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Heartland Flyer subject of virtual public meeting

Expansion of the Heartland Flyer from Oklahoma City to Newton will be the subject of a virtual public meeting being hosted by the Kansas Department of Transportation. KDOT is looking at providing rail service between Oklahoma City and Newton, where it would connect with Amtrak’s Southwest Chief. The Heartland Flyer currently provides daily service between Ft. Worth, Texas, and Oklahoma City. The Southwest Chief provides daily roundtrip service between Chicago and Los Angeles. It also has stops in Garden City, Dodge City, Hutchinson, Topeka, Lawrence, and Kansas City, Missouri, in addition to Newton. The virtual meeting is scheduled for Nov. 8, starting at 12 p.m. until 1 p.m. There will be a presentation, and then the public will have a chance to submit questions or comments for the project team.
Source: KSNT 27 News

info2023-10-25T11:40:14-05:00October 25, 2023|News|

Leawood plans to cap building heights to 4 stories along 135th

Concrete plans to cap building heights in Leawood, but only along 135th Street, are starting to take shape. The Leawood City Council on Oct. 16 considered creating specific rules for new office and mixed-use buildings on 135th Street. City leaders had initially proposed and discussed capping building heights on all new office and mixed-use developments citywide. The city council’s decision last week comes as the latest of extensive discussions in Leawood about amending the city’s development ordinance to keep future developments from creating too much density in the southern part of the city. The Leawood Planning Commission first saw the city council’s request to bring maximum building heights down from 90 feet to 55 feet this summer. At the time, the commission widely disapproved of the plan, voicing concerns that the move would stunt growth in Leawood too severely. The topic itself stemmed from concerns from city councilmembers who wanted to avoid a “canyon effect” along 135th Street with incoming projects like the East Village development.
Source: Prairie Village Post

info2023-10-25T11:33:24-05:00October 25, 2023|News|

Mulvane Fire Rescue gets new tools to increase efficiency for extrication

Mulvane Fire Rescue received a Firehouse Subs grant for over $24,000 to buy new extrication tools. One of those is more commonly known as the jaws of life. Extrication tools help get victims out of trapped vehicles, machinery, buildings or debris. The most common use is for car crashes. Mulvane Fire Rescue responds to roughly 150 crashes a year, using the extrication tools about once a month on average. Every second counts in an emergency and the new tools will make the extrication process quicker. “The ultimate goal is to get them out as quickly as possible because we have what we call the golden hour where from the time the incident happens till the time they get to a trauma center,” Mulvane Fire Captain Jason Mundell said. “So this helps us get them out quicker because we’re able to use multiple tools at one time. We can attack it from different angles and things like that and get them out quicker.” The new tools are replacing old ones that date back to 1998.
Source: KSN-TV

info2023-10-25T11:26:36-05:00October 25, 2023|News|

City of Pratt employee held at gunpoint; Wife listened on the phone

The man who led law enforcement on a multi-county chase on Monday pulled a gun on a City of Pratt employee. The victim’s wife was on the phone during the incident. Catelyn Shaw says she was at home when her friend messaged her about the police chase. Soon after, her husband called during his lunch break at Casey’s. She was shocked by what she heard on the phone. “He was like, ‘Oh my God, they just pulled into Casey’s.’ And I was like, ‘No way,’ and he was like, ‘Yeah, they did,'” explained Shaw. The typical day took a turn as Shaw’s husband walked out of Casey’s and into the middle of a police chase. Shaw says he sought out safety inside of his work truck. “He was on the phone with me, and next thing I know, I hear another man’s voice in the background. And he was like, ‘Get out,’ and my husband was like ‘No,'” she explained. But the suspect pulled out a gun and told him to get out again, so her husband got out of his truck. Shaw’s phone then went silent.
Source: KSN-TV

info2023-10-25T12:13:25-05:00October 25, 2023|News|

Bond Rout Drives 10-Year Treasury Yield to 5%

A deepening selloff in the U.S. bond market drove the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note to 5% for the first time in 16 years, extending a rout that has rattled stocks, lifted mortgage rates and fueled persistent fears of an economic slowdown. A critical driver of U.S. borrowing costs, the 10-year yield rose to within a few thousandths of a percentage point of 5% last week following an unexpectedly strong retail-sales report and comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell that reinforced investor bets on stubbornly high short-term interest rates. The 5% barrier barely held then, but broke in an early Monday climb. The 10-year yield reached as high as 5.021%, according to Tradeweb, before falling back down to 4.867% in recent trading. That is up from roughly 3.8% at the start of the year.
Source: WSJ.com: Markets

info2023-10-23T11:40:33-05:00October 23, 2023|News|

Should Kansas City, Kansas and Wyandotte County split after 25 years? Opinions vary

After nearly three decades, should the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, change its consolidated government structure? That will be a key question posed at neighborhood discussions in the coming weeks after the mayors of KCK, Edwardsville and Bonner Springs announced plans to create a task force to hear resident concerns, and solutions, about the UG. While no meetings have been set, current and former officials are divided on the region’s future, especially over the suggestion that KCK and county could break up. Mike Jacobi, who was a leader in the consolidation effort in the 1990s, considered the mayors’ plans an “attack on everything” he and others in that movement did. Since KCK and Wyandotte County’s governments unified in 1997, Jacobi said, the county went from being known for its political corruption to one with attractions like the Kansas Speedway in the Village West area.
Source: KC Star Local News

info2023-10-23T11:39:20-05:00October 23, 2023|News|

City staff members explain plans to reduce campsites around Lawrence

Within two days of announcing a new online form to report people living outside to Lawrence’s homeless programs team, the city had received more than four dozen responses regarding approximately 20 camps. City staff members are upping their efforts to discourage people from making new campsites in areas where the city has deemed it illegal. That includes parks, sidewalks, the public right of way, and on private property without the owner’s consent. Staff members are also formulating plans to make progress with residents of the longer-term campsites that are pretty well established and have larger populations. The city on Wednesday announced its new online form to report people living outside. It asks for the approximate address of the camp, a description of the people living there and when the campsite was first noticed. By Friday afternoon, the form had received 49 submissions regarding approximately 20 camps, Cori Wallace, a spokesperson for the city, said via email.
Source: The Lawrence Times

info2023-10-23T11:38:19-05:00October 23, 2023|News|

Community celebrates 150 years of Emporia Fire Department

Emporia Fire Chief Brandon Beck was more than pleased to welcome the community to the fire department’s 150th anniversary celebration Saturday. And he was even happier to see how many people turned out for the event. “We’ve had a great turnout today. It’s been just kind of a steady flow of people since 8 a.m. this morning,” he said as the celebration began winding down Saturday afternoon. Battalion Chief Tony Fuller told The Gazette last week that EFD recognizes every 25-year milestone. Beck, who joined the fire department as a volunteer in 1993, said it was exciting to be on hand for the sesquicentennial celebration. “It’s kind of exciting to be part of the department at this time,” Beck said. “I was here when we celebrated 125, so it’s kind of cool to see that. It’s just great to see all of the dedication.” Throughout the day, Beck said former firefighters and their families came out to see Fire Station No. 1, check out some of the new equipment and share memories of times long past.
Source: Emporia Gazette

info2023-10-23T11:36:35-05:00October 23, 2023|News|

Grant to improve 988 hotline capacity in Kansas

Kansas Governor Laura Kelly says the state will receive a federal grant that will help build local capacity for the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline and related crisis services. The grant of over $5.4 million is from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. It will be provided to the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services. Governor Kelly said the funds are critical to ensure that Kansas has the staff and resources to address the mental health crisis in the state. The funding will give Kansas the ability to recruit, hire and train additional staff to make sure state contact centers can collect and report monthly data on contacts that result in emergency rescue, suicide attempts in progress, and mobile crisis outreach referrals. A federal program will provide almost $1.9 million in the first year and nearly $1.8 million in each of the next two years to improve the response to 988 contacts – calls, chats and texts – originating in Kansas.
Source: 101.3 KFDI

info2023-10-23T11:35:24-05:00October 23, 2023|News|

New agreement with De Soto lays groundwork for Panasonic’s $4B battery plant

Panasonic has starting filling in details about hiring plans and how it will use tax incentives to build a $4 billion electric-vehicle battery plant in De Soto. On Thursday, the De Soto City Council approved a development agreement with Panasonic Energy of North America that outlines tax incentives for the company’s EV battery manufacturing plant. The agreement details the scope of the project and the company’s commitment to support community infrastructure needs and future employment quotas. “This is a hugely complex, impactful and important document for our city. It’s had our top priority and attention for the past several months,” City Administrator Mike Brungardt told the City Council. Last January, the City Council approved the creation of a tax increment financing district on the northern 6,000 acres of the former Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant property, now known as Astra Enterprise Park.
Source: Kansas City Business Journal

info2023-10-23T11:34:33-05:00October 23, 2023|News|

About info

Heartland Flyer subject of virtual public meeting

Leawood plans to cap building heights to 4 stories along 135th

Mulvane Fire Rescue gets new tools to increase efficiency for extrication

City of Pratt employee held at gunpoint; Wife listened on the phone

Bond Rout Drives 10-Year Treasury Yield to 5%

Should Kansas City, Kansas and Wyandotte County split after 25 years? Opinions vary

City staff members explain plans to reduce campsites around Lawrence

Community celebrates 150 years of Emporia Fire Department

Grant to improve 988 hotline capacity in Kansas

New agreement with De Soto lays groundwork for Panasonic’s $4B battery plant

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