News – Page 2133 – Ranson Financial Group LLC

Wichita City Council approvals help advance major downtown projects

info2019-05-15T06:51:59-05:00May 15th, 2019|

The Wichita City Council on Tuesday approved measures related to two potential projects that those behind them think will play a significant role in reshaping the city’s downtown core. The Council unanimously approved a memorandum of understanding with developer Sudha Tokala’s Douglas Market Development LLC that helps advance her plans for a downtown medical school and an associated campus that will include a student housing building, a 119-room hotel and a culinary school and event center. Tokala’s plans were given their most public detail yet in previously released city documents, which describe an estimated $75 million in redevelopment costs of five [...]

Wichita Riverside neighborhood celebrates victory over cell tower plan

info2019-05-15T06:49:45-05:00May 15th, 2019|

The Wichita City Council chopped down another plan for a cell tower in Riverside on Tuesday. The proposed 80-foot tower at Woodland and 18th marked the second attempt to gain approval for a facility that T-Mobile says is necessary to keep up with expanding demand for smartphone mobile data services. The public wasn’t allowed to speak during council consideration of the tower, but neighbors were celebrating at an impromptu news conference right after the meeting. They say a cell tower would harm the aesthetic atmosphere and property values of their older neighborhood and there’s no place in Riverside where one would [...]

Ellis Co. commissioners support sales tax, but split on how much

info2019-05-15T06:48:43-05:00May 15th, 2019|

Ellis County commissioners agreed at their meeting Monday night they are interested in pursuing a countywide sales tax to help make up shortfalls in the county’s budget. However, the commissioners disagreed about what form that tax should take. The county is facing a budget gap of about $467,000 for 2020 with escalating deficits during the next four years. County Administration Phillip Smith-Hanes said several variables still need to be calculated into the budget, including potential increases in health care expenses, changes in the assessed valuation, and the final allocations to outside agencies. The county has already discussed decreasing the percentage it [...]

Wichita City Council approves purchase of 4 electric buses

info2019-05-15T06:46:27-05:00May 15th, 2019|

The Wichita City Council Tuesday (May 14) gives the green light for the city to purchase four electric buses. Wichita Transit Director Mike Tann says he expects the buses' deliver to happen in October. Partnered with electric-bus designer and manufacturer, Proterra, Wichita successfully obtained federal funding to cover costs for the buses, expected to hit the city's streets later this year. The approval to purchase four electric buses follows an ongoing effort toward transit improvements in Wichita. (Read more: KWCH News)

Bel Aire denies trash hauler’s fee increase

info2019-05-14T10:01:56-05:00May 14th, 2019|

The Bel Aire City Council May 7 denied a request from Waste Connections for a 2 percent increase for waste and recycling fees with a 3-2 vote. Waste Management makes a request for the increase each year as the cost of doing business increases. The increase isn't mandatory, and the decision is left up to city council. Last year, the council denied the request. Two years ago, the council gave Waste Management a 1.5 percent increase. Council member Jim Benage asked Herschel West of Waste Management to provide a detailed analysis of the business' increased costs in Bel Aire over the [...]

Liberal, Seward County combine to fund emergency response

info2019-05-14T09:59:44-05:00May 14th, 2019|

“This is an entire community public safety project,” Liberal Fire Chief Kelly Kirk said. “We’re talking the communications for sheriff, police, both fires, EMS, emergency management in the event of a tornado, ice storm, wind storm, whatever. Isn’t that what the sales tax money’s for, and isn’t that where that money’s coming from? The people who drive through here from Iowa.” “We’re not paying salaries out of that, but aren’t they the ones that use that? The folks from the county who come to town and shop. The folks from Oklahoma who come to town and shop. The people who drive [...]

No Mercy: How A Kansas Town Is Grappling With Its Hospital’s Closure

info2019-05-14T09:24:05-05:00May 14th, 2019|

Yet, even as this town deals with the trauma of losing a beloved institution, deeper national questions underlie the struggle: Do small communities like Fort Scott need a traditional hospital at all? And if not, how will they get the health care they need? Sisters of Mercy nuns opened Fort Scott's 10-bed frontier hospital in 1886 — a time when traveling 30 miles to see a doctor was unfathomable and when most medical treatments were so primitive they could be dispensed almost anywhere. Now, driving the four-lane highway north to Kansas City, Kan., or crossing the state line to Joplin, Mo., [...]

Wichita Police Foundation works to equip more WPD officers with trauma kits

info2019-05-14T09:18:15-05:00May 14th, 2019|

The Wichita Police Foundation organizes an effort to help officers with the city's police department be as prepared as they can be in emergency response. The foundation this week is providing the Wichita Police Department with 40 trauma kits, featuring life-saving tools officers can use to treat injuries when responding to calls. "Trauma kits are incredible, life-saving tools. And it came to our attention that not all of our police officers have them, (it's) not something each of them are able to carry," says Becca Boldra with the Wichita Police Foundation. Boldra says the group became aware of the need for [...]

Church given chance to buy Partridge school

info2019-05-14T08:43:49-05:00May 14th, 2019|

Real estate issues captured the focus of Haven USD 312 school board members Monday night. The board voted 6-1 -- Dustin Carmichael cast the dissenting vote -- to counter Plainview Mennonite Church’s offer to buy the closed Partridge Grade School. Plainview Mennonite Church, 5610 W. Trail West Rd., is about four miles from Partridge. It uses the old Partridge school for its youth ministry program. In May 2018, USD 312 closed the newer school, constructed in 2000. The church wants to buy that property for its youth ministry. A couple of months ago, the church made an offer to buy the [...]

Hutchinson Chamber asks members to contact commission over NextEra permit

info2019-05-14T08:39:46-05:00May 14th, 2019|

The Hutchinson Chamber of Commerce sent out an email blast to its members last Friday advising them to contact Reno County Commissioners to ask them to support the proposed NextEra Energy wind farm in southeast Reno County. That, despite the county commission adopting a policy in March – and reiterating it during at least two commission meetings since – that the commissioners cannot consider input on zoning applications such as the one sought by NextEra outside of information presented to it via the Reno County Planning Commission’s process. Chamber President Debra Teufel said both the Chamber’s board of directors and its [...]