News – Page 2250 – Ranson Financial Group LLC

100 plus streak ends: Chetopa’s Altoona-Midway snaps six-year losing skid on basketball court; exhibit great class in victory

info2019-01-08T09:32:40-06:00January 8th, 2019|

For the Altoona-Midway boys basketball team, this wasn’t just a monkey on their back. It was more like a baboon. A 500-pound weight? More like a ton. But the larger the obstacle, the greater the satisfaction after having overcome that barrier. No doubt there are still some gigantic smiles on the faces of Jets players, coaches and fans today. For the first time in more than six years, the Altoona-Midway High School boys tasted victory in a varsity basketball game, defeating the Chetopa Hornets 37-31 Friday night. “To say the kids were pretty excited after the game tonight would be an [...]

County leaders see growing need for mental health co-responders working with police

info2019-01-08T09:30:13-06:00January 8th, 2019|

The number of mental health-related 911 calls continues to climb in northeast Johnson County. And to meet that growing need, Johnson County Mental Health is deploying a second mental health co-responder to assist law enforcement agencies in the Shawnee Mission area. This second staff member will split focus on assisting the police departments of Prairie Village and Leawood. The existing northeast area co-responder will continue responding to mental health-related calls across five police jurisdictions and eight other cities in northeast Johnson County. Tim DeWeese, director of the Johnson County Mental Health Center, said the need for mental health co-responders is “definitely [...]

Labette County discusses fees for copies for the public

info2019-01-08T09:28:53-06:00January 8th, 2019|

Labette County commissioners discussed fees to charge the public for copies during a short business meeting Monday before touring roads and buildings. Register of Deeds Julie Becker discussed the copy fees and shared a spreadsheet of what other registers of deeds charge for copying in Kansas. Another deed register created the spreadsheet. The spreadsheet shows that Labette County charges 25 cents per page when a customer is in the deeds office and $1.05 for emailed or faxed copies. Index pages cost $5. These are large pages from books that record all properties in the county and track ownership from when the [...]

Pratt solar farm is ready

info2019-01-08T09:27:26-06:00January 8th, 2019|

Electricity from 22,232 solar panels is now flowing into the city of Pratt power grid from the solar farm built east of town. The Pratt Solar Farm is now online in test phase, feeding electricity into the city’s power grid, right on schedule, according to city manager Rick Eckert. At a groundbreaking ceremony last summer at the solar farm site east of Pratt Community College, Mayor Doug Meyer projected a start-up date for the city grid to gain electricity from the solar farm in January 2019. “This is a cooperative project between Kenyon Energy, Inovateus Solar and the city of Pratt,” [...]

Finney County approves zoning amendments

info2019-01-08T06:47:54-06:00January 8th, 2019|

The Finney County Commission approved amendments to two county zoning regulations at its meeting Monday, changing rules regarding the transfer of conditional use permits and temporary signage. Under an amendment to Article 28 in the zoning regulations, a conditional use permit for a certain property can be transferred twice to two separate entities if the transfer is for the same use, according to the amendment. The transfer includes a $200 fee, is granted at the Neighborhood and Development Services’ discretion and is conditional on the new owner not changing more than 10 percent of the building footprint. The change allows Neighborhood [...]

Shawnee County Commission allocates $3 million to Expocentre project

info2019-01-08T06:45:55-06:00January 8th, 2019|

Shawnee County commissioners on Monday morning voted 2-1 to approve $3 million in excess reserve funds to help pay for major upgrades at the Kansas Expocentre, placing the price tag on the renovation and construction project at $48 million. The vote didn’t come without opposition from two citizens who voiced their concerns during a public comment session, however. And to make sure his sentiment opposing the allocation on Monday was clearly expressed, Commissioner Bob Archer exclaimed “no” when the actual vote was taken. Voting for the measure were commissioners Shelly Buhler and Kevin Cook. With the vote, the Expocentre project budget [...]

Pittsburg city commission welcomes new member

info2019-01-08T06:43:31-06:00January 8th, 2019|

Dan McNally was sworn in as Pittsburg’s newest city commissioner last week after the seat was vacated by Mayor Jeremy Johnson, who resigned in December. Johnson was elected to the Crawford County Commission in the November election after a ballot recount. McNally earned degrees in social work and clinical psychology from Pittsburg State University and the University of Kansas. He now works with Spring River Mental Health & Wellness in Riverton. The new commissioner has more than a dozen years of experience working with children and families at the Family Resource Center in Pittsburg. McNally has served as vice chair for [...]

Salina approves City Manager employment contract

info2019-01-08T06:42:31-06:00January 8th, 2019|

The Salina City Commission voted unanimously Monday afternoon to approve an employment contract for Mike Schrage, Salina’s next city manager. Schrage has been serving as interim city manager since June, when former City Manager Jason Gage resigned to become city manager in Springfield, Mo. Before that, Schrage served as Salina’s deputy city manager for 12 1/2 years. The Salina city manager is responsible to the city commission for the administration of all activities, functions, and programs of the city, in accordance with state law and policies adopted by the city commission. The commission’s vote formalizes its Dec. 21 decision to offer [...]

Lawrence sees increase in staff resignations, needs to fill 18 full-time positions

info2019-01-07T08:24:44-06:00January 7th, 2019|

City of Lawrence officials say the city is losing specialized staff at a high rate, and that significant pay raises could be required to stem the tide of outgoing employees. More than 20 highly specialized city staff members whose jobs require formal technical and scientific training have resigned in the past few years, according to information the city provided the Journal-World. About 10 of those resignations were employees in the city’s municipal services and operations department and occurred over the past several months. City Manager Tom Markus said that the resignations are mainly market driven. He said that amid record-low unemployment [...]

Maxine preserves Opolis history

info2019-01-07T08:20:27-06:00January 7th, 2019|

Need to know a bit of history about the city of Opolis? Maxine Seal Miller is your woman. Maxine — who was born locally and raised in Opolis — practically spent her whole life collecting bits and pieces of Opolis history. She had a friend, Elma Bateman, who was a bit older than her. Elma too, had a collection of Opolis history. “She grew up in Opolis when it was just a little town and it grew into a fairly nice size town as she grew up,” Maxine said. “When she passed away, her daughter gave me all of the things [...]