info, Author at Ranson Financial Group LLC

Federal probe into Kansas City, Kansas, Police is looking at officer misconduct, decades of homicides

info2022-01-19T02:35:40-06:00January 19th, 2022|

A federal grand jury has demanded that the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department hand over records covering two decades of homicide cases, internal affairs reports and informant files as part of what appears to be a wide-ranging investigation. The nine subpoenas obtained by KCUR through a Kansas Open Records request reveal a search for information on homicide cases that cover the years Roger Golubski worked as a KCKPD detective, through 2010, the year he retired from the department. KCKPD and the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas confirmed in October that since 2019 they were cooperating with a [...]

Lawrence considers closing schools amid funding cuts, enrollment decline

info2022-01-19T02:34:07-06:00January 19th, 2022|

Lawrence Public Schools is considering closing schools to keep up with funding cuts due in part to declining enrollment. District leaders say four scenarios are on the table for the Board of Education to deal with this. All involve closing schools and/or shuffling students to other schools in the district. “I want to reiterate again, these are only scenarios, starting points,” said Dr. Larry Englebrick, the district’s interim chief operations officer. “No decisions have been made; no recommendations have been made.” Englebrick made the comments at a Boundary Advisory Committee meeting Wednesday. Source: KSN-TV

Kansas abandons efforts to trace contacts for COVID-19 infections

info2022-01-19T02:32:54-06:00January 19th, 2022|

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment announced Tuesday it would stop contact tracing for COVID-19 at the end of the month because of a lack of cooperation and a surge in new cases. Janet Stanek, the agency’s acting secretary, also told lawmakers during a Senate panel meeting that the agency no longer requires schools to track the source of infections. The agency will stop contact tracing Feb. 1 and instead ask individuals who test positive to let their close contacts know about potential exposure to the deadly disease. Source: The Lawrence Times

Sedgwick County Reaches Record Number of COVID-19 Hospitalizations

info2022-01-17T20:32:52-06:00January 17th, 2022|

New data released by Sedgwick County on Monday, Jan. 17th, shows 277 patients are currently hospitalized with the virus. Of that amount, 80 are patients with COVID-19 in the Intensive Care Unit. The number of hospitalized patients marks a new record since the pandemic began. In addition, the latest data shows a rolling 14-day average positive test rate of 22.1%–another record high, surpassing the previous percentage from November 2020. Source: Country 101.3 KFDI

“Axe the Food Tax” Bill Formally Introduced on Friday

info2022-01-17T20:31:20-06:00January 17th, 2022|

Kansas House Democrats and Republicans formally introduced the #AxeTheFoodTax bill on Friday, Jan. 14th. The bill cuts the state sales tax on food purchased at Kansas grocery stores and farmers’ markets from 6.5% to 0%. It’s estimated that this would save the average Kansas family roughly $500 per year. Governor Kelly said that if passed, the new tax law could go into effect as soon as July 1, 2022. Source: Country 101.3 KFDI

Record COVID surge closes some schools, invokes mask mandate at others

info2022-01-18T07:23:58-06:00January 17th, 2022|

An unprecedented surge in new COVID-19 cases has canceled classes at Peabody and Goessel and added Marion and Peabody schools to nine others identified as COVID “clusters” statewide. Local school and health officials did not announce the surge to media. It was discovered via routine checking of state data and social media feeds for parents and students. According to state data, the county recorded a record 34 new cases Tuesday — 9 more than the previous single-day record, set the Monday after Thanksgiving this year. Source: HILLSBORO Star-Journal

Billions are at stake in how the government defines a place as rural

info2022-01-17T20:28:50-06:00January 17th, 2022|

A town of 1,000 people feels like a rural place to someone from Chicago. To a person living in a town of 200 people, that population of 1,000 feels almost urban. But what the government defines as rural determines tens of billions of dollars a year in spending aimed at propping up America's small or remote places. Houston, Missouri, a town of 2,500 tucked into the hills of the Ozarks near the Arkansas border, takes pride as the hometown of famous clown Emmett Kelly. It holds an annual festival named in his memory. The residents pride themselves on a small-town, rural [...]

COVID Relief funds used for new internet antenna in Pittsburg

info2022-01-17T20:26:06-06:00January 17th, 2022|

The City of Pittsburg will soon be expanding internet access for local students. City commissioners approved the varience of a new antenna for the DragonNet system. The program went into operation last year in January to provide internet for students in Pittsburg community schools. The new antenna will be located at the USD 250 School Board office, and will be one of three new sites throughout Pittsburg to help areas with limited coverage after the initial rollout. "Almost all of the work that students are doing requires some level of internet access these days. It puts them on an equal footing. [...]

Louisburg extends FLIP program through 2022

info2022-01-18T07:27:03-06:00January 17th, 2022|

The Louisburg City Council at its Dec. 6 meeting approved continuing the Faces of Louisburg Improvement Program (FLIP) for commercial and residential properties through 2022. Business owners and residents can apply to the city when making improvements to the front of their businesses or homes. The council doubled the amount of money that can be reimbursed for a residential project, from $500 to $1,000. A staff report noted almost half of the residential projects made improvements of more than $2,000, with six of those projects making upgrades of more than $3,000 in the past two years. Source: Local News | republic-online.com

Lenexa will prioritize certain homes for popular exterior grant program reimbursing improvements

info2022-01-17T20:22:39-06:00January 17th, 2022|

The city of Lenexa is revising its increasingly popular exterior grant program to prioritize home projects most in need of improvements. After expanding the city’s exterior grant program from a few select neighborhoods to citywide, Lenexa is now revising the program in order to reduce the number of eligible applicants and focus program funding on older homes and those with lower appraised values in order to make the biggest impacts on neighborhoods. In 2021, the city funded 11 of the 356 exterior grant applications it received, according to a city memo. In turn, the program generated more than $100,000 in investment in [...]

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