The first deadline for owners of short-term rentals like Airbnb and VRBO to get a license from the city of Wichita has passed, and only 13 properties have registered so far. Five short-term rentals have their license, while eight properties have a license pending, according to a city database of short-term rental licenses from last week. The March 12 deadline only applied to owner-occupied properties, according to the city. Short-term rentals where the owner does not live on-site still have until Sept. 12 to be in compliance. The city is aware of more than 400 short-term rentals in Wichita, said council member Brandon Johnson. It is unclear how many of those are owner-occupied. Johnson said the city isn’t strictly enforcing the March deadline to get licensed right now, but he predicts leniency will go away as the September deadline gets closer. “Right now, we are just trying to make sure as many people know – and especially now that that deadline has passed – to let them know that they are out of compliance and try to get them in compliance,” Johnson said. “We try to do what we can to make sure folks get into compliance voluntarily before we hit them with the enforcement, especially as this is something new.” The regulations that passed last September require licensing, a fee, liability insurance and a set maximum occupancy limit. They also permit the city to fine owners up to $500 a day for operating without a license.
Source: KLC Journal

Kansas emergency medical workers respond at a moment’s notice, no matter if they just sat down for dinner or laid down to sleep. Many are volunteers with full-time jobs and families. First responders in the Sunflower State are trained to deal with a multitude of calamities, from traffic crashes to plummeting blood sugar levels in diabetic patients and everything in between. But they often provide non-emergency care that doesn’t receive much recognition or funding. Emergency health care professionals across the state are working to bring awareness to non-emergency practices long implemented by local ambulance crews and paramedics, for the purpose of categorizing those services to potentially receive state and federal funding. The practice is called community paramedicine, and for Deb Kaufman, former Sheridan County EMS director, it’s just another phrase to convey what her staff of 20 volunteers have been doing for years. “It takes a lot of dedication,” she says. “We don’t fill all the needs (of our community), we still have patients who need additional care who aren’t getting it.”
Source: KLC Journal