News – Page 59 – Ranson Financial Group LLC

Wichita delays strict rules for operating golf carts on city streets, seeks public input

info2025-01-22T09:25:07-06:00January 22nd, 2025|

Wichita has paused a recently passed city ordinance regulating the use of golf carts in city limits. The ordinance received initial approval last week on a 4-3 vote and was slated to receive final approval Tuesday. As written, it would be the most restrictive regulations for golf carts in the state. It allowed for carts to be driven on city streets with posted speed limits of 30 mph or less, but restricted driving to 18 or older. It also prohibited golf carts from being driven in the city’s core area — downtown, Old Town and Delano — and from crossing arterial [...]

Wichita updates master plan for bicycles

info2025-01-22T09:23:25-06:00January 22nd, 2025|

The Wichita City Council has approved an update to the city’s Bicycle Master Plan. The update was prepared throughout 2024 and it’s a ten-year plan for infrastructure, policies and programs to provide for safe, comfortable and convenient. The city has added 70 miles of bikeways since the 2013 plan was adopted. The 2024 update calls for another 81 miles of bikeways over the next decade. The Bicycle Plan also looks to connect important destinations like parks, schools, recreation centers and retail areas. It will also look to connect Wichita’s pathway system with bike networks in neighboring communities like Derby and Andover. [...]

Kansas towns request $600M in first two years of water project grants

info2025-01-22T09:19:35-06:00January 22nd, 2025|

Kansas communities in the last two years have requested more than $600 million for water needs, stunning state officials as they work to allocate funds to a fraction of the projects. Dawn Buehler, chair of the Kansas Water Authority, told members of a Kansas House committee Tuesday that the state’s two new water grant programs, funded by the Legislature in 2023, have received almost 600 applications for funding in their first two fiscal years. For the fiscal year that ended in June, the state received requests totaling more than $380 million. But the state had just $18 million available. This year, [...]

Grain Belt developers tell lawmakers how the transmission line will benefit Kansas

info2025-01-22T09:17:54-06:00January 22nd, 2025|

While it won’t drop off electricity to substations in Kansas, the Grain Belt Express transmission line will bring savings and improve reliability for residents, developers of the project said Thursday. Representatives from Invenergy, the Chicago-based company developing the Grain Belt Express, appeared before committees of the Kansas Senate and House to answer questions about the project, which is expected to carry renewable energy from southwest Kansas through Missouri and Illinois, ending at the Indiana border. Using high-voltage direct current technology, the 5,000-megawatt line will carry as much power as three traditional power line networks, Invenergy representatives said. It can also reverse [...]

Halstead Planning and Zoning considers changes to battery storage regulations

info2025-01-22T09:16:41-06:00January 22nd, 2025|

After receiving feedback on proposed regulations, the Halstead Planning and Zoning Board reviewed a draft policy. This was the latest step in an ongoing process to create regulations for a potential battery energy storage system (BESS) in Halstead. The city received a request from Concurrent to build a battery storage facility in the industrial park, which Concurrent would then sell to a company who would utilize the facility. After spending over a year researching the concerns around a facility, the board published a draft of its proposed regulations for a battery storage facility. These regulations included requirements for noise limits, runoff [...]

Kansas City faces a new economic ‘border war’ as sports and stadium deals loom

info2025-01-22T09:15:17-06:00January 22nd, 2025|

More than five years ago, Kansas and Missouri declared a truce. The two states had for years engaged in a bloodletting competition to lure businesses to their side of the Kansas City region — handing out lucrative incentives to move a corporate headquarters just a few miles across the state line. These deals brought no new jobs to the region. They sacrificed millions in taxes that could have gone to hire more teachers, pave more roads or invest in public safety. They did nothing to improve the regional economy. It was, as many called it, a race to the bottom. Suddenly, [...]

Pittsburg Police, Fire participate in Battle of the Badges

info2025-01-22T09:13:22-06:00January 22nd, 2025|

The Pittsburg Police Department and the Pittsburg Fire Department are going head-to-head during Battle of the Badges. The two agencies will team up with the American Red Cross for a blood drive and chili feed. Attendees will be able to vote on their favorite chili, while giving back and donating during the blood drive. Source: KOAM News

Route set for 2025 Biking Across Kansas

info2025-01-22T09:11:34-06:00January 22nd, 2025|

The 2025 Biking Across Kansas route has been set. The annual ride is non-competitive and is for capable riders of all ages. It has been held each year along different routes across the state since 1975, except in 2020. This year, hundreds of bikers will travel across north Kansas from the Colorado to Missouri state line. The route will start on U.S. Highway 36 at the Colorado state line and utilize some county roads, portions of Kansas Highway 9, and U.S. Highway 24 before returning to U.S. Highway 36 for the rest of the route. Riders will travel 475 miles over [...]

Kansas sheriff wants help designing new patch

info2025-01-22T09:10:06-06:00January 22nd, 2025|

The Wabaunsee County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO) is asking the community to use their creativity to help design the new sheriff’s office patch. The WCSO is asking residents to help design a patch to be worn by deputies to represent the county. The Sheriff’s Office said it should stand as a symbol of the 166-year history of the county. “We look so forward to seeing all the creativity and passion you may conjure & we shall proudly wear on our shoulders this new sewn symbol of that which already rests within our hearts that will be made, by you,” the Sheriff’s Office [...]

City says freezing temperatures are putting pressure on pipe infrastructure

info2025-01-22T09:09:02-06:00January 22nd, 2025|

The City of Topeka is busy working on water main breaks following the sudden drop in temperature. City Infrastructure Communications Specialist Amanda Knowland said, since Friday, Jan. 17, city crews have responded to 38 calls for no water and emergency shut-offs for broken pipes. “Extreme weather is one of the highest contributors to water main breaks,” Knowland said. “Sudden drops in temperature freeze the ground, putting pressure on pipes.” Knowland said that in January city crews have repaired 36 water main breaks. She said city crews worked an “unusually high” number of breaks in January 2024 at 154 total. Source: KSNT [...]