Wichita

Each day, we comb through pages upon pages of crime reports from the Wichita Police Department.  Below is a quick glance at some bits and pieces from those sheets.  These reports are designed to give you an idea of what residents and police are dealing with around town. You can read all of the sheets by going here: WPD Media Reports Stolen Laptops... A school operating out of a church in northwest Wichita reports some laptops stolen from classrooms. No signs of forced entry.

Gas prices in Wichita hit their highest price since July of 2008, when the city set a record. Tuesday morning, the price of regular unleaded jumped 10 cents at most stations around Wichita to $3.89 a gallon. Jim Hanni with AAA Kansas says the last time Wichita saw an average price of $3.89 a gallon was July 5, 2008. Wichita's record is $3.90, set July 15, 2008. Hanni says the spike in gas prices is mostly driven by extensive refinery maintenance across the midwest. The large BP Whiting, Indiana, refinery and ExxonMobil refinery in Joliet, Illinois, have been down for maintenance.

Wichita State is the 2012-13 Missouri Valley Conference all-sports champion. It marks the seventh crown in the past 10 years for Wichita State, which has a league best 19 all-time. WSU finished second in the all-sports trophy race in 2011-12. Wichita State finished in the Top 3 in 14 of the 15 sports it sponsors (with softball the lone exception). The Shockers won four team championships (women's basketball, women's indoor track & field, men's golf, and women's tennis) and finished second in eight others.

When I reached the gate for a flight out of Montgomery, Alabama yesterday I was offered the use of a rocking chair. Was it just southern hospitality or a not so subtle insinuation? By the way, why, I wonder, do they have rocking chairs at the gate in Montgomery, Alabama? Tale of three teams--- I've covered three college baseball teams pretty consistently this spring and all three have similar makeups and challenges. Arkansas and Oklahoma are nationally ranked, but both are offensively challenged.

The City of Wichita says crews are not planning to collect debris from this weekend's storm.  The city says property owners are resopnsible for disposing of their own debris, and that debris should not be left on the curb unless arrangements are made with a private hauler. Click here for Storm Shots In the past, the city has organized collections after storms cause significant damage. The city provided the list of solid waste haulers below.  You can contact those services for fees and hours.

Most Kansans watched as the tornado ripped through Moore, Oklahoma.  But some had more concern than others.  They had family in the city.  Lacie Hutchins and Angle Clark used words like heartbreaking, devastating and terrifying to describe the day's events. They have finally heard from their relatives but say that's just the first step. "You're just kind of holding your breath.  You're just wondering, you're pacing, you're just worried," said Clark, who's cousins live in Moore.  "I was...

Some Wichita residents commute to Moore Oklahoma to work at the Boeing plant in town.  A spokesperson tells us no one was hurt after a major tornado moved through Monday afternoon. The tornado was on the ground for 40 minutes.  When the sirens went off, all employees took cover.  The plant didn't suffer any damage.  The spokesperson says the tornado broke up right before it hit the plant. All employees have been released to go home and check on their families.  There are 100 Boeing employees living in Moore.  The company did not have a break down of how many are from the Wichita area.

The Ironhorse subdivision near Galicia Hospital is indicative of a lot of Wichita neighborhoods, where lot of windows were blasted out by the hail.     Homeowners were busy late Sunday afternoon after the storm passed, boarding up the holes left behind. There were no reports of any injuries in this neighborhood, but there easily could have been with flying glass crashing into homes. Olivia Newfarmer played it safe and smart. She took cover in her basement to ride out the storm.  "I heard hail hitting the side of the house--had no idea it was cracking the windows out.  But it sounded like a tornado literally coming toward the house because that hail and that wind was just going so strong," Newfarmer says.