info, Author at Ranson Financial Group LLC

Olathe land had belonged to one family since Civil War. Soon it will be a city park

info2024-04-09T07:55:57-05:00April 9th, 2024|

Land that has been in the hands of Olathe’s Hoff family since the Civil War is set to become the city’s latest neighborhood park. Construction starts on Pioneer Park later this year, with the goal of being done by next summer. The 16.7-acre piece of land where the park will sit is immediately north of College Boulevard and slightly west of Woodland Road and the Stone Pillar Winery. Marcie Hoff and her husband Tom Hoff had decided to will the land to the city back in 2005, but they later resolved to give it earlier. Source: Joco 913 News

‘Step into a simpler time’

info2024-04-09T07:54:18-05:00April 9th, 2024|

Two committed Crawford County residents are making progress on bringing back the days of a nostalgic old-fashioned general shop to the west side of Girard’s historic downtown square, complete with antiques, homemade ice cream, and candies. Jim and Kathi Cooper, of Farlington Lake, have worked endlessly since August in building the store, which has an anticipated completion date of August 2024. It all started when Kathi Cooper found herself in the Girard Public Library, researching the history of the town square. Source: Morning Sun

Overland Park to remove thousands more infected ash trees — Here’s where

info2024-04-08T09:47:51-05:00April 8th, 2024|

Overland Park is taking steps to remove more dying and dead ash trees that line city streets. The Overland Park City Council Community Development Committee on Wednesday unanimously recommended for approval a bid tabulation for a second formal round of ash tree removal. This slate of removals, anticipated to cost just shy of $865,000, will be funded entirely from federal COVID-19 relief funds. Emerald ash borers, a type of insect that is not native to the U.S., have wreaked havoc on ash trees. A type of beetle, female ash borers lay eggs in ash trees and those offspring feed on the trees, damaging and [...]

‘Act of listening’: Retiring Wichita officer has spent years answering life-or-death calls

info2024-04-08T09:45:28-05:00April 8th, 2024|

One evening early in Dan Oblinger’s career with the Wichita Police Department, he responded to a call he was unprepared for — a woman dangling over the guardrail on the top floor of the Bank of America parking garage downtown, intent on ending her life. She felt alone, without hope. He didn’t know what to do. He tried to tell her how she should feel and what she should do. That didn’t help. “That lasted probably 15 minutes, which doesn’t sound like a long time … but in that situation it feels like a lifetime,” the 42-year-old said, reflecting back on [...]

Wichita is poised to settle a lawsuit challenging police gang list. Here’s what it means

info2024-04-08T09:43:14-05:00April 8th, 2024|

The city of Wichita is poised to settle a lawsuit brought by Kansas Appleseed and the ACLU of Kansas that contended the Wichita Police Department’s gang list is unconstitutional. Last fall, a federal judge granted class-action status to the 5,245 people on the gang list. If City Council members approve the settlement Tuesday, Wichita will pay $550,000 in legal fees and costs. The mediated agreement would not require Wichita to destroy its gang list as plaintiffs initially called for. Instead, a judge would appoint a special master to oversee its ongoing use by the police department for three years at an [...]

How long would it take to run every street in Wichita? Local runner now knows after being first

info2024-04-08T09:42:14-05:00April 8th, 2024|

The most challenging part about running every square inch of Wichita? Loose dogs. Jason Niblack was chased by dozens of them, cornered multiple times, even had a driver cut in between him and a pack of aggressive dogs. He eventually started carrying pepper spray but never had to use it. The 48-year-old software engineering manager at NetApp also had a couple of interesting encounters with police en route to running Wichita’s 3,886 streets over 596 runs. He finished the feat Easter morning after a few years of what he called obsessive running once he found out about how to track running [...]

Goessel City Council works on flooding issue

info2024-04-08T09:40:47-05:00April 8th, 2024|

The Goessel city council met on March 25 and discussed the flood control project. Mayor Evan Esau talked about concrete and debris that need to be removed from the creek that runs through town. Some trees also need to be removed, as well as a dam on private property. It was noted that some property owners in that area have already removed the trees on their property pointed out by Darin Neufeld of EBH Engineering. He had walked through the creek area with members of the council to show them specifically what needed to be removed for the water to flow [...]

New sculpture honoring Leawood’s 75-year history coming soon

info2024-04-08T09:37:17-05:00April 8th, 2024|

Now that the Leawood City Council has given final funding approvals, a massive sculpture celebrating the city’s 75th anniversary — and compared in importance by one councilmember to a piece by Michelangelo — can begin its journey from New Orleans to the corner of Mission Road and Lee Boulevard. The 844-mile-trip between New Orleans and Leawood will have to be made four times with the sculpture broken down into movable pieces. But that is only the latest chapter. “Reaching,” a 28-foot tall, 15,000-pound work by William Nemitoff, has already been on an epic journey that began in 2021 and has included debates over [...]

Wichita City Council unanimously passes program for water-saving devices

info2024-04-08T09:36:29-05:00April 8th, 2024|

A program to provide incentives for some water-saving devices has passed with a vote of seven to zero. Wichita has offered water conservation rebate programs since 2013 in an attempt to save water. These rebates come as water bill credits and since its conception, rebates totaling $1,654,007 have been approved. These water saving units have saved roughly 478 million gallons of water. The 2024 program hopes to save water by offering incentives to people who install water-saving devices such as rain barrels, smart irrigation controllers, rain sensors, faucet/hose irrigation controllers, leak repair kits and dual flush conversion kits. Customers are limited [...]

Topeka announces five finalists for city manager position

info2024-04-04T20:00:32-05:00April 4th, 2024|

On Wednesday, the City of Topeka announced the five finalists for the Topeka City Manager Position. The finalists will be participating in two interview panels on Monday, April 8. The interviews will not be open to the public, but a meet and greet will be held for members of the public on April 8 from 5:30-7 p.m. at the Hotel Topeka Emerald Ballroom at 1717 SW Topeka Boulevard. Read more: KSNT

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