News – Page 764 – Ranson Financial Group LLC

A lack of affordable housing in Kansas prevents Section 8 tenants from using rent subsidies

info2023-04-19T10:12:05-05:00April 19th, 2023|

Kamber Corpening felt relief when she first landed a Section 8 voucher in 2020, a promise that she qualified for substantial rent subsidies from federal taxpayers. Then came the hard part — finding a landlord willing to deal with the accompanying red tape and to open units to lower-income tenants. She tried almost 100 places over the course of a year and found few that took Section 8 vouchers. In the meantime, she crashed at shelters, in the homes of friends and with family. Source: KCUR News

Pratt voters to decide on USD 382 school bond issue

info2023-04-19T10:10:32-05:00April 19th, 2023|

Advance mail voting begins in Pratt for the school district's special election. Election Day is May 9. Residents are deciding whether to support a $16.6 million bond. The money would renovate the ACE building or the old high school into a fourth and fifth-grade center. It would also add four new classrooms to the elementary school, which could double as a storm shelter. "We're going to have our PreK there, and we can expand our PreK to all day three-year-olds, which is also part of that answering the challenge for child care and helping people get their kids to preschool so [...]

Take a closer look at northeast JoCo’s newest playground

info2023-04-19T10:07:27-05:00April 19th, 2023|

The long-awaited playground at R Park in Roeland Park is finally open, completing the final phase of a three-part plan to revitalize the park on Juniper Drive. Improvement efforts for the park on the site of a former elementary school began in 2015. Weather-related delays this past winter set the playground’s completion date back earlier this year. Now that the playground is open — and the days are sunnier and warmer — children and their caretakers are flooding R Park to play and enjoy the new amenity. Source: Prairie Village Post

Rural childcare shortage

info2023-04-19T10:03:46-05:00April 19th, 2023|

Kansas is now facing a need for more childcare options for working parents. The problem is significant in our rural areas of Kansas. The COVID-19 pandemic further exasperated the shortage; many in Kansas now refer to this as a childcare crisis. According to Child Care Aware of Kansas, Kansas meets 49 percent of the needed childcare slots. Since 2020 Kansas has lost 344 childcare providers. Currently, Kansas needs 85,000 childcare slots to meet the current demand. Our local area faces similar childcare challenges as the rest of the state. The Meadowlark Extension District, which encompasses Jackson, Jefferson, and Nemaha counties, needs [...]

Riley County talks with residents about city levee project

info2023-04-19T10:00:15-05:00April 19th, 2023|

Riley County officials on Monday attempted to address two residents’ concerns about the Manhattan city government’s levee project. Amanda Webb, planning director, and Darrin Hobbs, planning compliance specialist, provided information and answered questions about the project during the county commission meeting. During the March 20 commission meeting, residents Richard and Angela Britt raised concerns about the project to the commission. Richard specifically pointed out what he said was the city’s lack of a “no-rise” certificate for the entire project, which is needed for floodway projects. To receive a certificate, a state-license engineer needs to determine the project won’t increase flooding risks. [...]

One year after tornado, Andover YMCA preps for May waterpark opening

info2023-04-19T09:56:15-05:00April 19th, 2023|

Closed since it was struck by a destructive EF-3 tornado nearly a year ago, the Andover YMCA branch is targeting a May 27 reopening of its outdoor waterpark. "We're cautiously optimistic about that, a few things have to fall into place but we're working toward that," said Ron McMahon, CEO of the Greater Wichita YMCA. "The waterpark will have all new features." Source: Wichita Business Journal

Clay Center takes next step toward child care center

info2023-04-19T12:32:09-05:00April 19th, 2023|

In response to what officials say is a child care crisis in Clay County, the Clay Center City Council approved moving forward with a grant proposal seeking up to $2.8 million to design, build and begin operating a child care facility in Clay Center on the Lincoln school grounds. The action does not obligate the city to any expenditures but is required for the proposal to be considered by the funding agency. Source: www.ccenterdispatch.com

Municipal Bond Trends for April 18, 2023

Henry Schmidt2023-04-19T05:07:55-05:00April 19th, 2023|

The interest rate table above illustrates recent changes in a sample of MBIS "investment grade" yields. Every issuer's credit is different, and other financing sources may be available. To obtain comprehensive Financial Advisory services for your local government, contact your Ranson Financial Municipal Advisor, Larry Kleeman, Beth Warren or Henry Schmidt.

Fed’s Bullard says recession fears off-base and urges more hikes

info2023-04-18T11:01:26-05:00April 18th, 2023|

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said he favored continued interest-rate hikes to counter persistent inflation, while recession fears are overblown. "Wall Street's very engaged in the idea there's going to be a recession in six months or something, but that isn't really the way you would read an expansion like this," Bullard told Reuters in an interview published Tuesday. Fed policymakers have penciled in one additional quarter-point hike this year, lifting their benchmark rate to 5.1% according to their median forecast in March. Investors see that move happening at their May 2-3 meeting. Bullard, who doesn't vote [...]

Charlie Hunt will head Johnson County’s Department of Health and Environment

info2023-04-18T09:37:55-05:00April 18th, 2023|

Charlie Hunt, MPH has started as the new director of Johnson County Department of Health and Environment on April 17. Hunt joined JCDHE as deputy director in 2021 and has served as interim director since November 4, 2022. If you go back to nearly the beginning of his career, Hunt worked at JCDHE as a communicable disease investigator and then became a health educator. His career includes 18 years in various positions with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, culminating with serving as the state epidemiologist and director of the Bureau of Epidemiology and Public Health Informatics for seven years. [...]