News

Year-round fireworks sales will be prohibited within Wichita city limits, despite a new state law allowing it.The Wichita City Council unanimously approved a new ordinance prohibiting the year-round sale of fireworks and prohibiting permanent firework retailers in the city. Source: Wichita Kansas Local News, Crime & More |

The interest rate table above illustrates recent changes in a sample of AA rated bond trades reported to the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s EMMA® system. 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, or Henry Schmidt.

A company hopes to infuse the Topeka housing market with reasonably priced homes produced in a fraction of the time it takes to build traditional stick or modular housing. The answer to Topeka’s problem, its leaders say, is to produce 3D printed homes. Source: CJonline

Twenty-one tornadoes were reported to have touched down late May 18 in western and central Kansas, according to a graphic posted on the website of the weather service's Topeka office. Tornadoes damaged homes just before 7 p.m. at Grinnell, along Interstate 70 in northeast Kansas, and just before midnight in the area of Plevna, southwest of Hutchinson in south-central Kansas, the weather service said. No injuries had been reported. Source: CJonline

An ongoing legal battle between a Kansas town and a burger joint over an unfinished mural is sparking controversy in the community, with lawyers claiming the city violated free speech rights. Steve Howard, owner of The Cozy Inn, filed a lawsuit last year after the city of Salina told him he had to stop painting a mural on the side of his restaurant because it violated city codes for signage. The Kansas Justice Institute, which filed the suit on behalf of Howard, said the city’s actions violate free speech. Source: Wichita Kansas Local News, Crime & More |

After nearly 17 months, Marion will have more than an interim city administrator starting this summer. City council members voted 5-0 Wednesday to hire Brian Wells to fill Marion’s city administrator position, vacated in January, 2024, by Brogan Jones. Retired Emporia city manager Mark McAnarney has been filling in as interim administrator since then. Source: Marion County RECORD

The City of Lawrence on Monday will begin using parking boots to immobilize vehicles of people who have three or more unpaid parking tickets that are 60 days or more overdue. The new system is replacing a criminal process that required people to go to Lawrence Municipal Court to handle outstanding fines. Effective Monday, May 19, city staff members will be able to put boots on cars of people who are considered habitual violators. “The violators will get a 48-hour notice that the car could be impounded if the outstanding parking tickets aren’t paid before then,” according to the city’s parking [...]

Frontenac’s City Commission meeting Wednesday night was short, sweet and to the point. The stand-out piece of business was adopting a new ordinance regarding mobile homes. Not considered to be permanent structures handicaps the city’s attempts to condemn mobile homes considered to be a nuisance and in need of demolition. Like a vehicle, they have a vehicle identification number (VIN) and are taxed as personal property, meaning the city has to do a title search to locate the owner. The new ordinance mirrors other ordinances regarding homes with the addition that trailer park owners will be required to register new trailers. [...]

The municipal bond tax exemption emerged untouched Wednesday after a 17-hour House Ways and Means session on the tax portion of the Republicans' massive budget reconciliation bill. The marathon mark up — and early Wednesday morning passage — of the $3.8 trillion tax legislation advances President Donald Trump's "big, beautiful bill" encompassing his domestic agenda. The municipal market for months worried that the tax portion would target muni bonds in part or whole, but reported feeling cautiously optimistic after the bill's first draft left munis untouched. Source: The Latest

In dry western Kansas, the sound of artificial rain spraying from center pivot irrigation sprinklers fills the spaces between the small towns. Irrigation has turned this region into a productive agricultural powerhouse, churning out millions of bushels of grain. Heath Koehn farms with his dad near Montezuma over the Ogallala aquifer that supplies farmers with irrigation and communities with drinking water. He knows that changes are coming to the way they farm. “Changes are going to have to be made with that aquifer. It’s like adapt or die,” Koehn said. Source: Garden City Telegram