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All through 2025, Halstead’s new industrial park speculative building sat empty. Mayor Gary Faelber wants to get someone into it by bringing in the assistance of a realtor. He told the council he was looking for a consensus to list the building with a realtor at the council’s meeting on January 28. The council discussed that possibility and agreed to meet with a realtor at a future date. City Manager Ethan Reimer confirmed that the building had been shown and that it’s available to all realtors through the LOIS (LocationOne) system, which is specific to commercial and industrial properties. Read more: [...]

Individual retail investors (including their separately managed accounts), and their mutual fund proxies hold about 70% of outstanding municipal bonds according to MSRB data (MSRB-Muni-Facts.pdf).  ETFs, representing 4% of the market, comprise the fastest growing segment. Banks (including credit unions), held about 9% of outstanding municipal securities through Q3 2025, a 19% decline since 2022. Although insurance companies hold 9% of outstanding municipal bonds, their portfolio allocations to the asset class have been declining. Read more: Bond Buyer

The report is called the Douglas County EV Readiness Report. It was produced by the Lawrence-Douglas County Metropolitan Planning Organization and the city and county sustainability departments, and its goal is to support future planning for EV infrastructure as more electric cars get on the road. Read more: LJWorld

A neighborhood squawk over chickens may be scratched — for now. The owner of eight hens and two roosters have rehomed the animals, but still faces a Valley Center Municipal Court hearing for potentially violating city ordinance. Meanwhile, others in the neighborhood around 63rd North and Sullivan on the south side of the city may have chickens or roosters that are disturbing the peace. Read more: Ark Valley News

Fearing rising utility costs, job losses and privacy violations, residents have blocked or delayed data-center projects around the country. Read more: Wall Street Journal

A Kansas native, Stiles has served in city governments in his home state for nearly 20 years, and is excited about the opportunity to take on this new challenge at the county level. Read more: Salina Journal

Synopsis: K.S.A. 12-16,140 and 12-16,141 obligate state and local law enforcement officers to cooperate with federal immigration officials and to honor ICE detainer requests on the basis of such cooperation. State and local law enforcement officers are also authorized to arrest illegal aliens in cooperation with federal immigration officials. Read more: Kansas Attorney General Opinion 2026-2

Lawrence has already fallen short of its 2025 goal for fully powering municipal operations with renewable energy, and city staff say this, along with other targets, is unrealistic and lacks a clear path on how to achieve them. Now, staff want to recommend repealing an ordinance passed in 2020 outlining all of these goals. Read more: LJWorld.com

Why is Hillsboro Industries in Newton? Housing, for one. Last week, local elected officials, city staff, business owners and others involved in economic development heard from and asked questions to a panel including GAF VP Tommy Richardson and Hillsboro Industries CEO Michael Gerkin. Both individuals answered the question about what made Newton attractive to their companies. “Newton had a strategic plan, and Newton’s doing housing,” he said. Gerkin said the lack of available housing made them begin to look outside of Hillsboro, where the company began. As part of their search, they traveled up and down I-135, considering a location. Read [...]