News – Page 2296 – Ranson Financial Group LLC

Garden City Fire Chief Allen Shelton named 2018 Fire Chief of the Year

info2018-11-13T08:32:05-06:00November 13th, 2018|

Garden City Fire Chief Allen Shelton has been named the 2018 Fire Chief of the Year by the Kansas State Association of Fire Chiefs. Shelton received the award during the association’s conference held in Garden City October 26-28. Shelton has spent his entire 44 year career with the Garden City Fire Department. He began in September 1975 as a volunteer firefighter, was then elected volunteer assistant chief in April 1978 and volunteer fire chief in March 1982. Shelton became the first full-time, paid fire chief of the Garden City Fire Department on February 27, 1984. During his time as fire chief, [...]

Shawnee creates Shawbucks contest to draw business downtown during construction

info2018-11-13T08:30:17-06:00November 13th, 2018|

Shawnee has launched “Shawbucks,” a contest that encourages customers to shop and eat at the businesses and restaurants downtown. Lauren Grashoff, neighborhood planner, said the extensive construction with Nieman Now! has impacted many of the businesses along Nieman Road and Johnson Drive. “We wanted to appreciate the patience that they’ve had with the city and the ongoing construction,” Grashoff said. “This is just kind of a way to support them and offer an incentive for people to visit the businesses downtown.” Here’s how it works: Customers can visit any of the 29 participating businesses. While shopping or grabbing a bite to [...]

Reno County Commission to consider moratorium on wind farms Tuesday

info2018-11-13T08:28:39-06:00November 13th, 2018|

Reno County Commissioners will take on two matters regarding the proposed wind farm near Pretty Prairie during Tuesday’s agenda session. The first is a request by NextEra to construct a 199-foot-tall temporary tower that will be used to measure wind speed and conditions as a study for the proposed wind farm. The other comes at the request of several patrons around the Haven area that would like to see the wind farm either stopped or delayed. The commission will consider a resolution for a temporary moratorium on commercial wind energy improvement within the unincorporated parts of the county until better regulations [...]

Lenexa releases updated version of city’s mobile app

info2018-11-13T08:26:55-06:00November 13th, 2018|

Lenexa has released a whole new look to its mobile application, I Like Lenexa. Chris Stilwell, the city software developer who built and maintains the app, said its redesigned product interface has “more dynamic” information as well as interactivity for users. The first version of the app was released in 2014. At the time, the app was “static,” with only a few sections to click through, with basic, minimal information about the city’s amenities. The new version, on the other hand, is an interactive informational portal that pulls more data from the city website at a near real-time pace. “We really [...]

Overland Park has the most congested 4-lane road in Kansas. But can the state help?

info2018-11-13T08:23:17-06:00November 13th, 2018|

Anyone who has driven U.S. 69 in Overland Park knows rush hour traffic is getting worse and the chance of accidents more prevalent. In fact, it’s the most congested four-lane highway in Kansas, with 80,000 vehicles per day. So Overland Park leaders are urgently appealing to the state for highway funds to help widen U.S. 69 to six lanes from I-435 south to 159th Street. “This by far is the No. 1 project that will keep the economic impact coming to the state and to the city of Overland Park,” Mayor Carl Gerlach told members of a joint legislative transportation task [...]

Lawsuit over injuries at Expocentre involves Shawnee County, facility’s former management company

info2018-11-13T07:03:54-06:00November 13th, 2018|

An injury suffered by a spectator at a Kansas Kids Wrestling event in Topeka has officials wrestling over legal issues involving Shawnee County, the group that put on the event and the company that formerly managed the Kansas Expocentre. The lawsuit involved was filed last year by Jonell Schenk, who says the sharp metal armrest of a fixed chair severely cut her on a leg as she tried to sit in it in March 2015 while attending the Kansas Kids Wrestling Tournament at the Expocentre’s Landon Arena. Schenk, of Johnson County, says she initially needed 12 staples in her interior thigh. [...]

Johnson County, census form partnership

info2018-11-13T07:01:24-06:00November 13th, 2018|

Oct. 29, Johnson County became the first county in Kansas to proclaim its partnership with the U.S. Census Bureau for the 2020 Census. Ed Eilert , board of county commission chairman, presented a proclamation at today’s business session. Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution mandates a census take place every 10 years. The data collected determines a state’s number of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and determines how billions of dollars in federal funds are dispersed to local communities. Alan E. Organ, M.D., PhD, Census Bureau Partnership Specialist accepted the proclamation today. He spoke about the importance of [...]

Butler County requests public feedback on Hazard Mitigation Plan

info2018-11-13T06:47:27-06:00November 13th, 2018|

Butler County currently participates, along with 10 other counties, in a regional‐level Hazard Mitigation Plan. The Plan is due to expire in May of 2019. Working with the State of Kansas and a planning contractor, the county, including cities, townships, school districts, fire districts, etc., is currently participating in an update to this plan. This plan looks at our county from a lot of different angles (population, economy, geography, infrastructure...) and figures out where we are vulnerable to disasters. It then tries to identify actions that can be taken to reduce risks. By going through this process and participating in a [...]

‘Human error’ leads to vote-counting errors — Crawford County votes to hire election lawyer to oversee next week’s canvass

info2018-11-13T06:42:59-06:00November 13th, 2018|

“Human error” led to inaccurate election results being published by the Crawford County Clerk’s office Tuesday night, commissioners were told Friday Crawford County Clerk Don Pyle said results from five of the county’s 16 polling locations were counted twice, doubling votes for each candidate and resulting in inaccurate results. He said the mistake was due to human error, not mechanical. “The polling places make data cards that we insert into software that counts the votes,” he said. “The person inputting the data got interrupted and put five of them in twice.” Pyle said they discovered the mistake during a routine precinct-by-precinct [...]

Wichita City Hall wants to step in and save Starlite Drive-In

info2018-11-13T06:35:44-06:00November 13th, 2018|

Wichita City Hall joined the fight to save the Starlite Drive-In on Friday, calling on the owner to pause efforts to turn it into a warehouse complex. Mayor Jeff Longwell and City Council member James Clendenin posted that plea on the city’s Facebook page. “We are extremely disappointed in the potential loss of a longtime, iconic quality of life amenity for our community that means so much to so many,” the posting said. “We plead with the seller to put a hold on the selling of any assets of the drive-in this coming Tuesday and invite the city, community, philanthropists and [...]