Though preservation efforts in Lawrence’s historic neighborhoods have conserved the turreted homes, craftsman bungalows and stone cottages built in the city’s early years, neighborhood representatives of a new coalition say there is an important piece missing — the streets. The coalition, which consists of representatives from five historic neighborhoods, is working with the city to develop a policy regarding the restoration and maintenance of the red brick streets, limestone curbs and sidewalks in the East Lawrence, Old West Lawrence, Oread, Pinckney and Barker neighborhoods. Source: LJWorld.com.

The City of Lawrence’s solid waste employees have voted overwhelmingly to unionize, and union leaders say that efforts to improve wages and working conditions are forthcoming. In a news release Thursday morning, the city clerk’s office reported that the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local Union No. 696 has been elected to be the recognized employee organization for the solid waste employee group. Sixty-six of the city’s 71 solid waste workers voted, with all but one of those workers voting to be represented by the Teamsters, according to information city spokesman Porter Arneill subsequently provided the Journal-World. Source: LJWorld.com.

Platte County, Missouri, bears no legal obligation to repay tax revenue shortfalls on a $32 million appropriation-backed industrial bond issue, a Missouri appellate court panel concluded in an opinion upholding a lower court decision. Platte County leaders decided in 2018 to not cover a $765,000 shortage in tax monies generated by the Zona Rosa shopping center in Kansas City. Revenues had been pledged to repay a 2007 Platte County Industrial Development Authority issue. The decision cost the county its investment-grade rating. The county said bond trustee UMB Bank NA’s demand that the shortfall be covered and its threat of litigation prompted [...]

The Federal Reserve approved a major shift in how it sets interest rates by dropping its longstanding practice of pre-emptively lifting them to head off higher inflation, a move likely to leave U.S. borrowing costs very low for a long time. The move Thursday won’t lead to a significant change in how the Fed is currently conducting policy because it had already incorporated the changes it formally codified Thursday. But the shift marked a milestone. Had the strategy been adopted five years ago, the Fed would have likely delayed rate increases that began in late 2015, following seven years of short-term [...]