Wichita musician Jenny Wood has filed a lawsuit against the city government, claiming a police officer’s bad decisions in a high-speed chase caused a deadly crash that killed two of Wood’s family members and left her with severe disabilities. The lawsuit stems from a pursuit that ended when the fleeing driver of a stolen BMW sport-utility vehicle T-boned the Wood family’s car at the corner of Broadway and Douglas on May 5, 2019. Wood’s mother, Maria, and her 12-year-old niece Rosemary “Rosie” McElroy died from injuries sustained in the crash. Jenny Wood was critically injured and barely survived, but with permanent disabilities, the lawsuit says.
via Local News | Wichita Eagle

Sedgwick County is moving forward with plans to buy COVID-19 saliva tests, a move commissioners said could make it easier to test children when school starts. The Sedgwick County Commission directed staff to work out a contract with Clinical Reference Laboratory, a Lenexa, Kan.-based company that was recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration to test samples taken at home. With saliva testing, children could spit in a vial rather than have a nasal swab shoved up their noses.
via Local News | Wichita Eagle

Bars in Shawnee County are now allowed to remain open until midnight seven days a week. Those modified hours became possible following a 2-1 vote Thursday morning by Shawnee County commissioners to adopt a resolution that amends hours set by a county health order issued in early July….The previous health order — created by Shawnee County health officer Gianfranco Pezzino and the Shawnee County COVID-19 Response Team, in consultation with some bar owners — had allowed bars to operate from 6 a.m. to midnight Sunday through Wednesday and 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. The resolution approved Thursday is effective immediately and allows bars to operate from 6 a.m. to midnight Sunday through Saturday. While three additional hours of business each week might not seem like much, Abigail’s Grill & Bar owner Frankie Saiya said those hours could have a big impact.
via Local Government – The Topeka Capital-Journal

Wichita’s two big movie theater chains are reopening next week — for real this time. Both Regal, which owns the three Warren Theatres, and AMC, which owns the Northrock 14, have announced that their theaters will be reopening, one day apart. … The two chains had announced plans to open once before — in mid-July — but then COVID-19 cases started to spike and they changed their plans. Both chains plan to follow increased safety precautions, including mandatory masks for staff and customers. Both chains detail their new procedures on their websites.
via Wichita Eagle

Gov. Laura Kelly said Thursday that the issue of whether the state could mandate all students to wear masks when they return to in-person classes isn’t resolved, despite an opinion from the attorney general contradicting her efforts at a statewide mandate. Kelly’s said during a virtual roundtable with teachers as districts finalize their preparations to resume classes that she thought a “more definitive” solution could come into place than the current standoff with Attorney General Derek Schmidt, although she did elaborate on what that could look like. What she didn’t want, however, was a lawsuit over the matter. “I don’t want another lawsuit, I want to appeal to the attorney general to put the health and safety of Kansans first,” she told reporters following the event. “An opinion is exactly that, it is an opinion.”
via News – Salina Journal

The Kansas Board of Regents approved two separate amounts of money Thursday morning in order to help schools during the coronavirus pandemic. The board approved $26 million to be sent to the six state universities and their specialized schools. That includes the University of Kansas, Kansas State, Wichita State, Emporia State, Pittsburg State, and Fort Hays State. This money is part of the CARES Act that Congress passed and the president signed. Governor Kelly approved sending the full amount to schools. The money can be used to provide emergency support through grants to the schools to continue to provide educational services and the ongoing functionality of the institution. An additional $64 million of CARES Act money was approved for the schools to make necessary preparations to deliver in-person instruction and prepare for campus operations in the Fall 2020 semester.
via KSN-TV

City of Lawrence leaders say they are interested in strengthening the city’s rental inspection program, which currently inspects very few of the city’s more than 21,000 rental properties. As part of their work session Tuesday evening, city commissioners all agreed Lawrence’s rental inspection program is inadequate, and that they are interested in increasing the number of units inspected and making other changes. Because of the way the current program is set up, the city inspected about 1% of the city’s rental properties last year.
Read more LJWorld.com.

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.

Local restaurants, bars, and retail shops are getting some relief during the COVID-19 pandemic. The city of Wichita is rolling out “Open Air ICT” which will allow businesses to use on-site parking, sidewalks, and streets near the venues for free. This will give businesses the opportunity to maximize the space around their location to help customers stay safe while practicing social distancing. “I think it’s going to show a big improvement in business in general,” said Delano’s Diner Manager, Amber Almos. “Most places that I’ve been to and even here at the diner itself we’ve only been seating at a 50% capacity and this way it opens up a lot more doors for us you know with being able to seat guests outside.”

via KSN-TV

About 900 Spirit AeroSystems workers who have been on unpaid furloughs for 60 days are scheduled to report back to work Friday. Originally announced as 21-day furloughs in early June, the furloughs were extended by Spirit (NYSE: SPR) on June 25 to 60 days. Furloughs, along with thousands of layoffs, are due to both the production halt of the Boeing 737 MAX at the first of the year and the ongoing impact of Covid-19. In an update on its website Tuesday, Spirit notified furloughed employees that they will report back on their previous schedule, shift and work location unless otherwise notified. Employees are required to wear a face covering while at work.
via Wichita Business Journal