info, Author at Ranson Financial Group LLC

Federal grant to enable GraceMed to enroll 8,000 more Kansans into KanCare

info2019-07-29T18:40:48-05:00July 29th, 2019|

GraceMed Health Clinic says it will be able to enroll or re-enroll more than 8,000 Kansans into the state's Medicaid/CHIP program over three years with a grant from the federal government. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Service's Centers for Medicare and Medicaid has awarded GraceMed a grant of $1.095 million. GraceMed will use the funding for enrollment of Kansans in 29 counties in the south-central and eastern parts of the state. (Read more: Wichita Business Journal)

Pottawatomie County Commission at odds over contingency plan to fill county administrator position

info2019-07-29T18:39:38-05:00July 29th, 2019|

For the first time since Pottawatomie County Administrator Robert Reece announced his retirement, the county commission was tasked with discussing the next steps in filling the position during their Monday meeting. HR Director Crystal Malchosa presented commissioners with an estimate of hiring a third party search committee to recruit for the position. The county is currently a member of third-party firm ICMA which was presented as the most cost-efficient. “We’re already a member of ICMA and they range anywhere from $15,000 to $30,000 to do the recruitment for the administrator position,” Malchosa said. (Read more: 1350 KMAN)

County OKs more than $700,000 in parks and rec spending

info2019-07-29T18:37:32-05:00July 29th, 2019|

Shawnee County commissioners voted Monday to allocate more than $700,000 for parks and recreation repairs and improvements, including $200,000 to make the Lake Shawnee Trail safer in an area that was the scene of a fatal bicycle accident on a steep hill in 2007. Commissioners Bob Archer, Bill Riphahn and Kevin Cook voted 3-0 to re-purpose $200,000 the county previously borrowed by issuing bonds for other purposes to enable its public works department to flatten a section of the parks and recreation department’s Lake Shawnee Trail, which runs parallel to S.E. 45th Street. The work will be done as that department [...]

County officials discuss proposed $10 million in parks and rec spending

info2019-07-29T18:36:30-05:00July 29th, 2019|

Shawnee County Commissioner Kevin Cook isn’t against pickleball, he said at Monday’s commission meeting. Cook addressed dozens of pickleball enthusiasts — many of them senior citizens — who attended to show support for creating a “Family Park” featuring new trails and pickleball courts on county-owned land just south of S.W. 21st and Urish Road. Cook suggested the three-man commission would overextend the county government financially if it approved Commissioner Bob Archer’s proposal to incur $10 million in new debt to finance new construction in parks and recreation, with some of that going to develop the Family Park in an amount that [...]

Kansas auditors question lack of rules, transparency of $25 million jobs program

info2019-07-29T18:35:29-05:00July 29th, 2019|

The Kansas Department of Commerce operated an open-ended job growth program for five years that awarded $25 million without defining boundaries for making financial awards and in some cases didn’t mandate a formal application nor hold recipients accountable for delivering economic growth, state auditors said Monday. Under the Kansas Job Creation Program Fund created in 2011 to provide cash awards to companies to help create jobs and foster growth, the Kansas Legislature’s division of post audit said, the commerce department failed to develop written policy to dictate the size of cash awards and how recipients were to be selected. State law [...]

Newly renovated Eisenhower museum reopens in Abilene

info2019-07-29T18:32:32-05:00July 29th, 2019|

A museum honoring President Dwight Eisenhower in his childhood home in Kansas has reopened after undergoing a massive, yearlong renovation. Visitors got their first glimpse Monday of modernized exhibits in the 25,000-square-foot (2322-sq. meter) museum. They feature new graphic panels, display cases, theater experiences and digital interactive stations. The original schedule was to open in time for the 75th anniversary of D-Day in early June, but the federal government shutdown delayed the timeline. (Read more: Great Bend Post)

As Rural America Slips, Governors Look for Ways to Help

info2019-07-29T22:01:05-05:00July 29th, 2019|

... governors recognize there’s a huge disconnect between the nation’s superstar cities and rural areas left wondering when the recession’s going to end. Governors of states including Iowa, Kansas, North Carolina and Pennsylvania have started programs to bolster rural economies... Rural America is too vast and varied to paint with a single brush. Many rural areas are thriving. Still, it’s clear that overall, the rural economy is falling far behind major metropolitan counties. ... In Kansas, Gov. Laura Kelly has created an Office of Rural Prosperity. The effort is beginning with a listening tour of rural areas, led by Lt. Gov. [...]

New broadband map for Kansas coming soon

info2019-07-28T21:55:38-05:00July 28th, 2019|

An updated and finished detailed broadband access availability map of Kansas will be “rolled out” Tuesday in Dodge City, in conjunction with a telephone service association conference. The end of July was the deadline for Connected Nation’s mapping project, carried out in partnership with the governor’s office and the Kansas Department of Commerce, said Connected Nation’s vice president of government affairs, Brent Legg. “What it’s going to show is service availability at the street level, essentially, for broadband all across the state,” Legg said. “Seventy broadband service providers participated in the map, and then we had another 10 who elected not [...]

Frontenac files lawsuit against Pittsburg

info2019-07-28T21:55:20-05:00July 28th, 2019|

The dispute between the Pittsburg and Frontenac city governments over a section of Wild Red Road — sometimes erroneously referred to as Wild Berry Road — escalated this week, with Frontenac’s filing of a lawsuit in Crawford County District Court on Tuesday. According to a copy of the suit obtained by the Morning Sun, Frontenac is seeking a court order that the portion of the road within its city limits — which was built by Pittsburg last year and intersects with East Atkinson Avenue near the Pittsburg Highlands housing development — be removed. Frontenac is also seeking at least $85,000 in [...]

Wichita officials respond to T-Mobile lawsuit saying, City Council can’t be sued

info2019-07-28T21:54:51-05:00July 28th, 2019|

Wichita officials respond to a lawsuit by T-Mobile against The City of Wichita and the Wichita City Council. T-Mobile alleges that The City of Wichita violated the Telecommunications Act of 1996 when a “conditional use permit application” requested by the phone carrier was denied by the city. The suit includes Wichita City Council as a defendant, however, a government body is “not capable to sue, or be sued” according to previous court precedents. (Read more: KSN-TV)

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