News – Page 562 – Ranson Financial Group LLC

Wichita library adds locks to some bathroom doors for public safety

info2023-12-08T10:53:22-06:00December 8th, 2023|

As you walk to the family restrooms at the Advanced Learning Library in Downtown Wichita, you'll run into a problem. A small silver lock. The only thing that can open it is a tiny gold coin that you get from the service desk. The library added the locks a couple of months ago because it says there were multiple incidents of people locking the doors and spreading human waste around the bathroom as well as other things. "We have had some instances to be quite honest of drug use, and some other things going on," said Sean Jones, the library's communications [...]

Overland Park moves to allow e-bikes, e-scooters on city trails

info2023-12-08T10:51:49-06:00December 8th, 2023|

Overland Park plans to permanently allow e-mobility devices, like e-bikes and electric scooters, on its city trails. On Monday, the Overland Park City Council Community Development Committee voted 4-0 to recommend approval of the new ordinance and the repeal of an existing one prohibiting motorized devices and vehicles on trails. “To me, this kind of seems like something that’s coming to us whether we like it or not,” Councilmember Logan Heley, who chairs the committee, said. “They’re probably going to use the trails whether we say it’s OK or not.” Former Councilmembers Scott Hamblin and Fred Spears previously sat on this committee, but their terms [...]

Double Trouble: Investors Fight Fed on Two Fronts

info2023-12-08T11:15:02-06:00December 8th, 2023|

Investors are betting against the Fed—twice over. The first bet is the sudden turn from expecting the Federal Reserve to keep rates higher for longer to instead expecting rapid and deep cuts next year. The second bet is almost the exact opposite, that the Fed will have to keep rates much higher in the long run than it says it will. Treasury yields have come down, but at around 4.1% the 10-year yield remains more than 1.5 percentage points above the Fed’s forecast of long-run interest rates. Both bets go against the popular market dictum: Never fight the Fed. Yet, there are good reasons [...]

Emporia discusses rental registrations, vacant property ordinance

info2023-12-08T11:15:32-06:00December 8th, 2023|

City commissioners were undecided on how to proceed with possible rental registrations and updates to the vacant property ordinance on Wednesday afternoon. According to the Director of Building and Neighborhood Development, Kory Krause, the city last discussed rental registration “364 days ago,” but it has come up several times over the last few years. Krause said a rental registration program would help ensure safer rental properties and improve accountability of rental units within the City of Emporia. “We’re still having problems,” Krause said. “We do have issues with rental properties. We’ve had some bad landlords here in town.” He mentioned that about [...]

Power back on for most of Emporia after ‘equipment failure’

info2023-12-08T10:44:38-06:00December 8th, 2023|

The lights are back on for nearly 3,000 Evergy customers in Emporia after an "equipment failure" took power offline for more than two hours Thursday afternoon. The outage, caused by a downed power line, knocked power out for 2,739 customers in Emporia according to the Evergy Outage Map. The outage was first reported just before 3:30 p.m. The outage stretched along U.S. Highway 50 from just west of Prairie Street and east to Sylvan Street, along parts of 12th Avenue, down Commercial Street, and south on Highway 99 past the David Traylor Zoo. As of 5:40 p.m., about 56 customers were still reported to [...]

Proposed overnight homeless shelter in Butler County causes controversy over location

info2023-12-08T10:42:50-06:00December 8th, 2023|

For years some in the Butler County community of El Dorado have had no choice but to live on the street. But that could change when the El Dorado City Commissioners vote on a special permit for a proposed new building. The Butler County Homeless initiative applied for the new building. However, the Planning Commission recommended to the City Commission 7 to 1 to deny the application. But one homeless man we spoke to could use an overnight shelter in El Dorado. “I had a shower today, the first time I had a shower in three months,” said Richard Clark. Clark [...]

Plan would turn former Kansas prison into tourist attraction

info2023-12-08T10:40:46-06:00December 8th, 2023|

It’s a place where thousands of men paid for their crimes. One Leavenworth County city hopes to rescue an old prison from the wrecking ball and turn it into a tourist destination and a testament to local history. City leaders in Lansing hope to save a large section of the Lansing Correctional Facility, the state’s oldest penitentiary, which has roots that date back to the 1860s. The Kansas Department of Corrections still uses some of the campus. Plans to demolish the old state pen may go on hold for history’s sake. “There’s so much history here. Just like they saved Alcatraz,” Debra Bates-Lamborn, president [...]

Fort Scott officials working to maintain local ER access

info2023-12-08T10:39:17-06:00December 8th, 2023|

Fort Scott officials are still working to make sure Bourbon County residents still have local access to an emergency room after December 20th. That's the date Ascension Via Christi has given for when they'll cease operations of the emergency room in Ft. Scott. Fort Scott Mayor Matthew Wells said they've been working with U.S. Senator Jerry Moran's office to give the current facility the Rural Emergency Health Care (REH) designation. When an eligible facility converts to an REH, it allows them to provide emergency department services, observation care, and additional outpatient medical and health services that don't exceed an annual per-patient average [...]

Topeka City Council votes to extend interim city manager’s contract

info2023-12-08T10:38:23-06:00December 8th, 2023|

The Topeka City Council approved multiple items at its Dec. 5 meeting. City leaders voted to extend the contract of Interim City Manager Richard Nienstedt. He will stay in this position until a permanent city manager can be hired. Nienstedt has held the position since June, following the sudden departure and later termination of former City Manager Stephen Wade. The city has enlisted the help of a recruiting company from Texas to fill the role. The council also signed off on a street project near the Oakland neighborhood. The voted unanimously to spend $1 million for mill and overlay work on Northeast [...]

Uniontown SD receives hydroponic farm from Leafy Green Farms

info2023-12-08T10:35:37-06:00December 8th, 2023|

Last week the Uniontown district received a hydroponic farm from Leafy Green Farms. The district is partnering with Leafy Green Farms for five years to have a hydroponic farm classroom on campus so students can learn how to grow organic vegetables. This is a phase one initiative to place a hydroponic farm at ten schools in southeast Kansas. The project is a partnership between Leafy Green Farms and Community Green Farms. Leafy Green Farms is providing everything the school needs for the first three months of operations, including training, all equipment, seeds, and nutrients. Superintendent Vance Eden says they're planning to use [...]