Billions in federal funding could be the catalyst that finally returns to Kansas passenger rail service to Texas, advocates and transportation officials told a Kansas legislative caucus Monday. ... For years, passenger rail advocates have pushed for Amtrak and federal railroad officials to support expansion of the line up to Wichita and Newton, the latter of which would be a connection to the Southwest Chief. But years of stagnant ridership and federal funding for Amtrak had kept expansion at the conceptual level. However, as part of the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, federal lawmakers allocated $66 billion to passenger [...]

A few weeks ago, I wrote an article about property taxes and quoted author Adora Svitak who said, “The first thing anyone can do about any issue is get informed.” I chose this quote for two reasons: Property tax is the most criticized and misunderstood source of local government revenue, and in the past ten years, I’ve seen very little public participation during the budget process. I can only speak to the City of Russell’s process, which begins in April and ends in August. April begins with a look back at how we’ve performed in the past, where we can improve, [...]