info, Author at Ranson Financial Group LLC

Shawnee Chamber of Commerce board issues unanimous endorsement of property tax increase for new community center

info2019-04-30T09:03:12-05:00April 30th, 2019|

A week before ballots on a property tax increase to fund the project hit Shawnee residents’ mailboxes, the Shawnee Chamber of Commerce’s board of directors has come out with an endorsement in favor of the community center proposed for 61st Street and Woodland. The board voted unanimously in favor of endorsing a yes vote on the property tax increase at a meeting on Thursday. “As stated in the Shawnee Chamber Strategic Plan, we support economic development initiatives that demonstrate investments in our community which includes public amenities that enhance quality of life,” said chamber board chair Heidi Thummel, who works for [...]

Hill’s expansion approved by Shawnee County Commission

info2019-04-30T09:02:12-05:00April 30th, 2019|

Changing demographics and sales trends in recent years have shown a move to people owning smaller dogs, and Topeka-based Hill’s Pet Nutrition is aiming to stay up with the changes. To that end, Hill’s requested and was granted approval Monday from the Shawnee County Commission for a new 23,000-square-foot research building at its location at 1035 N.E. 43rd. All three commissioners — Bob Archer, Kevin Cook and Bill Riphahn — voted in favor of the project. The building will house up to 80 small dogs of 20 pounds or less, Gary Semjenow, facilities director at Hill’s Pet Nutrition, said at Monday [...]

City leaders address recent incidents in which Topeka was in national media spotlight

info2019-04-30T09:01:14-05:00April 30th, 2019|

The national media spotlight hasn’t been kind to Topeka the past two weekends, but city officials tried Monday to reassure a grieving community that is still trying to process the loss of 23-year-old Washburn University football player Dwane Simmons. Simmons’ shooting death and the injury to recent New York Giants draft pick and former WU player Corey Ballentine early Sunday morning in central Topeka came only eight days after a Topeka Zoo worker was attacked and seriously injured by a tiger. The incidents were splashed everywhere — from websites belonging to the Washington Post and New York Times to broadcasts produced [...]

Sedgwick County launches new career website

info2019-04-30T09:00:20-05:00April 30th, 2019|

Sedgwick County unveiled a new website for job vacancies, directing candidates to apply for careers at https://careers.sedgwickcounty.org/. The new website has additional functionality to assist the County with attracting and communicating with potential employees. The site interacts with major job websites, including LinkedIn and Indeed. Users may apply using their tablets or mobile devices. The website replaces the 19-year-old www.HRePartners.com. The new site is part of an overall recruitment campaign for Sedgwick County. Strategic Communications has created digital ads to share careers across the organization, with special consideration for positions with historically high turnover, or positions that require specialized training. The [...]

Community art project gets started in Pratt

info2019-04-30T08:59:04-05:00April 30th, 2019|

The first step in Pratt’s next big art project got under way Thursday when two dozen Pratt High School students piled into Kerry Thieme’s art room and presented their right arms for casting. The ultimate goal of this project is to create a bronze sphere made up of arm casts of students and community members. The final sculpture will be from five to six feet tall with a location yet to be decided, said artist Tim Joseph. The Vernon Filley Art Museum is sponsoring this activity and writing the grants to pay for the project, said museum director Brittany Novotny, who [...]

Wamego Tulip Festival held as city kicks off spring

info2019-04-30T08:56:39-05:00April 30th, 2019|

This year’s 32nd annual Wamego Tulip festival marked the third year helping organize for Wamego Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Daryn Soldan. He’s been attending since he was a child. Tulip Festival Volunteer Sarah Pacheco, who was at the information booth during the event, says a lot of hours go into helping vendors set up the Friday before. Although the work is hard, Pacheco said it’s worth it to see all the happy, familiar faces. Wamego Mayor Tom Beem says the Tulip Festival is important to the town and it’s fun to show off a little. (Read more: 1350 KMAN)

USDA Accepting Applications to Fund Rural Broadband Services

info2019-04-30T08:54:51-05:00April 30th, 2019|

Technology usage generally requires a robust broadband connection that many communities in rural America currently lack. The Agriculture Department hopes to strengthen and expand those weak broadband services and infrastructures through the recently established loan and grant-based ReConnect Rural Broadband Pilot Program. The funds will support the development of modern broadband infrastructure in places with insufficient internet service, which the agency defines as “connection speeds of less than 10 megabits per second download and 1 megabit per second upload.” Agriculture is making at least $600 million available in rural broadband projects through this first round of funding. The agency will turn [...]

Crawford County told to quickly relocate sewer line for Highway 69 expansion project

info2019-04-30T08:53:38-05:00April 30th, 2019|

The Crawford County Commission approved a $36,000 contract with Earle’s Engineering and Inspection, Inc. at its Friday meeting for the first phase of a project to relocate a sewer line in the Franklin area to facilitate work by the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) on the Highway 69 expansion project. “It basically sets out the scope, covers meetings,” said County Counselor Jim Emerson, “they’ll do three sets of final drawings to give to KDOT and really that’s all their role is, is for the design phase, to make sure that that’s in a format acceptable to KDOT, and then KDOT will [...]

Neosho County urged to make decisions on wind project

info2019-04-30T08:43:21-05:00April 30th, 2019|

Possibly growing weary of weekly Thursday night meetings and months of discussion, supporters have started calling for decisions to be made soon on the proposed Neosho Ridge Wind energy project. At least one concerned southern Neosho County resident, however, told county commissioners they still haven’t received enough information from Apex Clean Energy to make any decisions on the project. “There’s so much information that you’ve asked for, but you’re not getting it, and they’re not even apologizing for not getting it,” Bryan Coover said. Coover’s comments came during the commission’s regular meeting, which followed a special session earlier in the day [...]

Butler County Commission denies CUP for AT&T

info2019-04-30T09:19:36-05:00April 30th, 2019|

Citing the vagueness of “substantial evidence” the Board of Butler County Commissioners voted to deny a request for a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) on Property Located at 4819 SW Santa Fe Lake Rd. Towanda. On Feb. 26 the Board of County Commissioners discussed the application and felt the request should be remanded back to the Planning Commission for further discussion after receiving a Letter from Legal Counsel representing AT&T. The Commissioners stated they had received calls from residents who were concerned with the Tower and felt the request should be denied based up on aesthetics, potential health effects associated with radiation [...]

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