Lt. Gov. David Toland toured the location of the state’s first upper-story Rural Housing Incentive District Thursday morning, right here in Emporia. The project, located in the 700 block of Commercial Street, was approved by the Emporia City Commission last month. Local realtors and developers Jamie Sauder and Kristi Mohn are bringing 10 loft apartments to the building. They are also rehabilitating the three first-floor storefronts and possibly adding a fourth storefront that would have access through the breezeway. There will be a climate-controlled storage space in the basement. Source: Parsons Sun

Parsons city commissioners Monday will discuss the city’s animal ordinance. The discussion will pertain to pit bulls and vicious dogs. ... Pit bulls are prohibited in the city of Parsons. Commissioners passed the ban in 1997. The city defines pit bull breeds as Staffordshire bull terriers, American pit bull terriers, American Staffordshire terriers or a combination of these. Source: Parsons Sun

Instead of changing a street name, the city of Parsons is looking at renaming Industrial Park No. 2 in honor of the late William “Bill” Wiener. Laura Moore, the city’s community development director, requested feedback about the idea from Parsons city commissioners Wednesday during the commission meeting. “We looked at several options and this was like a nice way to still honor his memory in changing the name of the industrial park,” Moore said. City Manager Debbie Lamb added that changing the name of a street is expensive. “That costs people a lot of money when you go changing names of [...]