info, Author at Ranson Financial Group LLC

Lawrence city staff members, commissioners hesitate as mayor calls to enforce no-camping measures

info2023-09-20T09:36:31-05:00September 20th, 2023|

Mayor Lisa Larsen on Tuesday called for the city to push back against people camping around town. City staff members and her fellow commissioners said they agree that the situation needs to change, but there was not a feasible way to end camping right now. City staff members provided commissioners with an update Tuesday on efforts to deal with the growing homelessness and housing crisis. After a staff presentation, commissioners heard from about 20 people, including many business owners; no one who identified themselves as homeless spoke during the meeting. Source: The Lawrence Times

Lenexa’s new downtown booming with food, offices. It’s only halfway done

info2023-09-19T20:38:18-05:00September 19th, 2023|

Dozens of shoppers filed through Lenexa’s farmers market on Saturday, stopping at each booth to pick up late summer produce, fresh loaves of sourdough and local honey. Nearby, kids swooped down the water slides at the city’s rec center. And hungry customers, tempted by the smell of spices in the air, chose between the samosas at Sohaila’s Kitchen or the fried sweet plantains at African Dream Cuisine at the packed food hall. The bustling afternoon was the result of more than two decades of planning, and hundreds of millions of public and private dollars funneled into Lenexa City Center, at 87th Street Parkway [...]

2 historic sites in Council Grove reopen with greater focus on Native people

info2023-09-19T19:41:50-05:00September 19th, 2023|

A restoration of two historic sites related to American Indian history are providing an opportunity to tell a “broader story,” officials said Saturday. The Kaw Mission State Historic Site and Last Chance Store reopened in an event Saturday after a restoration four years in the works. Its renovation was an effort by museum staff, historians, the Kaw Nation and the Santa Fe Trail Association. The Kaw Mission was built in 1851 as a school that could to accommodate about 50 Native boys after the government forcibly relocated the Kanza people to Council Grove in 1846. Mark Brooks, the site administrator, said [...]

$1.7 million to help turn old Bonner Springs grocery store site into affordable housing

info2023-09-19T19:42:23-05:00September 19th, 2023|

An additional $1.7 million was secured to develop 100 multi-family rental units at a four-story apartment building in downtown Bonner Springs, U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids announced. A building at 120 Oak St., the site of an old Thriftway grocery store, was demolished a few months ago with plans for the $17 million development. Bonner Springs officials expect downtown businesses to see “significant increase in patronage” with the units. Mayor Jeff Harrington said the developers hope to break ground in the spring with the building along West Front Street open in fall 2025. Source: KC Star Local News

Who is dressing the bronze sculptures in downtown Wichita? And who is undressing them?

info2023-09-19T19:42:46-05:00September 19th, 2023|

Years ago, Tamara Gonzales privately came up with a name for the bronze statue of a barefoot businessman standing at Douglas and Main, reading his newspaper with his pant legs rolled up and his feet cooling in a bubbling fountain. Walter. As she got to thinking about Walter, she decided he was missing something. “I don’t know if it’s a mental problem or what it is, but I saw this statue here and thought, ‘He’d be kind of cool with a pair of pants on,’” said Gonzales, a crochet enthusiast and longtime president of Wichita’s 40-member crochet guild. Pants crocheted in [...]

Hutchinson’s Smallville Con to end after 10-year run

info2023-09-19T19:44:28-05:00September 19th, 2023|

The family that has organized Smallville Con in Hutchinson for the past 10 years has decided it cannot do it anymore. The convention was a celebration of comic books and pop culture. DC Comics hero Superman grew up in the fictional town of Smallville, Kansas. In 2013, Hutchinson agreed to rename itself Smallville for one day, and the annual convention came along with it. "Smallville Con was built out of years of my family attending various conventions throughout the United States," Jon Robinson, Smallville Con owner, said. Source: KSN-TV

Muni Finance and the Federal Fiscal Food Fight

info2023-09-19T19:48:49-05:00September 19th, 2023|

Deficit financing has caught up with Uncle Sam, as federal outlays for interest payments have surged to record levels and the nation’s annual budget deficit is on track to double in this fiscal year. That’s just for starters: To dampen inflation, the Federal Reserve has hiked short-term interest rates and keeps jettisoning U.S. bonds, not buying them as it had been. ... In theory, the cost of high-quality muni debt should be less than the inflation rate, in light of the 30 percent tax-exemption advantage that many wealthy investors glean from them. But in today’s market, most states and localities must increasingly pay the price [...]

Paola returns invaluable Peruvian artifacts

info2023-09-19T19:50:04-05:00September 19th, 2023|

A Peruvian artifact estimated to be more than a thousand years old, well-wrapped in white tissue paper and stuck into a borrowed school duffel bag, marks the first success of a rural town’s plans to repatriate its art collection. The museum in Paola began its ongoing efforts of trying to return objects from a 38-piece collection of pre-Columbian artifacts a year ago, after first receiving the artifacts from a Kansas City couple’s trust five years ago. Pre-Columbian is a term used to describe an era of thriving indigenous art in the Americas before the arrival of Christopher Columbus. “Although this is [...]

UG approves new tax incentives for $838M Homefield project

info2023-09-19T11:32:35-05:00September 19th, 2023|

A new wave of tax incentives will support part of a $838 million mixed-use development in Wyandotte County. The Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas Board of Commissioners approved plans to create a new Community Improvement District (CID) for the Homefield project in Kansas City, Kansas. The CID will cover about 146 acres of the nearly 400-acre Homefield development at 94th Street and State Avenue. Under the CID, visitors will be charged an additional 2% sales tax on purchases made in the district. The CID will include a $145 million Margaritaville hotel; $20 million Big Shots golf bar; $60 million multisport training facility developed [...]

Augusta overturns dog breed ban

info2023-09-19T11:27:31-05:00September 19th, 2023|

On August 21st, the Augusta City Council approved the overturning of the “dangerous” dog breed under the city’s animal ordinance. The new ordinance removed all provisions that defined certain dog breeds as dangerous, meaning all breeds previously listed as dangerous are now allowed within city limits. The old ordinance, City Code Ch. 2, Article 1, 2-114 Dangerous Dogs; prohibited stated “It shall be unlawful for any person or legal entity to keep, harbor or in any way possess a dangerous dog as defined by this article within the limits of the City of Augusta, Kansas.” According to the ordinance, it made the following [...]

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