News – Page 1275 – Ranson Financial Group LLC

Atchison Approves COVID Premium Pay from ARPA Funds

info2021-11-17T07:29:43-06:00November 16th, 2021|

City Commissioners approved a one-time payment of $1,000 per employee for front-line employees who were deemed essential and forced to continue to work during the shutdown during the height of the COVID pandemic panic during Monday’s regular meeting. To be eligible for the payment, the employee must have started working with the City in 2020 or before and still be an employee of the organization. Department heads and those who were able to work remotely during the shutdown in 2020 are not eligible. The money is an allowable use of American Rescue Plan Act funds, of which the city is receiving [...]

Johnson Drive through downtown Shawnee is going down to 3 lanes

info2021-11-17T07:29:56-06:00November 16th, 2021|

Shawnee’s pilot project to reduce lanes and slow down traffic on Johnson Drive through the downtown area is now underway. Crews have begun re-striping a stretch of Johnson Drive between Flint and Goddard streets. Work is slated to wrap up by Friday. The project, also known as a “road diet,” reduces that part of Johnson Drive from five lanes (two lanes going both directions, with a shared left turn lane) to three lanes (one lane going both directions with a shared left turn lane). Source: Shawnee Mission Post

Roeland Park lets Johnson County’s last citywide mask mandate expire

info2021-11-17T07:30:03-06:00November 16th, 2021|

The last city in Johnson County with a face mask mandate has let its order expire. Roeland Park was the only remaining city that required masks to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. On Monday, the city council voted 5-4 to allow its current masking resolution to expire at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 16. Mayor Mike Kelly broke the tie. The resolution had taken effect Aug. 24 and was initially set to expire Oct. 19, but the city council later extended the expiration date. The order required masks for all people indoors in places accessible to the public or in crowded outdoor public places, [...]

Bus stop issue resolved

info2021-11-17T07:30:45-06:00November 16th, 2021|

The issue of motorists having to stop for school buses along U.S. 54 just outside LaHarpe has been resolved. LaHarpe City Attorney Fred Works said Monday the Iola school district has reached an agreement with a family allowing buses to use the family’s driveway for pick-up and drop-offs. The bus will no longer stop along the highway. At least three motorists have been ticketed in recent weeks for passing the stopped bus from the opposite direction along the four-lane highway. Motorists must stop for a school bus from both directions if its red lights are flashing and its stop sign is extended. The [...]

How will Kansas spend $1.6B in COVID aid? Charities, sheriffs, theaters make their pitch

info2021-11-17T07:30:58-06:00November 16th, 2021|

Help for the homeless. Grants for movie theaters. Hydroelectricity. As Kansas prepares to allocate $1.6 billion in federal COVID-19 aid, business groups, non-profit organizations and civic advocates from across the state are pushing a sweeping range of proposals for spending it. They are all angling for a piece of the one-time funding that could prove transformational for a host of programs and initiatives. The money holds the potential to ultimately touch residents in all corners of the state through dollars for affordable housing, business start-ups, new and improved public buildings, better access to higher education and faster broadband internet. How this [...]

$420K COVID grant will aid purchase of hotel for domestic violence shelter in Wichita

info2021-11-16T16:14:24-06:00November 16th, 2021|

Money from a federal COVID-19 grant will be used to help the Wichita Family Crisis Center buy a hotel and transform it into a shelter for victims of domestic abuse. The City Council on Tuesday approved spending $420,000 from the city’s CARES Act money to complete the purchase of the hotel. The council earlier approved $800,000 for the project. Following the approval of the funding, the center’s executive director, Amanda Meyers and about a dozen staff and supporters celebrated in the hallway outside the council chambers. “Truly, we are over the moon,” Meyers said. “It was so needed for so long.” [...]

Municipal Bond Trends for November 15, 2021

info2021-11-16T07:02:35-06:00November 16th, 2021|

The interest rate table above illustrates recent changes in a sample of MBIS "investment grade" yields. Every issuer's credit is different. For rates that may be applicable to your municipality, contact our Municipal Bond Advisors, Larry Kleeman and Beth Warren.

Entirely possible that we’ll see low interest rates forever, asset manager says

info2021-11-16T07:01:42-06:00November 16th, 2021|

Interest rates could remain at their record lows "forever," according to one asset manager, despite a recent rush to normalize policy by many of the world's central banks. GAM Investments' Julian Howard told CNBC's "Squawk Box Europe" last week that he believed it was "entirely consistent historically to talk about low rates forever." Howard is the lead investment director of multi-asset solutions at GAM, which has 103 billion Swiss francs ($112 billion) in assets under management. He cited research by economic historian Paul Schmelzing, who was a visiting scholar at the Bank of England when the paper was published in 2020. [...]

KCK eyes overhead gondola as a new means of transit to connect to downtown Kansas City

info2021-11-16T06:56:36-06:00November 16th, 2021|

At one time, downtown Kansas City was well connected to downtown Kansas City, Kansas. Over the years, there were trains, ferries and streetcars that allowed people to easily move across the Kansas River and across state lines. But those local connections deteriorated with the arrival of the intercontinental railroads and the interstate highways, said Gunnar Hand, director of planning and urban design at the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas. He’s now eyeing a novel way of reconnecting the respective cores of the two Kansas Cities. Hand and other planners are proposing an aerial lift that would move people in [...]

Ready for air taxis? Here’s why Kansas could be a player in the future of aviation

info2021-11-16T06:57:13-06:00November 16th, 2021|

The next time you are outside, look up. You might see houses, buildings, a few trees. Higher you may see some clouds, a commercial airplane, a military airplane. Maybe there’s a helicopter. In other words, not much. That’s changing. Aerospace engineers and entrepreneurs across the world are in a race to fundamentally change how we see the sky. They are working on new air vehicles — in an industry called advanced air mobility — that will be used to drop packages on your doorstep, transport people and cargo over shorter distances and could even give people the ability to call air-taxis. [...]