News – Page 2109 – Ranson Financial Group LLC

Wichita police join federal partnership to fight rise in violent crimes

info2019-06-04T09:36:20-05:00June 4th, 2019|

WICHITA, Kan. With a violent crime rate U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister says is "significantly above the national average," a local and federal partnership aims to make Wichita safer. McAllister announced Monday that the Wichita Police Department was approved to receive special training and technical assistance from the National Safety Partnership. The Wichita Police Department reports an increase in violent crime over the past three years. The department says shootings have been steadily increasing since 2014 and Wichita saw an increase of 31 percent in shootings from 2016 to 2018 (Read more: KWCH News)

Study: Kansas rural roads among America’s most deadly

info2019-06-04T09:33:50-05:00June 4th, 2019|

A new study of nationwide deadly car accidents says Kansas has some of the worst in the nation. Country roads in Kansas rank in the top ten of the most deadly streets. The report shows our rural roads are three times as fatal as our interstate highways. For every 100 million miles cars travel on rural roads, there are about 2.5 deaths. The highway patrol says there are several factors that contribute to this. "Not speeding on those rural highways" is a simple solution says Kansas Highway Patrol Lieutenant Adam Winters. "I know it's really easy to do sometimes. Make sure they're watching the crossroads [...]

Lawrence residents ask city to reconsider requirement that property owners pay for sidewalk repairs

info2019-06-03T11:59:17-05:00June 3rd, 2019|

This spring, 243 homeowners got a letter from the city telling them to fix their sidewalks or else have them condemned and fixed by the city at their expense. On the receiving end of one of those letters was Sarah Farthing, who since then has joined with other residents in Northwest Lawrence to ask the city to halt the implementation of its recently established sidewalk maintenance policy. The policy, adopted by the Lawrence City Commission last year, requires property owners to fix sidewalks that run adjacent to their homes or businesses that are deemed hazardous. The city considers a sidewalk hazardous [...]

Mayor, council to discuss privatizing Topeka Zoo under FOTZ

info2019-06-03T11:29:19-05:00June 3rd, 2019|

Things are going pretty well at the Topeka Zoo, says zoo director Brendan Wiley. That is one reason why this is a good time for city officials to discuss potentially privatizing the zoo’s operations under the direction of the nonprofit Friends of the Topeka Zoo, Wiley said this past week. The zoo’s staffing wouldn’t change if that happened, he said. The facility would simply operate under a different governance model, which would accommodate growth without the risk of putting an additional burden on taxpayers. (Read more: Local - The Topeka Capital-Journal)

Kansas A to Z: ‘D’ is for Dalton Gang Hideout museum in Meade

info2019-06-03T11:28:56-05:00June 3rd, 2019|

Located at 502 S. Pearlette St. in Meade is the Dalton Gang Hideout. It includes the former house of J.N. Whipple, who built the house in 1887 and was the husband of Eva Dalton, sister of the members of the infamous Dalton Gang of train and bank robbers from the day, according to the Hideout website. The tourist site includes a reconstructed barn and 95-foot long tunnel that the gang reportedly used to avoid capture by law enforcement. (Read more: News - SJ News Online - St. John, KS)

Kansas A to Z: ‘C’ is for WaKeeney Christmas

info2019-06-03T11:28:34-05:00June 3rd, 2019|

Hailed as the Christmas City of the High Plains, the holiday spirit can be discovered year-round in WaKeeney. The city’s annual tree lighting and downtown Christmas display is known as the largest between Kansas City and Denver, but even a trip to the city in the summer will bring reminders of Christmas. A vacant lot located in the 100 block of Main Street has been transformed into the WaKeeney’s North Pole Park, featuring permanent holiday decorations. “WaKeeney, the main thing we’re known as is the Christmas City of the High Plains year-round,” said Cathy Albert, director of WaKeeney Travel and Tourism. [...]

Scott City okays guidelines for RVs, trailers on city streets

info2019-06-03T11:57:07-05:00June 3rd, 2019|

The Scott City Council has passed an ordinance establishing stricter guidelines for RVs and trailers parked on city streets. It is illegal to park the following on a street for more than two hours during any 24-hour period: •any truck with a gross vehicle weight of more than 24,000 pounds. •a bus, truck, tractor, farm tractor, trailer or semi-trailer, vacation travel trailer, motor home, boat/boat trailer, snowmobile, or utility trailer. Vehicles and trailers may be parked for up to 12 hours during a 24-hour period under the following circumstances... (Read more: Scott County Record RSS)

Wastewater released into creek at Russell to relieve overwhelmed sewer system

info2019-06-03T11:57:23-05:00June 3rd, 2019|

Heavy rainfall has overwhelmed many sewer systems across Kansas pushing the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to monitor the release of untreated wastewater into nearby creeks, including by the city of Russell. Rich Krause, Russell public works director, said the release was necessary last week as water continued to overwhelm the sewer system and homes were being flooded with water from the sewer system. While water bypassed treatment systems, Krause said it was pumped from a manhole on a city street and would have been mostly rainwater. Russell is not alone when it comes to this problem. “Great Bend and McPherson dealt [...]

Elected officials to take up artificial turf replacement, public camping

info2019-06-03T10:18:27-05:00June 3rd, 2019|

Artificial turf placement and camping on public property are among topics local elected officials plan to take up this coming week. The Shawnee County Commission will meet at 9 a.m. Monday in its chambers in Room B-11 of the County Courthouse, 200 S.E. 7th, while the Topeka City Council will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday in its chambers at 214 S.E. 8th. Commissioners will consider approving a proposed $778,319.50 project budget to place artificial turf at the Lake Shawnee Girl’s Softball Complex. They initially considered that proposal May 23 but deferred action on it until Monday’s meeting. (Read more: Local Government [...]

Nickerson flooding considered worst in decades

info2019-06-03T10:11:24-05:00June 3rd, 2019|

NICKERSON - Flooding in Nickerson was bad in 1993, said Gordon Roth. “This one’s a little worse,” Roth said Friday. He drives a grain truck for Central Prairie Co-op, which has been unable to sell fuel virtually all this week because of flooding. Some residents on the north end are battling groundwater coming up through their basements, while residents on the south side are fighting rising groundwater plus floodwater, according to Nickerson City Clerk Robin Schmitt. “The whole town had groundwater issues, and then flooding hit,” Schmitt said. (Read more: Local - The Hutchinson News)