More than 90 acres of land next to Interstate 135 is set to be annexed into Salina. The annexation of 92.81 acres north of Water Well Road comes after a request by a developer to the city with the intent to create a new convenience store-travel plaza in the community.
Source: Salina Journal

Today’s interest rates may tempt public financiers to try to play the spread between tax-exempt and taxable bond yields. That invites heightened federal scrutiny, but there are some strategies likely to avoid the bite of the IRS. … For long-term debt issued for public facilities construction, for example, there is in some cases an allowable “temporary period” of a few years during which the proceeds can be invested at a profit. In the case of short-term borrowing for operating budgets, so-called revenue anticipation notes are allowable as long as they mature within a defined time period. … For 2024 and going into 2025, it’s pretty likely that the U.S. Treasury yield curve will remain inverted, with short-term taxable rates exceeding most yields on longer-term municipal paper, so the arbitrage issue will be pervasive. The arbitrage window will close only when the Federal Reserve allows the Treasury yield curve to normalize with short rates drifting to levels materially lower than the rates on muni debt. That seems unlikely until T-bills start trading two full percentage points lower than they are in today’s market — probably not sooner than late 2025, barring a recession.
Source: Governing

… more prominent commentators are calling on the Fed to go slow on cutting interest rates. Tuesday’s hotter-than-expected Consumer Price Index report added fuel to calls for caution. A consensus is forming that bringing down inflation to the Fed’s 2 percent target will be a long struggle, scrambling the central bank’s outlook on rate cuts. There’s more doubt now about a rate cut in June, even as markets continue to bet on one. “We think it’s a coin flip as to whether the Fed cuts interest rates in June or if it takes a more conservative approach and waits until September” …
Source: NYT Dealbook

The Kansas Pet Animal Advisory Board held preliminary discussions on regulating pet boarding facilities to keep animals staying at them safer. “We have seen an increase in licensees and we’ve seen an increase in complaints in that category,” said Heather Lansdowne, director of communications for the Kansas Department of Agriculture. “It involves a lot of nonrelated dogs comingling together and can be potentially problematic.” Most stays at dog boarding facilities go off without a hitch, but there have been injuries and deaths of dogs reported in Kansas facilities. Last year, an Olathe family lost both of their dogs while boarding them at a facility called Lucky Paws.
Source: CJonline

With the consideration of other low speed vehicles allowed on the roads of Hays, the Hays Commission has voted to allow the use of golf carts on public streets….. City staff’s safety recommendations [include:] golf carts have seat belts, lights, and blinkers; be operated by a licensed driver over the age of 18 and be insured…
Source: Hays Daily News

Kellogg continues to expand in the Wichita metro with the next big project widening Kellogg to six lanes from K-96 to Andover. The City of Andover is looking forward to the project, in part because of what it will mean for traffic at Kellogg and 143rd. Instead of traffic being stalled at the intersection, sometimes for several minutes, it will flow seamlessly from K-96 through town. The City of Andover said one of the big reasons it’s excited about the project is traffic safety, upgraded with traffic much more easily able to flow from Andover into Wichita.
Source: KWCH