Most banks store money, but the Food Bank of Reno County is stocked with canned goods and pantry items instead. Particularly amid current rising economic costs, however, food is money. Penny Taapken, the director of the food bank for the last 18 years, said the need is increasing for services. “We serve emergency food to those in need so that no one should go hungry,” she said.
Source: Hutch News
As Kansas prepares for technology giant Panasonic to break ground on a multibillion dollar factory, Gov. Laura Kelly announced a new office designed to boost apprenticeships and help better bolster the state’s workforce. Under an executive order signed Tuesday, Kelly’s administration will create the Office of Registered Apprenticeships, a move designed to expand the tool, which allows workers to get paid while receiving job training in a specialized field. Currently, nearly 3,400 Kansans participate in one of 212 apprenticeship programs statewide.
Source: CJonline
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell in an appearance Thursday emphasized the importance of getting inflation down now before the public gets too used to higher prices and comes to expect them as the norm. In his latest comments underlining his commitment to the inflation fight, Powell said expectations play an important role and were critical to why inflation was so persistent in the 1970s and ’80s. “History cautions strongly against prematurely loosening policy,” the central bank leader said in a Q&A presented by the Cato Institute, a libertarian think-tank based in Washington, D.C. “I can assure you that my colleagues and I are strongly committed to this project and we will keep at it until the job is done.
Source: CNBC
The City of Spring Hill welcomes Lane Massey as the new City Administrator. Massey joins the City with a Masters of Public Administration and more than 20 years of city government experience. He worked for the City of Wichita and Arkansas City before becoming the City Manager in Larned for six years. He spent the last five years as the Assistant City Manager in Emporia. He says his experience working in small to mid-size cities will help him navigate Spring Hill through growth and the challenges that come with it.
Source: City of Spring Hill news
When bridge inspections were first mandated by Congress over 50 years ago, 72% of the Jefferson County bridges were found to be incapable of carrying the legal weight limit. That is 129 of the county’s 180 bridges. Five of those bridges were closed immediately and low-weight limits were placed on the others. The disruption to the traffic flow on the county’s 900 miles of roads was tremendous. Marketing grain and livestock was a problem in an agricultural county as well as school buses and mail routes had to be rerouted and emergency vehicles, including fire trucks, could not cross many of the bridges. There were 7,000 fewer residents in the county at that time, but nevertheless a high percentage were daily commuters to jobs in neighboring towns and cities.
Source: JeffCountyNews
Last summer, a utility worker stumbled across a well — one of thousands of abandoned, unplugged oil and gas wells scattered across Kansas — just 15 feet from a stream in La Cygne, an hour south of Kansas City. Such sites bear witness to the state’s history of fossil fuel production — and they can leak pollutants into the air and water generations after they’ve been forgotten. Tens of millions of federal tax dollars will help the state seal thousands of openings over the next several years, though many will remain unaddressed. Old wells in Kansas can date back to the start of oil and gas drilling in the region in the mid-1800s.
Source: KCUR News
As part of the Vision Derby 2040 comprehensive plan, housing diversity – to meet the needs of a variety of age groups and income ranges – was outlined as a key tool for Derby’s future success. In line with meeting those needs, and securing resources to help do so, the planning commission received and filed an updated housing study at its Sept. 1 meeting. The new study will serve as the current housing needs analysis for Derby. Like the previous analysis done based off the 2017 census, the new housing study indicates that Derby still has a shortage of affordable housing.
Source: Derby Informer | News
Law enforcement, along with Sedgwick County and City of Wichita leaders, launched a new fentanyl awareness campaign Thursday. “One Pill Can Kill” aims to educate teens and parents about the dangers of fentanyl. Sedgwick County released a series of videos about the drug, secret emoji codes used in drug trafficking and how to spot an overdose. “We need people to be able to speak up and address the issues that are taking place, because it’s about saving souls,” Interim Chief of the Wichita Police Department Lem Moore said. In 2018, 98 people died from a fentanyl overdose in Sedgwick County, and 242 died in 2021, according to Sedgwick County Sheriff Jeff Easter. This year, he said the county is on track to see over 300 people to die of the same cause.
Source: KAKE – News
Topeka is remaking itself. It’s been a long road, but the Capital City has improved its quality of life and its image the past several years, spurred by downtown revitalization and increasing community-wide collaboration. One community leader says Topeka has “fallen in love with itself again.” And it’s better off than many residents might think, despite persistent problems. But optimism still battles pessimism in Topeka.
Source: KLC Journal
In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Sept. 7, the City of Augusta announced that it will reconsider its dog breed ban at its next meeting that is scheduled for later this month. “The City Council will begin considering a preliminary first draft of a revised animal control ordinance at their next regular meeting on September 19th, overturning the existing dog breed ban in the City of Augusta,” said the Facebook post. The city says the current draft of the revised city ordinance will continue to address dangerous animals but that the provisions will no longer be breed-specific or prohibit certain breeds from existing within the community.
Source: KSN-TV
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