It is a promise that most residents are used to and rely on: Dial 911, and an ambulance staffed with paramedics and EMTs will be there in a flash to help with an emergency. In Doniphan County, however, a service that many take for granted almost stopped. After years of staffing difficulties, the two entities providing emergency medical services in the county — the city of Troy and a rural fire district based in Highland — found themselves on the brink of closure earlier this year. "We were to the point where we felt that if we didn't do something, we [...]

The Center was approached by Wallet Hub last week to answer a few questions about the labor market troubles. We thought that the interaction would be of value to the business and community leadership within Kansas. Why do employers have difficulties in filling employment positions? The three driving forces behind employers experiencing a lack of qualified candidates are demographics, an overly heated economy, and friction within the labor market. First, U.S. population growth, along with immigration, has restricted the labor supply. Within the demographic shift, which has been well published, are Baby Boomer exits, leaving behind a labor gap. The second [...]

Through the federal Internet for All initiative, there are opportunities for all U.S. states to receive funding to improve broadband access. One program included in this initiative, the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, provides $42 billion to states to expand high-speed internet access by funding planning, infrastructure deployment and adoption programs nationwide. Funds will be allocated to states according to a formula derived from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Broadband Map data. These maps provide a picture of where broadband is and is not available across the country. ... To ensure that the maps are constantly improving in accuracy, the [...]

The City Council has approved an employment agreement with Branden Dross as Lafayette City Administrator, and he will begin his work with the City on January 9, 2023. He is currently the City Manager of Herington Kansas. Before moving to Kansas in September 2020, he lived in San Antonio for over a decade and worked for CPS Energy and the City of San Antonio. Before getting into the public sector in 2015, he was in food and beverage management for over a decade. Angela is his wife of 14 years, and they have a teenage son, Branden Jr. Branden has Bachelor [...]