info, Author at Ranson Financial Group LLC

Houses in Dodge City built by students, for the community

info2024-10-09T09:46:31-05:00October 9th, 2024|

The housing association is a nonprofit that for the past 10 years has partnered with DC3 – local shorthand for the college – to build a house in Dodge City annually. Its mission is to address housing needs by revitalizing low-to-moderate-income neighborhoods. “It’s really a neat partnership and program that we implement here,” says Mollea Wainscott, assistant director of the Dodge City/Ford County Development Corporation. The program creates additional housing, trains the future workforce in Dodge City and cleans up blighted neighborhoods. Wainscott says every house the program builds is south of Comanche Street, an east-west thoroughfare generally regarded as a [...]

Sedgwick County is counting homeless deaths for the first time. Here’s what to know

info2024-10-09T09:44:17-05:00October 9th, 2024|

The deaths of more homeless residents are being counted this year after local officials implemented a formal process to identify them – the latest symptom of the intensifying conversation around homelessness in Wichita. As of September, 46 homeless people had been confirmed dead by Sedgwick County Regional Forensic Science Center investigators. That’s more than the 42 that were counted all of last year through anecdotal numbers compiled through a collaboration between the Wichita Police Department, service providers and homeless advocates. The shift is the latest move to address homelessness in Wichita, following the opening of a new emergency winter shelter in [...]

Medicine Lodge receives high-speed smart pole, state leaders hope to address rural digital divide

info2024-10-09T09:42:50-05:00October 9th, 2024|

Many Kansas rural communities lack high-speed internet. On Tuesday, crews installed a “smart pole” in Medicine Lodge to help tackle that digital divide. The smart pole is just the brink of what the state’s director of broadband development said needs to happen to bring rural Kansas up to speed with the rest of the state. The smart pole will provide free high-speed internet to those within a 10-mile radius. “Making sure the folks in the very remote areas have the opportunity to connect,” said SCTelcom CEO Carla Shearer. The pole was installed in partnership with the school district to help everyone [...]

Pratt sends linemen ahead to assist ahead of Milton

info2024-10-09T09:41:27-05:00October 9th, 2024|

Pratt is sending linemen to assist in restoration efforts after Hurricane Milton. The now Category 4 storm is expected to make landfall Wednesday night in Tampa Bay, an area of over 3 million people. Along with devastating sustained winds, Milton is expected to bring a storm surge over 10 feet high and could drop 18 inches of rain. The City of Pratt says five linemen have headed out to help restore power systems expected to be destroyed by Milton. They will move into the affected areas after Milton has moved on. Source: KSN-TV

Haysville school district looking at $78 million bond issue

info2024-10-09T09:40:29-05:00October 9th, 2024|

USD 261 is preparing a $78 million bond to repair and improve existing buildings. The district says the bond will not increase the mill rate. “We have a lot of maintenance items that we have to kind of get back under control,” said Craig Ryan, assistant superintendent of finance and business operations. “We have roofs and HVAC units and parking lots and some of the not fun stuff to really do. But we’re also looking at the potential of maybe doing an extension with a CTE building and doing some things like that on the side to help students be successful [...]

New ‘iconic pedestrian bridge’ set to be installed over Kansas River in Topeka

info2024-10-09T09:39:08-05:00October 9th, 2024|

The Kansas River in Topeka is set to get a new bridge connecting the downtown area to the North Topeka Arts District (NOTO) in the near future. The Topeka Riverfront Advisory Council (RAC) is working to install a new “iconic pedestrian bridge” in the latest major announcement from the group and its vision for transforming the Capital City’s riverfront areas. The RAC made the announcement Tuesday, Oct. 8 at Townsite Tower. “I’m thrilled to see a strategic vision for our capital city’s riverfront come together following months of hard work and collaboration,” said Matt Pivarnik, CEO of the Greater Topeka Partnership [...]

Shawnee County using cameras and AI to help catch criminals

info2024-10-09T09:37:22-05:00October 9th, 2024|

Connect Shawnee County is a registry of 321 registered cameras and 855 integrated cameras that police and deputies use to canvass areas. The Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office said the registry lets officers quickly find cameras in an area, saving officers time. “Officers generally have to walk or drive the area to determine if there are cameras available; this system reduces that time, allowing officers to be available for other policing activities,” Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Shayna Anderson said. Citizens of Shawnee County can participate in the program by registering their cameras with the sheriff’s office. Those who register their cameras [...]

NLC, Local Infrastructure Hub Help 1,000+ Cities Develop Competitive Federal Infrastructure Grant Applications

info2024-10-09T09:35:40-05:00October 9th, 2024|

The National League of Cities (NLC) announced today that more than 1,000 cities have utilized the Local Infrastructure Hub’s free grant-writing trainings designed to help communities develop competitive grant applications for federal funding available through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act. NLC runs a program within the Local Infrastructure Hub focused on helping small and mid-sized cities, towns and villages effectively pursue federal infrastructure funding. To date, participating cities have secured more than $315 million in federal infrastructure dollars for their communities. The Local Infrastructure Hub has designed resources to help cities craft competitive applications for specific federal [...]

OZtoberfest returns to Wamego

info2024-10-09T09:33:05-05:00October 9th, 2024|

The town on Saturday transformed into the land of Oz as people came from all over to partake in the OZtoberfest festivities. The city holds the annual event celebrating “The Wizard of Oz” on the first weekend of October each year. In addition to the costume contest, OZtoberfest included an outdoor market, car show and beer and wine garden along with other activities. Wamego Chamber of Commerce event and tourism coordinator Tegan Kreider said many groups came together to help the community deal with the influx of people. “There’s a lot of groups involved,” Kreider said. “The car show group, which [...]

Ribbon-cutting held for Wichita’s new water plant

info2024-10-07T09:56:21-05:00October 7th, 2024|

Wichita officials had a ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday for the city’s new water treatment plant. Mayor Lily Wu said the plant won’t be commissioned until next year, but it has reached functional completion. She said it will serve about 20 percent of Kansas residents with clean and safe drinking water. Public Works Director Gary Janzen gave credit to previous director Alan King for his guidance and direction in starting the project. Janzen said the next steps will be to conduct performance testing, which has already begun. He said the facility will be pumping an average of 50 million gallons per day to [...]

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