News – Page 2322 – Ranson Financial Group LLC

Garden City Commission OKs input plan for Big Pool

info2018-10-17T07:14:23-05:00October 17th, 2018|

Changes in some capacity are coming to the Big Pool after its 2019 season, and the City of Garden City is turning to the public to see exactly what those might be. At its Tuesday meeting, the Garden City Commission unanimously approved a long-term community input process that will gather feedback from community members and local entities regarding the future of the historic, though ailing and expensive, Big Pool. Following up on her report on the pool earlier this month, Assistant City Manager Jennifer Cunningham told the commission that last summer the pool cost approximately $3,337 per day in utilities over [...]

St. John grocery store opens for business

info2018-10-17T07:12:40-05:00October 17th, 2018|

Loyd Ratts cruised down the aisles of White’s Foodliner in St. John, Kansas, and thought of his childhood. Ratts was the first customer of the new grocery store, which opened Wednesday morning. The grocery store is the two-year culmination of efforts by community groups, led by Stafford County Economic Development, operator of the new establishment. Funding for the $3 million project came through a sales tax approved by voters and multiple grants, including a $780,800 federal grant from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which the county received a year ago. “I think it is an important part of a [...]

Chanute Chief of Police and Neosho County Attorney address concerns about homeless camp north of Chanute

info2018-10-17T07:10:38-05:00October 17th, 2018|

Why are there so many people living in tents on the north side of town and why won’t the police do anything about it? Is there criminal activity going on there? According to Chanute Chief of Police Raymond Hale, both city and county law enforcement are aware of the situation. The location of the tents, on North Washington Ave., is outside of Chanute city limits and the county has no specific zoning that says people can’t camp or live there. Neosho County Attorney Linus Thuston noted that the original owners of the land are deceased and at least one of the [...]

Wichita City Council extends deadline on Downtown Hilton after pool takes 8 months

info2018-10-17T07:06:10-05:00October 17th, 2018|

The developers of the Hilton Garden Inn in Downtown Wichita asked the city council for an extension on its project completion date and the ability to get more money after a late-addition rooftop pool shut down the project for eight months. Wichita Downtown Hotel LLC also asked city council to lift the $930,000 cap on incentives because of the costs of the re-design, which includes the pool, a rooftop bar and commercial space on the first floor of the Hilton at 401 E. Douglas. City council approved the extension to March 31 but left the cap in place. This is the [...]

Wichita’s new ball park expected to fit thousands more fans than Lawrence-Dumont

info2018-10-17T06:51:50-05:00October 17th, 2018|

By the end of the year, Lawrence-Dumont Stadium will be a pile of rubble, clearing room for a ball park that will fit thousands more fans, according to a draft agreement awaiting city approval. Wichita’s yet-to-be named stadium will have seating for 10,000 fans, the agreement says. That’s 3,600 more than 84-year-old Lawrence-Dumont Stadium. Of those seats, 6,500 to 7,000 will be fixed seats. “Party and group” areas will fit 3,000 to 3,500 more fans, moving the number of available seats to around 10,000 for minor league baseball games, the draft agreement says. Seating, financing and a rough timeline were among [...]

New Hutchinson police chief begins duties Wednesday

info2018-10-17T06:49:34-05:00October 17th, 2018|

The new police chief for the city of Hutchinson begins his duties Wednesday. Jeff Hooper will take over the department from Dick Heitschmidt, who recently retired. Hooper has served as a captain with the joint Riley County-Manhattan Police Department. That included 27 years in law enforcement and 14 as captain. He was actually a finalist for the chief’s position with that department, but withdrew his name from consideration to take the job in Hutchinson. (Read more: Hutch Post)

Is there hope for Brookridge? OP Council raises serious doubts about incentives

info2018-10-17T06:48:17-05:00October 17th, 2018|

The fate of the massive Brookridge golf course redevelopment remains in serious doubt after the Overland Park City Council decisively trounced a proposal Monday night to negotiate tax incentives to make the project a reality. The Council voted 8-4 against a request to have city staff negotiate a tax-increment-financing and STAR bonds package for the huge office, apartment and retail development, which is planned southeast of 103rd Street and Antioch Road on the golf course property. It was a significant defeat, because any final vote on incentives would require nine of the 12 council votes, and this early rebuff showed supporters [...]

Before divided crowd, PV council advances LGBTQ anti-discrimination policy

info2018-10-17T06:45:44-05:00October 17th, 2018|

The City of Prairie Village is advancing a proposed LGBTQ anti-discrimination ordinance after hearing from more than two dozen residents and other speakers Monday night, most of them in favor of the measure. The City Council voted 9-3 to schedule a Nov. 19 vote on the ordinance, which would extend legal protections to members of the LGBTQ community when it comes to housing, employment and receiving public services from businesses. Councilman Tucker Poling, who co-sponsored the measure with Councilman Chad Herring, said that the 30 days would give the city’s legal and administrative staff time to review the proposal’s language for [...]

Blanchard, Salina city commission discuss sanctioning of former commissioner during meeting

info2018-10-17T06:29:50-05:00October 17th, 2018|

For more than an hour, the Salina City Commission and former commissioner Jon Blanchard discussed whether or not Blanchard should have been sanctioned while on the commission. Commissioners at the time voted 3-2 to reprimand Blanchard for releasing unredacted documents to the Salina Journal that had been considered confidential. The Journal first received documents in June 2014 in response to an open records request, but much of the information was blacked out, or redacted. The documents concerned a contract between the city and the Salina Area Chamber of Commerce for economic development services. In the documents, city leaders gave reasons for [...]

Finney, Scott and Kearny counties considering Extension district

info2018-10-17T06:23:25-05:00October 17th, 2018|

Representatives from Finney, Scott and Kearny counties met last week to discuss potentially districting their and Wichita County’s Kansas State University Research and Extension offices, a decision that would combine the resources of the four offices under an area governing board to expand the services available to all counties. Finney County commissioners Larry Jones, Dave Jones and Bill Clifford discussed how the decision could affect the county and its taxpayers during the commissioner report section of their meeting Monday. Commissioners Duane Drees and Lon Pishny were not present. Larry Jones said he thought the district route would bring Finney County residents [...]