Kansas Municipal News
Wichita KS city worker finds loaded gun while doing maintenance in storm drain
A Wichita city worker found a loaded handgun while doing maintenance on a storm water drain in west Wichita, according to a report and police. The black, Taurus Spectrum .380 was found in the drain in front of a home in the 3300 block of West St. Louis, which is close to Sheridan and Central. The gun was found around 9:41 a.m. Wednesday. “The gun will be processed as evidence to determine if it has been involved in any crimes,” Wichita police Lt. Aaron Moses said, adding he didn’t know how long that would take. The gun has not been reported stolen, according to a police report. When asked how many rounds were in the gun, Moses said multiple.
Source: Local News | Wichita Eagle
‘A huge year’: Sedgwick County Zoo could welcome a U.S. record number of baby elephants
The Sedgwick County Zoo now expects to welcome five baby African elephants in 2025. “You may be aware that our elephant herd at the zoo has four pregnancies right now. And we are so excited to tell you today that our fifth and final female is also pregnant, which means our entire breeding herd is now expecting,” zoo CEO Scott Newland told the County Commission on Wednesday morning. If all five pregnancies are a success, Sedgwick County would become the first accredited zoo in the U.S. to have five elephant births in a year,” Newland said. Elephant pregnancies last 22 to 24 months. “They’re essentially pregnant for two years. We will start having potential births at the end of next spring all through next summer,” Newland said. “That’s going to be a huge year for our team, for our zoo, for our community.” The five pregnant females are Simunye, Talia, Xolani, Arusi, and Zuberi. Only Simunye has given birth before, according to a zoo release.
Source: Local News | Wichita Eagle
Symphony to perform in Peabody
“Peter and the Wolf” and “Appalachian Spring” will be performed Sunday in the final installment of Sunflower Theatre’s 2023-2024 concert series. The Wichita Symphony performance will be 3 p.m. at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, 213 E Division Ave., Peabody.
“Peter and the Wolf” is a musical story for orchestra and narrator that introduces individual instruments in the orchestra while the narrator tells the story. The symphony also will perform “Appalachian Spring,” an American ballet by choreographer Martha Graham and composer Aaron Copland. Collaborating for the concert are Sunflower Theatre, Wichita State University, and Barlett Arboretum. Light refreshments will be served after the concert. Admission is free, but donations to help pay for Sunflower Theatre programming and renovation will be accepted.
Source: Marion County RECORD
Beloit USD 273 Bond Issue Questions Defeated In Election
After much discussion, various meetings, and much consternation, the Beloit USD 273 School Bond issue and vote came to a conclusion yesterday (Thursday, April 18th). Question 1 on the ballot included for voters to consider was a New Ag Center, a Renovation of Expansion of Woods/Construction Tech, HVAC Replacement at Elementary & Jr.-Sr. High Schools, and a New Stadium Pressbox and Restrooms at an estimated cost of $16.2 million dollars which would be funded by a 13.5 mill levy increase over 25 years. Unofficial Results from the Mitchell County Clerk’s office are Yes: 823 (37%), No: 1,425 (63%). Question 2 on the ballot could only pass if Question 1 passed. Question 2 on the ballot included for voters to consider was a Jr.-Sr. High School Lockerroom Renovation, Football Field Turf, Track Resurface, and Tennis Court Resurface at an estimated cost of $3.8 million dollars which would be funded by a 3 mill levy increase over 25 years. Unofficial Results from the Mitchell County Clerk’s office are Yes: 644 (29%), No: 1,597 (71%).
Source: Sunflower State Radio Network
KS Supreme Court: “Driving” vs. Attempting to Drive
Under Darrow, Jarmer’s unsuccessful effort to drive her car out of a muddy ditch fails to satisfy K.S.A. 8-1002(a)(2)(A)’s requirement that she was “operating a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or both.” Because the evidence presented establishes only that she attempted to operate her vehicle, the KDR could not suspend her driver’s license under K.S.A. 8-1002(a)(2)(A) following her failed breath test. We thus reverse the suspension of Jarmer’s driver’s license and remand the matter to the KDR for further proceedings.
Read the opinion: Jarmer vs. KDOR
Municipal Bond Trends for April 18, 2024
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, or Henry Schmidt.
Municipal Bond Trends for April 17, 2024
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, or Henry Schmidt.
Wall Street pushes out rate-cut expectations, sees risk they don’t start until March 2025
If there was any doubt before, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has pretty much cemented the likelihood that there won’t be interest rate reductions anytime soon. Now, Wall Street is wondering if the central bank will cut at all this year. That’s because Powell on Tuesday said there’s been “a lack of further progress” on lowering inflation back to the Fed’s 2% target, meaning “it’s likely to take longer than expected” to get enough confidence to start easing back on policy.
Source: CNBC – Bonds
Stafford County joins in on building boom
There’s a building boom in the Golden Belt, and Stafford County Economic Development isn’t going to be left behind. “We are building nine houses, with five in St. John and four in Stafford,” noted Ryan Russell, SCEDC executive director. The 18-month building project is through the Kansas Housing Resources Corporation, through its Middle Income Housing offering.
Source: Great Bend Tribune
Power outage prompts rush hour traffic jam on Metcalf in Overland Park
The gusty winds are believed to be responsible for a power outage that turned off the traffic signals at 75th Street and Metcalf Avenue late Tuesday afternoon in Overland Park, prompting a mile-long traffic jam on one of the city’s most-used roadways. Evergy’s online outage map showed that approximately 774 customers were without power in the area of the busy intersection at around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday. Several businesses in the area were forced to close because they didn’t have power for their computers to work. As of 5:30 p.m., northbound traffic on Metcalf was at a crawl, backed up to 83rd Street, while southbound traffic was backed up to 71st Street. Eastbound traffic on 75th Street was stacked back to Robinson Street, and westbound was back to nearly Lamar Avenue. Evergy’s website shows that the outage was first reported at about 4:20 p.m. and that repairs are a “work in progress.” The estimated restoration time is 6 p.m. Update: Around 6 p.m., the traffic lights at Metcalf and 75th began working again, and Evergy’s outage map online showed most outages in the area around the intersection had been addressed.
Source: Johnson County Post
Mayor Butler proclaims Thursday as “Ron Fehr Day” in Manhattan
At Tuesday’s Manhattan City Commission, Manhattan mayor Wynn Butler proclaimed this Thursday Apr. 18 to be “Ron Fehr Day” in Manhattan to honor City Manager Ron Behr’s commitment to public service in the city and Fehr’s retirement after 24 years as the city manager. “This honor is in recognition of [Ron’s] many achievements,” said Butler. “And on behalf of the City Commission, the City employees, and the citizens of Manhattan in expressing our gratitude and appreciation for many years of loyal and exemplary service to the community.” Fehr has worked for the local city government since 1982 when he was appointed to the newly formed Parks and Recreation Department as Forestry and Parks Supervisor. Fehr was appointed assistant City Manager in 1992 and was acting City Manager for a brief period in 1995 and in late-1999 and early-2000 until becoming the full-time city manager in Apr. 2000. “Ron has worked with 31 commissioners and 27 mayors since 1992,” said Butler. “He has attended 730 commission legislative sessions, 730 work sessions, 31 commission retreats, 305 intergovernmental luncheons, 122 joint city and county meetings and numerous other meetings.” Fehr will be officially honored by the city at a ceremony at City Hall on Apr. 18.
Source: 1350 KMAN
Wichita removes curfew on electric scooters
Wichita City Council members have voted unanimously to do away with the nighttime curfew on the use of electric scooters in the community. The city previously had a restriction that began at dusk or 9 p.m., whichever is earlier, and ended at sunrise. Veo, the company providing the electric scooters, asked the city to look at changes to extend the hours of operation. Wichita is the only city in the Midwest and Plains region that has a curfew on scooters. Interim Wichita Transit Director Penny Feist said the Police Department recommended wording in the ordinance to call for headlamps and reflectors for safety, similar to those required on bicycles. She said the company providing the scooters already has lamps and reflectors on them. The person riding the scooter is responsible for making sure the headlamp is working and Feist said Veo has an app that allows users to report a problem. Feist said data from the past five years indicates that more people are using the scooters around 6 to 7 p.m. The Council voted to approve the ordinance changes to remove the curfew and allow the use of electric scooters during the nighttime hours.
Source: 101.3 KFDI
Powell Suggests Interest Rates Could Stay High for a Longer Period
The Federal Reserve is likely to wait longer than initially expected to cut interest rates given stubborn inflation readings in recent months, the central bank’s top two officials said Tuesday. Policymakers came into 2024 looking for evidence that inflation was continuing to cool rapidly, as it did late last year. Instead, progress on inflation has stalled or even reversed by some measures. “The recent data have clearly not given us greater confidence and instead indicate that it’s likely to take longer than expected to achieve that confidence,” Jerome H. Powell, the Fed chair, said at an event in Washington on Tuesday. He did not say when he believed rate cuts would be appropriate.
Source: NYT > Business
Governor Kelly Announces $18M for 34 Municipalities and Special Districts for Water Infrastructure
Governor Laura Kelly and the Kansas Water Office today announced an $18 million investment into 34 municipalities and special districts related to water across Kansas. Nineteen Technical Assistance Grants and 15 Water Project Grants are being awarded. “This investment is vital to the water resources and livelihoods of Kansans in these rural communities,” Governor Laura Kelly said. “By working together, we are making progress on our water crisis while ensuring communities have access to the resources they need to address their pressing water issues.” The grants were made possible through the 2023 Senate Substitute for House Bill 2302, signed by Governor Kelly in April 2023. That bipartisan legislation invested a record $35 million into the State Water Plan. It added $18 million on top of the annual $8 million for the State Water Plan and $17 million for the two grant funds. This year, the Kansas Legislature added $1 million to the program to meet the needs of additional requests that were made. The first round of funding, which was released on November 1, 2023, received over 122 Technical Assistance applications and 187 Water Project applications. Applicants with emergent water issues, socioeconomic and community factors, conservation plans, and populations of fewer than 2,000 residents were prioritized in the review process.
Source: Governor of the State of Kansas
This southwest Kansas newspaper printing press is an oasis in an expanding news desert
Print media is struggling in many areas, but it survives in 15 towns thanks to a printing press still churning out newspapers in Liberal, Kansas. The light blue machine takes up most of a warehouse, about the size of a school bus, with newspapers flying through different pulleys as ink is applied. At medium speed, it can spit out 500 papers per minute. Danny Morua, the pressman for almost 20 years, makes a small adjustment, and within seconds is pushing a new roll of paper that weighs 700 pounds back onto the mechanism. “Me casa is su casa,” Morua said while standing next to the behemoth. “Just don’t get too close and get injured.” Despite his own advice, he climbs up and down the printing press like it’s his own playground. What used to be a community staple is now almost obsolete. But here in Liberal, Morua and his small crew are printing weekly papers for small towns across four states. It’s helping keep those other community papers alive and slowing the growth of news deserts where people can’t find local news. “I love turning something that comes out looking basic and adding so much color to it, and knowing that I printed that,” Morua said. Over half of Kansas counties have either just one newspaper or none at all according to a study by the Center for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media.
Source: KAKE – News
Wichita could go to a stage-two drought in mid-late summer if more rainfall doesn’t come
Water restrictions may come as soon as mid to late summer if we don’t get rain soon. The city of Wichita says if Cheney Lake levels don’t get higher, you might not be able to water your lawn as often. Right now, the lake is 3% points away from the city having to go to a stage-two drought based on a 12-month average. “I’ve been out there. It’s, it’s a little jarring to see it so low, and to know that that’s where the city water comes from., and to see it dwindling in that way,” said Homeowner Jonathan Peters. The city of Wichita says to combat the drought we need consistent rainfall. Currently, Cheney Lake sits at 72% conservation pool level. It went down 0.9% in March. If it gets down to 69% we will be in a stage-two drought. “If we moved to stage two, some of those mandatory restrictions could be limiting the days that you’re allowed to water your lawn, and this is for those on city water,” said Wichita Communications Manager Megan Lovely. Lovely says if you’re on city water and we do go to a stage-two drought, you could get in trouble if you don’t restrict your water use. “If you’re using too much water, you could get a little notice you might get a little bit of a bill,” said Lovely. Lovely adds because the lake is so low, it doesn’t look good for this upcoming summer. “With Kansas weather, we never know what’s going to happen but we are anticipating going to stage two, it is very unlikely that we will not,” said Lovely.
Source: KAKE – News
Hoisington teacher wins ‘Wheel of Fortune’
A middle school English teacher in Hoisington, Kiley Klug, took her language skills to the big stage, winning “Wheel of Fortune.” “At the end of the day, it didn’t really matter how much I won or if I won; I just wanted to experience that and check it off my bucket list,” Klug said. Klug says being a middle school English teacher, she loves all word games. She applied multiple times before getting her shot. After she got the “yes” she’d been waiting for, she began thinking of logistics. Klug says as a teacher, she wasn’t sure what they would be able to afford. “We were trying to decide who to go with us; my husband was like, ‘Yeah, it’s probably just gonna be the two of us. I just don’t think we could swing four plane tickets. That’s a lot of money.'” Then, everything fell into place. Klug formerly spent some time advocating for Dravet syndrome, an epilepsy syndrome, on the side. Her son Owen has Dravet syndrome. The organization she worked for contacted her to train new influencers. “They wanted me to be like a coach, a trainer,” Klug said. “And so I said, ‘Yeah, absolutely. I’ll do that for sure.’ And they said, ‘You’ll be compensated for it.’ Like, ‘OK, I’d do it for free, but whatever.’ I got paid around the time we were debating whether or not we could take our kids, and I kid you not, it was exactly the amount of four plane tickets. So I just feel like all of these doors just opened.”
Source: KSN-TV
City puts resources into affordable housing for disabled residents
A Wichita apartment complex that houses people who are low-income and disabled is in the process of rebuilding. On Tuesday, the Wichita City Council approved industrial revenue bonds for a sales tax exemption for the rebuild at The Timbers. The apartment complex is knocking down its older units built in the 1970s to create new ones that follow updated ADA guidelines. What the City did Tuesday was grant The Timbers $13 million worth of industrial revenue bonds for a sales tax exemption. In simpler terms, that means they don’t have to pay sales tax on supplies they buy for their renovation project. Having the exemption from the City will help The Timbers unlock funding from the Kansas Housing Resources Corporation. “When you apply for the tax credit program, it’s based on points, so if you have local, in this case, city contribution, which would be in the form of a sales tax exemption, it increases our points when we apply to KHRC,” said Patrick Jonas, CEO and President of the Cerebral Palsy Research Foundation, which currently owns The Timbers. He said they chose not to apply for grant funding from the City for the upcoming second phase of the project. They plan to rely more on the KHRC for the dollars they need.
Source: KSN-TV
Need a job? City of Wichita has 293 positions open
The City of Wichita is hosting a career fair from 1- 4 p.m. on Monday, April 22, at the Workforce Alliance of South Central Kansas, 2021 N. Amidon, Suite 1100. Applications will be accepted for all job openings, and staff will be on hand from the following departments to answer questions: Airport Police and Fire; Fire; Information Technology; MAPD (Metropolitan Area Planning Department); Municipal Court; Park & Recreation; Police; Public Works & Utilities; and Wichita Transit. The City has 293 open positions across its departments, including multiple seasonal opportunities. To learn more and apply for a job, visit www.wichita.gov/jobs.
Source: KSN-TV
Governor calls tax plan ‘too expensive’; expert weighs in
Gov. Laura Kelly is weighing in on a tax package sent to her desk, which includes a slew of tax cuts. The package received bipartisan support in the Senate, with one Democrat voting in favor of the plan, and it passed unanimously in the House. However, Gov. Kelly said Tuesday that her initial interpretation of the bill is that it’s ‘too expensive.’ “I think what I said when it got passed, though, is it’s a little out of the ballpark. It’s too expensive so I really need to take a look at that and have some serious conversations with my budget people looking forward to see if my gut sense is that it is too expensive and not sustainable,” Kelly told reporters Tuesday. Kelly is tight-lipped on whether she’ll veto the plan. She only has about a week left to decide as lawmakers return to the statehouse next week. The package that passed just hours before lawmakers adjourned this month provides property tax relief and eliminates the income tax on social security. It also removes the state food sales tax by July 1. It is something Gov. Kelly has been pushing for since her re-election campaign in 2022. Another key feature of the plan includes moving the state to a two-rate income tax system. It eliminates the bottom bracket and reduces the top two brackets by 0.15%.
Source: KSN-TV