info, Author at Ranson Financial Group LLC

Citizens alert city of Parsons of feral cat problems

info2018-08-31T06:50:54-05:00August 31st, 2018|

On a recent sunny day, a cat darted across Betty Nicholas’ yard in the 1400 block of Washington while another rested under a vehicle parked in front of her home. Before long a third cat ambled across the yard heading to a neighbor’s house. It’s a frequent scene at Nicholas’ house, and sometimes up to a dozen cats congregate in her backyard, even though she doesn’t own a single cat. Albertini said feral cats are always a difficult problem with no easy solution, but he commended a local organization, Basic Animal Rights Council, for its efforts to control the feral cat [...]

Britain-based bicyclists stopover in Chanute

info2018-08-31T06:46:35-05:00August 31st, 2018|

Stiff upper lip, and all that. A stop Thursday night in downtown Chanute was planned long before the afternoon rainstorm. After riding for more than a month through sunshine, the damp weather was something the group of British bicyclists could handle. “This is the first weather we’ve seen,” bicyclist and organizer Steve Wesson said. One rider, though, was stranded under a tree by the storm and had to be rescued. The riders with the Bike Adventure commercial touring company stopped in Chanute as part of a trans-America ride. The group included an Australian and couple of Irish, and the company has [...]

Should clubs that let people party after hours be licensed? Wichita police say yes

info2018-08-31T06:44:34-05:00August 31st, 2018|

The sign on the front of the squat, brick building near Harry and Woodlawn says “People’s 316 Association.” Police call it the Lion’s Den. The building used to be a popular burger joint. Now, it’s been flagged as an after-hours establishment where a 2:30 a.m. shooting injured two people this summer. At another after-hours party at different club, a 3 a.m. shooting left one man dead. Police now say the city needs to license and regulate after-hours clubs to make sure they’re safe. “These places are totally unregulated, which is problematic for us to address,” Police Chief Gordon Ramsay told City [...]

Sidewalk project progresses at Parsons Arboretum thanks to grants, donations and labor from the city

info2018-08-31T06:33:48-05:00August 31st, 2018|

“This is a wonderful base, because below this, for 15 years we’ve put AB3 gravel and sand down to form a 6 to 8-inch base,” arboretum president Kenny Ervin said, as he snapped pictures of the workers Wednesday afternoon. The concrete forms stretched from the edge of Wilson Street to an arbor and gardens just east of the entrance drive, and from there on further south. “They poured 966-feet of concrete,” Ervin said. “This completes the paving of all the trails on the south side of the arboretum. It’s entirely handicap accessible now and maintenance free. I won’t be spraying it [...]

The Emptying Out of Rural Kansas

info2018-08-31T11:09:59-05:00August 31st, 2018|

Earlier this year, [Corie] Brown wrote a story for The New Food Economy entitled “Rural Kansas is dying. I drove 1,800 miles to find out why.” Brown is from Kansas originally, and was aware of the state’s long, steady depopulation, but was struck by a report that rural Kansas had become a food desert: an area in which residents do not have adequate access to affordable and healthy food. “How can this breadbasket be a food desert?” she asks: Kansas, after all, is a state that devotes an overwhelming percentage of its land to agriculture. And yet much of the state [...]

Hard Rock Hotel coming to Edwardsville

info2018-08-30T10:22:46-05:00August 30th, 2018|

An architect’s drawing of the new Hard Rock Hotel development at Village South, 110th and I-70. The Hard Rock Hotel is coming to Edwardsville, Kansas, according to officials at Monday night’s Edwardsville City Council meeting. The 231-room hotel with a meeting space will be at the Village South development at 110th and I-70, said Jon Monson, a developer who is part of the ownership group. The hotel’s anticipated completion date is in 2020. Village South is just to the south of the Village West development. The Edwardsville City Council on Monday unanimously passed a Community Improvement District for the new hotel [...]

Kansas maps provide opportunities for education and exploration

info2018-08-30T09:02:06-05:00August 30th, 2018|

Maps are historical references that are both interesting and informative. Besides the biennial State Transportation Map that is widely available, KDOT produces specialty maps for traffic counts, bicycles, aviation, rail, bridges, interchange designs, pavement condition, roadway functional classification, cities and counties, school districts and more. The KDOT website has such a large variety of maps that someone who enjoys reading them could spend hours traveling through the map list. For instance, a great map to review is the 1918 Kansas State Roads map. It charts the Cannonball Highway, Rock Island Highway, the Bee Line, the Blue Line, the Golden Belt, Midland [...]

Miami County leaders plan sidewalk repair, crosswalk creation

info2018-08-30T08:58:50-05:00August 30th, 2018|

Miami County officials are taking action to repair the deteriorating sidewalk in front of the Miami County Administration Building in Paola and create a safe way to cross Pearl Street. County commissioners discussed the issue during a study session earlier this month and agreed to seek bids for the project. The plan is to repair the sidewalk on the east side of Pearl Street in front of the administration building, as well as a concrete apron in the rear of the building. A crosswalk also would be created connecting the sidewalk on the east side to the sidewalk on the west [...]

Miami County Commissioners seek ways to regulate Tannerite

info2018-08-30T08:57:50-05:00August 30th, 2018|

After hearing Bucyrus residents raise concerns about large explosions caused by Tannerite, Miami County commissioners are taking action to try and find ways to regulate the binary explosive. Monique Barnard and Steve Kerr of Bucyrus spoke during the public comment portion of the June 20 commission meeting, and they said their neighbor has been using Tannerite to set off loud explosions. The explosions didn’t just recently start, either. Barnard and Kerr said the explosions began last year, and they continue, with the most recent being around 9 p.m. the Saturday before they spoke to the commission. “Some shake our houses,” Barnard [...]

Chairman of Marion County Commission pursuing commission expansion

info2018-08-30T08:53:58-05:00August 30th, 2018|

County commission chairman Dianne Novak voiced support Monday for an increase in the number of commissioners. Just before Monday’s “I have until Sept. 1 to put out a petition to get a question put on the ballot about taking the county commission board from a three-member to a five,” she said. No motion was made because it was not a proposal. Novak was notifying the board and the audience of her intent. (Read more: HILLSBORO Star-Journal)

About info