info, Author at Ranson Financial Group LLC

Kansas DMV Services Aim To Drive Down Office Wait Time

info2020-01-22T17:40:02-06:00January 22nd, 2020|

The Kansas Division of Vehicles added two new options to reduce wait times and long lines at driver’s license offices across the state. The agency launched a scheduling platform so people can make appointments instead of showing up at a DMV office and waiting in line. Division of Vehicles director David Harper says the service is available in Wichita, Andover, Derby, Topeka, Kansas City (Kansas), Lawrence, Manhattan, Mission, Olathe and Overland Park. "That’s helped a lot with our wait times and helping people plan their time," he says. "They can schedule a specific date and time to come in, and the [...]

150,000 Kansans Who Drink From Private Wells Are Largely Blind To Contamination

info2020-01-22T17:39:08-06:00January 22nd, 2020|

About 150,000 people in Kansas get their drinking water from private wells. How clean, and safe, is that water? Short answer: It depends. But new research suggests those wells deliver water tainted with a range of pollutants. Some leaked from dry cleaning operations. Yet far more wells soak up, and deliver to taps, fertilizer that’s been building up in Kansas soil and water over generations of modern farming. But it’s not up to regulators from Washington or agencies in Topeka to test private well water quality. That falls to individual well owners. With little to no government oversight, some public health [...]

Parsons hears info on Medicaid

info2020-01-22T20:22:52-06:00January 22nd, 2020|

The expansion of Medicaid in Kansas could result in $1.8 billion in increased economic output. That was the message that Jim Zaleski, city of Parsons economic development director, brought back from a luncheon in Topeka sponsored by the Alliance for a Healthy Kansas. The event was titled “The Business Case for KanCare Expansion.” KanCare is the state’s Medicaid program. The meeting featured David Toland, Kansas secretary of commerce. Under the Affordable Care Act, states can expand their Medicaid systems to cover adults with incomes of up to 138% of the federal poverty level. During former Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration, the state [...]

Wichita Art Museum begins $700K update of its lobby, entrance and other gathering spaces

info2020-01-22T17:35:52-06:00January 22nd, 2020|

Several spaces inside the Wichita Art Museum will soon have a whole new look. The museum has started transforming several of its major gathering spaces with a $700,000 remodel project that includes includes upgrades to the main entry and lobby, great hall and The Living Room, the museum's interactive spot for activities beyond the gallery. Work started last week and is expected to finish April 25 during a free re-opening event. For now, the museum's main entrance is closed during construction and visitors are directed to a temporary entrance on the east side of the building through the Living Room doors. [...]

Finney County hires interim administrator

info2020-01-22T20:22:12-06:00January 22nd, 2020|

On Monday, the Board of County Commissioners approved Robert Reece to step in as interim County Administrator until the search committee finds a permanent replacement for the position. Monday, February 17, 2020 will be Mr. Reece’s first day in the Finney County Administrator office. Mr. Reece comes to us from Pottawatomie County in Eastern Kansas, where he served as County Administrator for 20 years. Prior to that he worked as their Director of Finance. ... “Due to the size of Finney County, an interim administrator is necessary to oversee the daily activities, support the department directors, and make decisions in the [...]

Moody’s says 737 MAX layoffs threatens talent migration from Wichita

info2020-01-22T17:33:20-06:00January 22nd, 2020|

Moody’s Investors Services says the fallout from the 737 MAX layoffs in Wichita threatens to zap the region of vital talent in an already-tight local labor market and have other, broader impacts on the local economy. In a research note provided to the WBJ, the firm listed the 737 MAX layoffs as “credit negative” for both Wichita and Sedgwick County, adding that the near-term future of the MAX will have an important impact on the longer-term prospects for the area. “Most Wichita area local governments would be able to weather a short-term economic slowdown stemming from reduced aerospace employment,” Moody’s says. [...]

Why Kelly wants to extend Kansas pension obligations and pay down other debt

info2020-01-22T20:27:13-06:00January 22nd, 2020|

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly's $7.8 billion budget calls for an extension of pension obligations while paying down other debt and boosting reserves. For the second consecutive year, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly is seeking to refinance the state's pension debt, pushing maximum annual debt service of $1 billion in 2032 to a decade later. ... Kelly's goal is to lower annual payments by $130 million to $160 million over the next four years as the state builds budget reserves and restores funding for schools. The pension payments would still top $1 billion, but not until 2041. “Kansas' re-amortization of KPERS to make [...]

Morrowville store served community for 70 years

info2020-01-22T09:48:25-06:00January 22nd, 2020|

For nearly 70 years people in the Morrowville community could run downtown to the grocery store to buy everything from fresh cut meat to dry goods. Beer, fresh doughnuts, infant formula and home grocery delivery were available in later years. But times changed, and like many other rural areas, the community got smaller and older. Morrowville’s only grocery store closed in the late 1980s. Source: Washington County News.

Washington County and the City of Washington have policies in place to guide snow removal

info2020-01-22T09:47:50-06:00January 22nd, 2020|

Both Washington County and the City of Washington have snow policies that are used to guide the plowing of snow and the application of salt and sand. Those policies didn’t work well with last week’s rain-sleet-snow mix, according to those who administer the policies, inpart because of the cold that followed. Justin Novak, who is Washington County’s Road and Bridge supervisor, said a salt-sand mix is often applied to hard-surface (blacktop) roads ahead of winter storms. Sand-only is applied to concrete surfaces including Washington’s new B Street. No salt is applied to gravel roads, though, Novak said, because too much salt [...]

Reno County sees little new damage from Sunday’s quake

info2020-01-22T06:36:59-06:00January 22nd, 2020|

He was nervous about returning to the courthouse following Sunday’s earthquake, based on the severity of the event and the damage done by a similar quake in August. Reno County Maintenance Director Harlan Depew, however, said the quake – rated a magnitude 4.6 by the Kansas Geological Survey – appeared to have had little new impact on the 90-year-old building. “There are a few items still being evaluated, to figure out the extent of it,” Depew said, such as the main courthouse elevator now out of service because counterweights in the elevator “jumped the track.” “It took significant movement to cause [...]

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