News – Page 66 – Ranson Financial Group LLC

Grant will help study hunger problem

info2024-09-30T09:14:49-05:00September 30th, 2024|

As part of the ongoing process of working to improve living in rural Kansas, Gov. Laura Kelly recently announced 14 grant recipients of the Rural Champions program. One of those recipients is Cowley County, where the monies will be used to develop strategies to combat hunger. This is the second year that the state, through its Office of Rural Prosperity, has awarded the Rural Champion grants to organizations within counties with fewer than 40,000 population. An application for Cowley County last year was unsuccessful. This time, though, the state is awarding the county through the Legacy Community Foundation one-year wage stipend [...]

No Wile E. Coyote: Watch Johnson County animal officer save coyote tangled in wire fence

info2024-09-30T09:13:38-05:00September 30th, 2024|

On Sept. 24, Deputy Dwayne Shoop, a former Johnson County Sheriff’s deputy turned animal control officer, was called to wrangle the American jackal that had been stuck for several hours near West 135th Street and South Spoon Creek Road. Video of the encounter was posted by the sheriff’s office on social media. “It’s typical,” the deputy later said about getting a call regarding a coyote. After a call from the property owner, Shoop said he came upon the coyote that was hanging by its left leg in the fence. The coyote had a bewildered face with wide eyes and an open [...]

City to discuss $10 million upgrades to Sunrise, Sunset cemeteries

info2024-09-30T09:12:22-05:00September 30th, 2024|

Some of the proposed upgrades to Sunrise Cemetery include the construction of a new shop and office, renovating the existing shop, paving a section of the maintenance lot and fencing the maintenance yard. At Sunset Cemetery, upgrades could include building a new joint maintenance shop with Sunset Zoo, installing a new irrigation system, adding columbaria, making storm drainage and utility improvements, reconstructing cemetery roads, improving accessible sidewalks at the entry and Carriage House and making repairs to the memorial arc. Source: 1350 KMAN

What the COVID surge looks like for Butler County

info2024-09-30T09:11:34-05:00September 30th, 2024|

Just one year and four months after the COVID-19 Pandemic has ended, the virus is now a regular visitor for cold and flu season. With health professionals declaring a surge in COVID-19 cases, Butler County is staying below alarming rates of positive testing, which gives medical personnel great hope of no return to pandemic level emergency. The COVID-19 Pandemic was declared as “over” by the World Health Organization, (WHO), on May 5, 2023. This insinuated that the virus is no longer a public health emergency, allowing health and medical professionals to only monitor positive cases with no other restrictions. The WHO [...]

Grain Belt Express to connect with wind, solar transmission lines

info2024-09-30T09:09:24-05:00September 30th, 2024|

The Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) has given approval with conditions to a siting plan for two 345 kV transmission lines, known as the AC Collector System, designed to connect wind and solar farms to the Grain Belt Express. One line is planned to run 46 miles through parts of Ford, Meade, and Gray Counties (the “Meade-Dodge City Line”) and the other approximately 16 miles through parts of Ford County (the “Bucklin-Dodge City Line”). Conditions imposed by the order require Grain Belt to file a routing analysis comparing the company’s originally proposed route of the Meade-Dodge City line to an alternate route, [...]

Colwich, Bentley, Halstead, Newton firefighters attend natural gas training

info2024-09-30T09:08:23-05:00September 30th, 2024|

Firefighters from Kansas towns including Halstead, Bentley and Colwich attended a natural gas firefighting training that evening put on by Black Hills Energy which has a local office in Wichita. Leading the demonstration was Arlen Thompson who retired from Black Hills Energy after more than 30 years and was a volunteer firefighter for more than 30 years in Freemont. Black Hills Energy is a natural gas utility that serves a variety of Kansas towns including Colwich, Maize, Sterling, Attica and Andale. “We serve 65 communities in Kansas,” James P. Williams, media person with the natural gas company, said. They rotate the [...]

Public financing plan for derelict Olathe shopping center gets OK from county

info2024-09-30T09:06:50-05:00September 30th, 2024|

In a rare discussion of a city redevelopment deal, Johnson County commissioners declined last Thursday to challenge tax increment financing for the Rosebud Plaza Shopping Center in Olathe. The Olathe City Council recently gave the go-ahead to start negotiating an incentive package for the $26 million development at the northeast corner of Santa Fe Street and Mur-Len Road. The developer has proposed a maximum $7 million reimbursement from a TIF in the area, possibly with a Community Improvement District — another type of incentive — to be added later. The shopping center was formerly anchored by a Hobby Lobby, which moved [...]

Southeast Kansas Fallen Firefighters Memorial revitalized by local crews

info2024-09-30T09:05:36-05:00September 30th, 2024|

The Southeast Kansas Fallen Firefighters Memorial gets a revamp. The memorial was built in 2003, and the statue put in place in 2017. Firefighters began cleanup at 9:00 a.m. at the Girard Fire Department. Teams from across Southeast Kansas also helped put down new rocks, felt paper, and edging. A memorial service is held each October, but this year they wanted to make the memorial look more fresh. Girard Fire Department Captain, Daulton Crays, says it’s also a way to continue paying tribute. “This is important to us. The memorial is to honor all of the fallen firefighters for Southeast Kansas. [...]

Retention bonus approved for Shawnee County dispatchers

info2024-09-30T09:04:05-05:00September 30th, 2024|

Shawnee County dispatchers are getting pay bonuses for their hard work and dedication after local leaders approved a one-time retention payout Thursday. Shawnee County commissioners approved of a new contract on Sept. 26 for people serving as dispatchers. Part of this plan includes a one-time retention bonus of $3,000 while also providing various pay rates for different shifts. The decision comes as the county looks to hire and keep dispatchers. Buddy Cordero, president of the local CWA Union, touched on the issue in a talk with commissioners. Source: KSNT 27 News

County governments are often overlooked

info2024-09-28T08:27:08-05:00September 28th, 2024|

Part of this is because Kansas, like the rest of the country, is quite urban, at least if you count where people actually live. For decades, the rural expanses of Kansas have emptied, with people moving to cities and their surrounding suburbs, increasing the focus on — and increasing the partisan competition over — city governments and municipal elections. Source: Salina Journal