In Salina, businesses and employers across several industries are looking for workers and many are offering incentives to new hires. The November 2021 labor force and unemployment report, which is the latest available from the Kansas Department of Labor, showed Saline County with an unemployment rate of 2.5%. This rate is a significant drop from the highest during the pandemic, April 2020, which saw the county’s unemployment rate reach 10.7%. For comparison, the report from November 2019 showed a 2.7% unemployment rate. Salina and the north-central Kansas region are doing well with employment compared to other places in the state ... [...]

The coronavirus pandemic continues to surge in Kansas, forcing more than a dozen schools to cancel classes as state regulators loosened education requirements to become a substitute teacher. With Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, educators expressed hope the closures combined with the three-day holiday weekend will stem the wave of sickness from COVID-19, influenza and other illnesses. At least one district is moving to remote learning, and another has said it may also. The school disruptions come as the Kansas Department of Health and Environment reports rising case rates and 26 active school clusters. Hospital leaders say they are [...]

Tina Tribble is surprised when she runs into other Overland Park residents who still do not know about U.S. 69. Starting this year, the highway will undergo a $400 million expansion with two new electronic toll lanes. ... It’s one of a half-dozen major developments set to change daily life in every corner of Johnson County. Also in the works are mixed-use projects, hundreds of apartments and new sports facilities. For some, it means a booming local economy — an injection of millions of dollars and new jobs. For others, a fear that their communities are changing too fast in an [...]

Residents are unlikely to forget February 2021 anytime soon. If the blistering cold temperatures that slammed Kansas weren't memorable enough, rolling blackouts were instituted twice in a 48-hour span in a bid to conserve energy use. A series of factors pushed natural gas prices through the roof, leaving utilities, municipalities and businesses with bills they are, in some cases, still trying to pay off — with residents picking up the tab for years. All this has legislators interested in ensuring the state is prepared if a similar event hits Kansas this winter — or in years to come. Source: Hutch News

Reno County’s demographics are changing. According to Jeremy Hill, the director of the Center for Economic Development and Business Research at Wichita State University, Reno County’s population will continue to decline. As for the people in their 60s and higher, this demographic should not start to decline until around 2030. “So it’s an expanding aging market for the next eight years,” Hill said. “Then it’s going to level off and then start shrinking.” Because the working-age population has migrated out of the area a little bit, Hill said, there are fewer younger kids. So the 18 and under demographic is shrinking. [...]

The interest rate table above illustrates recent changes in a sample of MBIS "investment grade" yields. Every issuer's credit is different. For rates that may be applicable to your municipality, contact our Municipal Bond Advisors, Larry Kleeman and Beth Warren.

The interest rate table above illustrates recent changes in a sample of MBIS "investment grade" yields. Every issuer's credit is different. For rates that may be applicable to your municipality, contact our Municipal Bond Advisors, Larry Kleeman and Beth Warren.