info, Author at Ranson Financial Group LLC

Investors See Interest-Rate Cuts Coming Soon

info2023-11-29T12:50:24-06:00November 29th, 2023|

Wall Street is gearing up for rate cuts. Twenty months after the Federal Reserve began a historic campaign against inflation, investors now believe there is a much greater chance that the central bank will cut rates in just four months than raise them again in the foreseeable future. Interest-rate futures indicated Monday a 52% chance the Fed will lower rates by at least a quarter-of-a-percentage point by its May 2024 policy meeting, up from 29% at the end of October, according to CME Group data. The same data pointed to four cuts by the end of the year. Investors, battered by the Fed’s efforts [...]

Your Local Newspaper Might Not Have a Single Reporter

info2023-11-29T12:47:57-06:00November 29th, 2023|

The Gleaner, the local newspaper in Henderson, Ky., has sections focused on features, sports, news and opinion. What it doesn’t have: a single reporter on staff. The publication is one of the “ghost newsrooms” that increasingly dot the American media landscape—newspapers that have little to no on-the-ground presence in the localities whose name they bear. It is a sobering development in an industry that has been brought to its knees by the rise of digital media and large technology companies. The Gleaner newsroom once bustled with a staff of around 20. Now, it doesn’t have an office—it was closed a few [...]

Governor Kelly Announces $5M to Expand Access to High-Speed Internet in Rural Kansas Communities

info2023-11-29T12:45:44-06:00November 29th, 2023|

Governor Laura Kelly today announced that $5 million has been awarded to eight internet service providers (ISPs) in the latest round of Broadband Acceleration Grants for 2023. The awards will be paired with an additional $6.6 million in matching funds, resulting in an investment of nearly $12 million for high-speed broadband access projects across 10 rural Kansas counties. “We’re steadfast in our commitment to achieving the ambitious goal of making Kansas a top 10 state for broadband access by 2030,” Governor Laura Kelly said. “Access to affordable broadband is critical for our communities to stay vibrant and competitive, and every Kansan deserves [...]

Pottawatomie County extends solar farm moratorium for three more years

info2023-11-29T12:43:46-06:00November 29th, 2023|

Pottawatomie County officials voted Monday to extend a moratorium, set to expire at the end of the year on commercial solar farms, for three more years. Uncertainty over the financial benefits of such operations and property rights have been at the center of discussion since the county began writing regulations for solar in early 2021. Solar farms provide solar power greater than one megawatt with the potential of generating several hundred megawatts of electricity and encompassing several thousands of acres of rural Pottawatomie County. Commissioner Greg Riat initially had hoped for a five year moratorium after this year, but settled on [...]

Kansas court officials confirm details of international cyberattack

info2023-11-29T12:41:55-06:00November 29th, 2023|

Foreign cybercriminals launched the attack on the Kansas judicial branch’s information system in October and stole records of appellate cases and judicial administration files potentially regarded as confidential under state law, officials said in a Nov. 21 announcement. Justices of the Kansas Supreme Court issued a joint statement confirming perpetrators “stole data and threatened to post it to a dark website if their demands were not met.” The release didn’t say whether the judicial branch complied with demands of the attackers, nor did it disclose whether evidence existed Kansas court information was forwarded to secretive illicit portions of the web. “This [...]

Governor Kelly Announces Over $12M Awarded to Fall 2023 KDOT Cost Share Projects

info2023-11-30T10:03:15-06:00November 29th, 2023|

Governor Laura Kelly and Transportation Secretary Calvin Reed announced that more than $12 million state dollars will be awarded to 16 transportation construction projects across Kansas through the Kansas Department of Transportation’s Cost Share Program for fall 2023. This investment will leverage $7.2 million in community matching dollars for a total investment of over $19 million. Fall 2023 Cost Share recipients are: City of Abilene – 14th Street and North Van Buren Street intersection City of Baldwin City – U.S. 56– Pedestrian Crossing Safety improvements City of Deerfield – Main Street reconstruction project City of Halstead – North Street reconstruction and sidewalk improvements City of Harper – [...]

Manhattan City Manager Ron Fehr announces retirement

info2023-11-29T12:32:22-06:00November 29th, 2023|

Manhattan City Manager Ron Fehr has announced his retirement after more than two decades in the position. Fehr spent seven weeks in Houston, Texas earlier this fall undergoing treatment for cancer, something that factored into his decision. He says the cancer was caught early and so far the prognosis is good and he hopes to keep it that way. Hired in January 1982 as the Forestry and Parks Supervisor, for the newly formed Manhattan Parks and Recreation Department, Fehr has spent his entire professional career with the City and was appointed City Manager in April 2000, succeeding Gary Greer. Other roles he’s [...]

WPD bus program has helped nearly 1,000 stranded homeless get off streets

info2023-11-29T12:30:10-06:00November 29th, 2023|

"You kind of just have to grit your teeth and push through whatever you have to push through to get yourself out of that situation. Because if you don't, you increase your chances of just, I'll put it bluntly, death. It kills out there," Joey Walters said. Walters says after the foster system failed him in Nebraska, he moved to Wichita to stay with family, but his life quickly fell apart. "Made some mistakes along the way. Done some stuff that I regret a lot. I put me in a situation where they couldn't really house me anymore. So I ended [...]

Wichita has an affordable housing gap. Could microMansions help fill it?

info2023-11-29T12:23:47-06:00November 29th, 2023|

Mary Lull, 22, is starting to look at buying her first house. But she says her and her fiancee’s budget limits them to older homes in need of a lot of work. “Anything that we could afford right now, we would have to fix up quite a bit, which would be a lot of extra costs,” she said. Lull is also the design coordinator for a company called microMansions, which sells ready-made tiny homes. The three-person business operates a warehouse in Columbus, a southeast Kansas town, that packages the homes into kits for individuals or developers to assemble. One of the [...]

Bringing Amtrak back to Wichita – KDOT wants input

info2023-11-29T12:16:13-06:00November 29th, 2023|

It has been more than four decades since Amtrak had service in Wichita, and the push to bring it back continues. The Kansas Department of Transportation is analyzing what expanding the service would mean for south-central Kansas. It wants to hear from Kansans, Oklahomans, and Texans. KDOT, the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, and the Texas Department of Transportation are interested in extending the Heartland Flyer daily passenger rail service from Oklahoma City to Newton, where it would connect with the Southwest Chief national route. The Heartland Flyer currently provides service between Ft. Worth and Oklahoma City. The Southwest Chief offers daily roundtrip [...]

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