info2021-08-02T20:18:19-05:00August 2nd, 2021|
Many areas of the state are experiencing hazy conditions, and some are wondering if a nearby fire is taking place. What you’re experiencing is from a fire – but not from nearby. Fires in the Pacific Northwest are sending smoke across the nation, including Kansas. Source: WIBW News Now
info2021-08-02T20:16:25-05:00August 2nd, 2021|
Governor Laura Kelly announced a new, updated summary document created from recommendations in KSDE’s Navigating Change: Kansas' Guide to Learning and School Safety Operations as a reference guide and tool for schools ahead of the start of classes. The document continues the state’s practice of mirroring guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In addition to the guidance, Governor Kelly and KSDE are encouraging school districts to submit requests for ELC Grant Funds. The state of Kansas received $87 million to fund equipment, testing, and medical staff to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 in schools. Source: hiawathaworldonline.com
info2021-08-02T20:14:52-05:00August 2nd, 2021|
Prairie Village’s public works department is eager to move into its new $10 million facility at 3535 Somerset Drive. The new building, which replaced the decades-old facility at the same location, features a solar panel array, state-of-the-art heating and cooling systems, a washing bay for trucks, a garage with several ports and more. As final touches are being made, the new facility is on its way to achieve Leadership in Environment and Energy Design, or LEED, Platinum certification — the highest rating possible for measuring a building’s environmental impact. Source: Prairie Village Post
info2021-08-03T07:44:12-05:00August 2nd, 2021|
Bouncing over the sand sage-covered hills in his pickup truck, rancher Stacy Hoeme combs the shortgrass prairie of his ranch searching for leks — the mating grounds of the lesser prairie chicken. Despite being one of the bird’s biggest champions and most successful conservators, Hoeme opposes putting the bird on the federal threatened species list. “I just want them to maintain the birds,” he said. “It’s a big hassle when they get listed for the ranchers.” The small, Nerf football-sized bird has become an unlikely proxy in a 26-year tug-of-war between industry and conservationists and their competing visions for how to [...]
info2021-08-02T20:13:00-05:00August 2nd, 2021|
The legacy of a Lenexa firefighter will live on to help others, years after his death. Kansas Governor Laura Kelly signed the Michael Wells Memorial Act Monday morning. The new legislation is named after Lenexa firefighter Michael Wells. It expands benefits to families of firefighters and other first responders who lose a loved one due to service-connected conditions, like cancer. Wells passed away in September 2019 from esophageal cancer. He died two days after his 39th birthday. At the time of his death, Wells' family wasn't eligible for the same benefits as other fallen first responders because his death wasn't considered [...]
info2021-08-03T07:44:28-05:00August 2nd, 2021|
Mobile vaccine clinics are helping, but Riley County is still nowhere close to its goal of a 70% vaccination. That’s according to county health department director Julie Gibbs, who spoke to county commissioners Monday via Zoom. She said 45% of all eligible people are fully vaccinated, according to Web IZ, the state’s reporting system. Commissioner Kathryn Focke asked if Gibbs had a target date for hitting 70%, which is the approximate threshold at which a community may begin to achieve herd immunity, experts say. “No target date,” said Gibbs, underscoring a problem health departments around the country are currently battling: the [...]
info2021-08-02T00:08:45-05:00August 2nd, 2021|
Another stretch of 16th Street will be rebuilt under a state transportation program. The Kansas Department of Transportation recently announced the approval of a city of Parsons grant under the state’s City Connecting Link Improvement Program designed for highways that run through cities. Parsons will receive $1 million for a pavement restoration project. Darrell Moyer, the city’s director of engineering and public works, said on Thursday that the work will be done on South 16th (U.S. 59) from South 21st Street to the Little Labette Creek bridge. The new work will connect with a project now underway on the highway in [...]
info2021-08-03T07:45:08-05:00August 2nd, 2021|
The bipartisan infrastructure package working its way through the Senate will provide nearly $150 billion in new surface transportation and transit funding, part of a broader $1.2 trillion plan the White House has called a “once-in-a-generation investment.” While the investment would rank among the largest in transportation infrastructure in the nation’s history, experts say it will not uniformly close the gap in funding needed to address structural deficiencies. Public transit systems, for example, have a $176 billion backlog in funding, according to a report by the American Society of Civil Engineers. The infrastructure package would provide $39 billion in funding for [...]
info2021-08-01T07:47:26-05:00August 1st, 2021|
As you drive over one of the nearly 600 bridges in Sedgwick County, you’ll notice that most of them are concrete bridges. Through a project at the University of Kansas, that might change one day. William Collins, an associate professor in the department of civil, environmental, and architectural engineering at the University of Kansas recently won an award from the American Institute of Steel Construction to study innovative steel bridge designs. Such designs could lead to bridges that cost less across their lifespan than bridges in use today. “Steel is more expensive than concrete but if we can come up with [...]
info2021-08-01T07:45:48-05:00August 1st, 2021|
With private sector investment in the Kansas economy on another record pace, and the unemployment level among the nation’s lowest, Gov. Laura Kelly brought her “Back in Business Tour” to Western Kansas this week. With stops in Scott City and rural Lane County, this wasn’t just an opportunity to recognize the state’s recovery from the pandemic, but learn what can be done to continue this economic momentum. Source: Scott County Record.
