info2021-10-27T00:19:48-05:00October 27th, 2021|
City commissioners on Oct. 19 approved a nuisance ordinance, which, according to the mayor, gives the city authority to take action against homeless people camping and blocking downtown businesses. Source: Fort Scott Tribune
info2021-10-27T07:06:32-05:00October 27th, 2021|
In recapping last week’s Kansas Association Of Counties annual meeting, Barton County officials who attended returned with a handful of key takeaways, and the review of these led to passionate discussion amongst county commissioners when they met Tuesday morning at the courthouse.... In addition to the educational workshops and vendor exhibits, the KAC’s Legislative Policy Statement was finalized. It was the soft-handed tone of this statement that sparked frustrations for commissioners. “The KAC needs to be tougher on the state,” said District 3 Commissioner Shawn Hutchinson, who was Barton County’s voting delegate and attended along with District 2 Commissioner Barb Esfeld. [...]
info2021-10-27T07:07:00-05:00October 27th, 2021|
Parents took a fight over school masks in the Shawnee Mission School District to the Kansas Supreme Court Tuesday, and a controversial law limiting state and local pandemic responses is hanging in the balance. Oral arguments over the constitutionality of Senate Bill 40 focused on due process, the timeliness of the challenge and whether a district court ruling calling the law unconstitutional should be overturned. At the heart of the lawsuit is a bill fueled by Republican dissatisfaction with Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The GOP had been pushing back against Kelly’s actions, like closing businesses early [...]
info2021-10-27T07:07:15-05:00October 27th, 2021|
A project called "Reframing Topeka" is looking to make the city a better place. It's a series of open conversations and anyone is welcome to attend. Leaders from the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library guide the discussions. Their goal is to spark real conversations about practical solutions to make Topeka better. People who attend the event are placed into small groups. Within those groups, they discuss the issues they see throughout the Topeka community and share ideas and suggestions. The talks are broken up into categories such as how to make Topeka safer, fairer, more successful or more fun. "When [...]
info2021-10-27T07:07:38-05:00October 27th, 2021|
The Topeka Zoo and the city have teamed up to create the "Waterways Protection Project." This new project is centered around the creation of colorful, painted storm drains that will help raise awareness of the pollution going down them. Storm drains in Topeka lead out to the Kansas River, which eventually leads to the Mississippi River, which then goes out to the ocean. This means that if the number of pollution going into storm drain's in Topeka drops, so will the amount of pollution going into the ocean. According to Dennis Dinwiddie, the Director of Conservation and Education at Topeka Zoo, [...]
info2021-10-27T07:08:05-05:00October 27th, 2021|
Shawnee is planning to create a new property tax rebate program for low-income residents. Funding for the pilot program would come from roughly $98,000 that comprises the remaining balance in the 10 Quivira Community Improvement District Fund. The Shawnee City Council on Monday had an extensive discussion about the rebate pilot program, driven mainly by comments in favor of helping out low-income residents as much as possible. Still, no official action was taken, and the city council unanimously agreed to consider enacting the program at a future city meeting. The 10 Quivira CID, also called Ten Quivira Plaza, is the shopping [...]
info2021-10-27T07:08:16-05:00October 27th, 2021|
Who went too far? A Johnson County district judge who found the state’s new emergency management law unconstitutional. Or the Legislature that authored the law? The Kansas Supreme Court on Tuesday grappled with those issues as it tried to decide the fate of the new emergency management law passed last session. The bill – known as SB 40 – gave Kansans new legal recourse if they believed they’ve been aggrieved by a health order issued by the state and local governments, including school districts. The law came about in response to complaints that health officers across the state had over-asserted their [...]
info2021-10-27T07:08:38-05:00October 26th, 2021|
Topeka is offering $10,000 to remote workers willing to buy a house and relocate to the Golden City. Since the pandemic’s forced work-from-home shift, remote workers have become the gold in a rush by rural towns and shrinking cities to attract these free agents and their out-of-state salaries. “Looking at talent has become one of the most important assets that people are going to be vying for over the next 10 years for sure,” said Bob Ross, vice president of marketing and communications for the Greater Topeka Partnership, which runs the program. “We decided to go ahead and put our money [...]
info2021-10-26T16:48:21-05:00October 26th, 2021|
ReConnect Program Webinars FY2022 Interested to learn more about our Rural Development ReConnect Program? USDA will host four webinars covering the ReConnect Program Regulation and the recently announced ReConnect Program FY2022 Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA). ReConnect Program Regulation Webinar We will present this webinar twice. The second presentation will provide the same information as the first one; no new information will be added to the second session. Please register for the session that's most convenient for you. Tuesday, November 9, 2021 from 2:00PM to 3:30PM Eastern Register here! Tuesday, November 16, 2021 from 2:00PM to 3:30PM Eastern Register here! ReConnect Program [...]
info2021-10-26T07:07:10-05:00October 26th, 2021|
On October 2, a ribbon-cutting ceremony marked the official opening of the M.T. Art Environment visitor center near Mullinville. Director Ann Dixson said she was relieved and happy that those scissors she held signified the grand opening that she as site steward and director was long planning for and working toward steadily. “We served cookies at the grand opening event that had little hearts on them because M.T. liked to make heart shapes in his sculptural works,” Dixson said. Myron Thomas (M.T.) Liggett became famous for creating politically charged, sometimes comic or slightly infuriating metal totems and whirligigs. He has created [...]
