info, Author at Ranson Financial Group LLC

Hutchinson’s first police dog reports for duty

info2019-01-25T12:33:20-06:00January 25th, 2019|

Hutchinson’s newest police officer was introduced to the public Thursday morning at the Reno County Courthouse. While he didn’t have much to say, Tank, an 18-month-old Belgian Malinois and German Shepherd cross, did provide a few autographs – in the form of stamped paw prints – and demonstrated his skills. Issued badge number 109, K-9 Officer Tank also already has his own Instagram page, @hpdk9tank. Since the day he started as Hutchinson’s new police chief, said Chief Jeffery Hooper, he’s frequently heard concerns about Hutchinson’s drug problems. Having witnessed the impact of a K-9 program in Riley County, where they have [...]

Shawnee County Commission OKs alcohol at adult softball complexes

info2019-01-25T12:32:02-06:00January 25th, 2019|

Shawnee County will allow the sale and consumption of alcohol at its four adult softball complexes, but only after the county commission approves a contract with a vendor. Parks and recreation director John Knight says he intends for any such contracts to benefit taxpayers by arranging for the county to receive a percentage of the sales revenue. Signs will be put up to identify the areas in those complexes where alcohol will and will not be allowed, Knight said Thursday to Commissioners Bob Archer, Bill Riphahn and Kevin Cook. Commissioners voted 3-0 that morning to approve a home rule resolution Cook [...]

EMS response down in Harvey County

info2019-01-25T12:30:18-06:00January 25th, 2019|

Emergency medical services make up the front lines for Harvey County residents when they have a medical emergency. And according to Harvey County Emergency Communications, the number of total EMS responses has dropped for the third year in a row. Response calls for EMS in the county totaled 4,170 for 2018, a four-percent decrease from 2018 and a nearly 10-percent decrease from 2016. Hesston and Newton both saw decreases in service calls, according to numbers provided by the county. Calls to transfer patients, the most common EMS-related call into dispatch, dropped by nine percent to 708 for the year. While overall [...]

Design for Wichita’s new ball park raises questions about parking

info2019-01-25T12:28:47-06:00January 25th, 2019|

The City of Wichita released images of the proposed design for the new minor league baseball stadium downtown on Wednesday. But they seemed to raise one main question from Wichitans. Where's the parking? Mayor Jeff Longwell says there will be limited parking at the stadium, but most fans will have to park and walk see a game at the city's new baseball stadium. "There may be a river in your way. You may have to walk across a bridge, but the parking is actually closer than if you went to Arrowhead Stadium," he said. Longwell says there are already 5,000 spots [...]

Hillsboro hospital in receivership

info2019-01-25T12:26:15-06:00January 25th, 2019|

Temporary administrators for Hillsboro Community Hospital are going through records and shaking their heads, Hillsboro city administrator Larry Paine said Tuesday. A Friday court ruling put the hospital under management of Shawnee, Oklahoma-based Cohesive Healthcare Management + Consulting. Geary County district judge Ryan Rosauer’s ruling came after an ex-parte hearing with lawyers for Bank of Hays and the City of Hillsboro. Both parties filed a joint motion late Thursday afternoon asking that Cohesive be appointed receiver. Rosauer wrote in his order “this court specifically finds that immediate and irreparable harm is likely to result if a receiver is not appointed to [...]

Sweeping changes reviewed to clean up properties in Newton

info2019-01-25T12:19:39-06:00January 25th, 2019|

ity engineer Suzanne Loomis and city manager Bob Myers rolled out a broad and ambitious city beautification plan that would do everything from raise utility rates to pay for free bulky item trash pickup, to establish a land bank for the city to manage nuisance properties it’s foreclosed on, after owners are unable to pay the city’s clean up fees. “We wanted to see what your take was, before we spent so much time on those changes,” Loomis said to the Newton City Commission at its Jan 22 work session. The city had 1,077 property compliance issues in 2019, with 27 [...]

Researchers share process, goals of countywide law enforcement contact study

info2019-01-25T10:23:23-06:00January 25th, 2019|

Douglas County’s pursuit of a study on law enforcement contact is unusual, a researcher told roughly 25 people who attended a presentation Thursday evening at Flory Meeting Hall at the Douglas County Fairgrounds. Jack McDevitt, of Northeastern University, has conducted similar studies in cities in Vermont and Missouri, as well as in Seattle and Boston — where data was gathered on 2.4 million traffic stops. But most of those have come after a lawsuit or an allegation of police misconduct. That wasn’t so in Douglas County, he said. “Agencies got together and said, ‘We want to know. We want to be [...]

Lawrence planning commission recommends approval of city’s first short-term rentals where owner lives off-site

info2019-01-25T10:22:01-06:00January 25th, 2019|

Permits for the city’s first short-term rentals where the property owner lives elsewhere received their first approvals at City Hall on Wednesday. At its regular meeting, the Lawrence-Douglas County Metropolitan Planning Commission voted to recommend for approval the first nonowner-occupied short-term rentals under the city’s newly created licensing program. Commissioners considered four permit requests and recommended that all four be approved. In September, the Lawrence City Commission voted to begin regulating Airbnb properties and other short-term rentals, including a process that would require a review from the Planning Commission and the City Commission before a property owner who resides elsewhere could [...]

Attorney General Opinion No. 2019-1: County Commissioners—Powers of Board of Commissioners; Control of Expenditures

info2019-01-25T10:18:08-06:00January 25th, 2019|

Synopsis: A district attorney is an elected official who is not subordinate to the board of county commissioners (BOCC). As the county’s chief prosecutor, the district attorney has several statutory and ethical obligations, including a duty to manage his or her workload so that each matter can be handled adequately. Although the BOCC has general authority over county expenditures, it has a statutory duty to provide reasonable sums necessary for the district attorney to meet his or her statutory duties of office. The Kansas Supreme Court has held that a BOCC must approve an elected official’s expenditure if the expense is [...]

Attorney General Opinion No. 2019-2: Restrictions on Carrying Concealed Handgun; Sign Requirements; Dormitory

info2019-01-25T10:17:48-06:00January 25th, 2019|

Synopsis: A one-story dormitory-type structure having a series of living/sleeping units, each with a separate exterior door, is a “building” under K.S.A. 2018 Supp. 75-7c10. The Personal and Family Protection Act requires that signage for such a structure be posted near all exterior doors of the building. Therefore, signage would need to be placed near the exterior door of each living/sleeping unit. Read: Attorney General Opinion No. 2019-2.

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