info, Author at Ranson Financial Group LLC

This small Kansas town is paying people to move there. Here’s what it’s offering

info2025-02-19T08:52:46-06:00February 19th, 2025|

A small town about a two-hour drive from Wichita is offering tempting incentives for people willing to relocate. Neodesha in southeast Kansas has a population of about 2,300 and is looking for that number to grow through a partnership with the company MakeMyMove. The goal? To bring people back to rural communities. The full incentives package includes up to $15,000 in student loan repayment assistance, 100% Kansas state income tax waiver through 2026, a college scholarship incentive reaching up to $25,000 and more. Source: Wichita Eagle

Winfield considering goats to manage vegetation

info2025-02-19T08:51:28-06:00February 19th, 2025|

The City of Winfield is considering the use of goats to help manage vegetation around Island Park, according to information presented at Thursday’s work session. The process would involve hiring a company the brings in a herd of goats, pens off a portion of the land where the goats will graze for a couple of days, then moving the pen and the goats until all of the land has been grazed, Winfield public improvements director Patrick Steward said to commissioners. “It’s relatively low risk, and other communities have had a positive response,” Steward said about using goats as vegetation control. Source: [...]

Lawrence school district reaches 8 inclement weather days; still unclear whether makeup time will be needed

info2025-02-19T08:50:27-06:00February 19th, 2025|

Lawrence Public Schools will be closed for a second day in a row this week because of snow and continued freezing temperatures in the forecast, making for eight total days canceled so far this year. The Kansas State Department of Education forgives local districts the same number of inclement weather hours or days they build into their calendars and use. Wednesday will mark the district’s eighth inclement weather day so far in the 2024-25 school year, the first four happening during the first week classes resumed after winter break. Source: The Lawrence Times

Kansas lawmakers consider expanding window for fireworks sales

info2025-02-19T08:49:25-06:00February 19th, 2025|

A proposed Senate bill would permit year-round fireworks sales from permanent retailers and expand the window around the Fourth of July for pop-up vendors. Senate Bill 199 would allow temporary vendors to sell fireworks from June 20 to July 7. Currently, sales are restricted to June 27 to July 5. Jake Marietta, who owns Jake’s Fireworks — a family-owned business since 1938 — testified Tuesday before the Senate Commerce Committee in support of the bill, explaining that sales at his pop-up fireworks tent can drop by as much as 50% with just one day of rain. Marietta said he was excited [...]

Disruptive public commenting has reached a crisis point for some in public office

info2025-02-19T07:32:54-06:00February 19th, 2025|

For the first time since a pair of public commenters began routinely disrupting government meetings in Lawrence, an official has mentioned the possibility of terminating public comment, at least temporarily. On Monday night, Lawrence school board president Kelly Jones — after an approximately 30-minute standoff with commenter Michael Eravi, who was refusing to obey board rules — said that the time had come to discuss whether public commenting in its current form had simply become too disruptive. Nothing in state law requires that governing bodies hear public comment at their meetings, and local entities have grappled for years now with how [...]

Decades-old Johnson County bar to close for city project: ‘Can’t fight the government’

info2025-02-14T09:36:30-06:00February 14th, 2025|

Mary Armstrong knew that the I-35 and Santa Fe corridor project in Olathe would eventually displace her bar, Double Nickel. She said she attended a public meeting about the project last year, though she was under the impression that she would have more time at her current 189 Rogers Road digs. “They made it sound like it would be a while out,” she said. “Surprise. It’s not.” In December, she was given a 90-day demand letter from the city ordering her to vacate the rented space. Source: KC Star Local News

Hopes for more Fed rate cuts dim as Powell notes hot CPI means ‘we’re not quite there yet’

info2025-02-14T09:35:06-06:00February 14th, 2025|

A Federal Reserve interest rate cut won’t be coming until at least September, if at all this year, following a troubling inflation report Wednesday, according to updated market pricing. Futures markets shifted from the expectation of a June cut and possibly another before the end of the year to no moves until the fall, with a minimal chance of a follow-up before the end of 2025. Source: CNBC - Bonds

Muni advocates won’t give up tax exemption without a fight

info2025-02-14T09:34:05-06:00February 14th, 2025|

Republican legislators have placed tax-exempt bonds on the regulatory chopping block — as the cost to renew expiring provisions of President Donald Trump's 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act continues to grow — putting municipal leaders in the eye of a storm. Public finance advocates are flocking en masse to Capitol Hill in an effort to convince representatives of how significant the exemption is for the markets, amid efforts to return tax-exempt advance refunding and lift the ceiling on bank-qualified debt. Source: The Bond Buyer

Sumner County deputies move in on suspected cockfighting operation

info2025-02-14T09:33:01-06:00February 14th, 2025|

Sumner County deputies and Humane Society workers went to a home near Mulvane on Tuesday to shut down a suspected cockfighting operation. Sumner County Sheriff’s Lieutenant Tyler Carmichael told KFDI’s news partners at KWCH that an investigation has been going on over the past couple of years, and more information will be released later this week. Sheriff’s detective Andrea Wagner said there were a significant number of animals at the home, discovered when a search warrant was executed. Source: 101.3 KFDI

2 mostly rural fire districts in fast-growing southern Johnson County are merging

info2025-02-14T09:32:05-06:00February 14th, 2025|

Johnson County Commissioners voted to merge two largely rural fire districts last week after a discussion of whether the move represented “taxation without representation.” In a unanimous series of votes, commissioners combined Fire District 1 in the southwest corner of the county and Fire District 2, which covered the southern central and eastern areas. The new district will be known as Consolidated Fire District 1. Source: Johnson County Post

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