News – Page 805 – Ranson Financial Group LLC

Salina residents lighting up porches for Narcan awareness

info2023-03-21T10:16:58-05:00March 21st, 2023|

Houses in Salina are going green, and not for recycling. Porches are "lighting up" awareness about Narcan in hopes of saving lives. If you see a porch shining a green light in Salina, you have found a house joining the fight against fentanyl. A green porch light means there is Narcan inside and someone who can administer it. Recently, residents out at the Oxford House in Salina began this awareness campaign, and now the campaign is spreading to personal homes as the need increases. Preston Cressler, a volunteer at an Oxford House, says recent overdoses could've been prevented, and the green [...]

‘Only takes one pill.’ Kansas high school freshman died from fentanyl-laced painkiller

info2023-03-21T10:15:14-05:00March 21st, 2023|

Inside the Burris home, a guitar sits in its corner of the living room. A music stand holds sheets of music, where Nicholas Burris, called “Cruz” by his loved ones, would strum along to The Beatles, Queen and Chuck Berry. Rhonda Burris will miss hearing her son’s fingers plucking, moving across the strings. The 15-year-old could pick up songs quickly and had even begun to write his own. Cruz’s parents believe he could have gone far in his musical pursuits. Some days he dreamed of being an engineer for NASA, and other times he would say he wanted to become a [...]

Can states keep trains from blocking crossings? High court wants feds to weigh in

info2023-03-21T10:13:38-05:00March 21st, 2023|

The U.S. Supreme Court has invited the federal government to weigh in on whether state and local governments can regulate how long trains can block railroad crossings. The invitation means the high court might eventually give a full hearing to the appeal of a lower court ruling that invalidated Ohio’s blocked crossing law. There’s no guarantee the court will grant the appeal, but Monday’s court order keeps the door open for now. Countless people have died when emergency vehicles were delayed at rail crossings, The Kansas City Star reported in an investigation of railroad safety lapses. The high court refused to [...]

Munis steady ahead of FOMC meeting

info2023-03-21T14:10:48-05:00March 21st, 2023|

Municipals were steady Monday ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting, while U.S. Treasury yields rose as investors considered the stability of the banking sector. Equities ended up. Triple-A benchmarks were little changed, no more than a basis point or two, while U.S. Treasury yields rose five to 12 basis points. ... The banking sector crisis, which erupted with the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and resurfaced with the struggles of Credit Suisse, sent USTs on a flight-to-quality bid last week. "The two-year plummeted by well over 100 basis points [since March 8], after the short benchmark attained a multiyear [...]

Mission latest JoCo city to consider antisemitism measure

info2023-03-21T09:58:13-05:00March 21st, 2023|

Mission is joining some other Johnson County cities in considering the adoption of a non-legally binding definition of antisemitism. Like Leawood and Roeland Park, Mission heard from the Jewish Relations Bureau American Jewish Committee about the national rise in antisemitism — punctuated locally by two recent incidents at Johnson County high schools — and the importance of defining it. Source: Prairie Village Post

SVB Collapse Shows Smaller Banks Can Pose Risk

info2023-03-21T09:55:25-05:00March 21st, 2023|

For 15 years, regulators and legislators have assumed the biggest risks to the financial system came from a handful of “too big to fail” banks. This month’s failure of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank—and last week’s bank-led rescue of a third lender, First Republic Bank FRC 39.67% increase; green up pointing triangle—suggests that focus on size may have blinded officials to the threat posed by smaller lenders, observers and former regulators say. Source: WSJ.com: US Business

Fed Faces Tough Decision on Rate Increase

info2023-03-21T09:51:44-05:00March 21st, 2023|

Central-bank officials must balance inflation concerns with new worries about spillovers from banking turmoil. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and his colleagues this week face one of their toughest calls in years: whether to raise interest rates again to fight stubbornly high inflation or take a timeout amid the most intense banking crisis since 2008. The decision over whether to raise interest rates by a quarter-percentage point is likely to hinge in part on how markets digest the forced marriage Sunday of two Swiss banking giants, UBS and Credit Suisse, and other steps to calm fears of contagion in the banking [...]

Municipal Bond Trends for March 20, 2023

Henry Schmidt2023-03-21T14:36:49-05:00March 21st, 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.

Valley Center Public Library is celebrating its 100th birthday

info2023-03-20T08:22:09-05:00March 20th, 2023|

There have been many constants at the Valley Center Public Library over the years. Storytimes. Easter egg hunts. Best-selling novels. Newspapers. And the bell at the front door. "We still have it," said Terry Foster, the library's assistant director. "It's a counter. It's a patron counter," Director Janice Sharp said. "And if you're out in the stacks, you know somebody has come in," Foster added. And they've been coming in for a century. The Valley Center Public Library is celebrating its 100th birthday this month with a party from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 20 and with a look back [...]

Water Wise: Hays residents meeting challenges of water conservation, quality

info2023-03-20T08:19:10-05:00March 20th, 2023|

Two water officials in Hays, Kansas say that policies put in place in the 1990s are still paying dividends for a city that is often seen as a model for water-use efficiency. Holly Dickman, a water conservation specialist with the City of Hays, said the nearly three-decade-old water policies are important because Ellis County relies on groundwater mostly from alluvial (shallow) aquifers around the Smoky Hill River and Big Creek, which flow near the city. “So, you can imagine that if it doesn’t rain, those rivers and creeks aren’t running quite as much as they would be and so our well [...]