Kansas Municipal News
Dancing with a fading past: Why hundreds flock to tiny Kansas town on Saturday nights
While the fiddle player sawed off the dizzy opening notes of Bob Wills’ “Take Me Back to Tulsa” on the stage in the back room, Charles Blagg was browsing the refreshments cooler up near the checkout counter. It was a rainy Saturday night in April, and in a few hours, Blagg — 78, with a white Stetson to match his mustache — would be driving not quite to Tulsa but to his home outside Nowata, Oklahoma, about 110 miles south. He’s made the four-hour round trip to The Mildred Store several times over the past few years. The century-old general store hosts a country music dance on the third Saturday of each month that regularly draws hundreds from across the region to this southeast Kansas town of 17. … In the dance hall, surrounded by Wrangler-clad farmers two-stepping underneath a wagon-wheel chandelier, these Saturday-night shindigs feel like some long tradition here in Mildred. In fact, they’re a relatively new development. Regena and Loren Lance started hosting the shows shortly after they bought Charlie Brown’s Grocery nine years ago.
Source: The Kansas City Star
Kelly Signs Bill to Attract Healthcare Professionals to Rural Kansas
Governor Kelly signed a bipartisan bill that will provide students with medical school financial assistance. House Bill 2060 expands financial aid programs through the University of Kansas School of Medicine (KUMC) for students who practice primary care medicine or psychiatry in rural Kansas. The bill doubles the number of available agreements for KUMC students for the Kansas Medical Student Loan program and adds obstetrics-gynecology to the list of allowable practice areas.
Source: 101.3 KFDI
Wichita Fire Department recommends city remove 6-foot firework height limit, legalizing most consumer-grade products in city limits
Believe it or not, the Fourth of July is less than two months away, and people are already making plans and saving up for those fireworks. But this year, the Wichita Fire Department is hoping to convince the city to change its laws, making it much less strict on what you can legally shoot in city limits. … “We came up with the possibility of a two-phase process for the next couple of years. But the first phase that we just proposed is allowing aerial fireworks,” said [Jose Ocadiz with the Wichita Fire Department]. Ocadiz says the department put together a fireworks committee late last year that went to vendors, each district’s advisory board, and the community to figure out if the city should make changes to the fireworks laws.
Source: KAKE – News
Kansas governor vetoes bill to strip power from public health officials on vaccines, quarantines
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed legislation Friday that would have stripped the power to enforce quarantines from public health officials and squashed COVID-19 vaccination requirements for children attending childcare or schools. “Preventing Kansas’ local and state health officials from providing even basic testing for contagious human and zoonotic diseases — including measles, meningitis, Ebola, and polio — will hurt our ability to stop unnecessary outbreaks in the future,” Kelly said in a news release. The bill proposed limiting the clout of state health officials by restricting their ability to enforce testing and quarantines.
Source: KAKE – News
Going once, going twice, gone! Auctions are moving online and changing a rural tradition
Tractors, four-wheelers, a truck, a skid-loader and more are neatly parked in rows outside a northeast Nebraska farmhouse. The farmer who owns this equipment is retiring and is holding an auction on this chilly spring day to sell to the highest bidder. About 200 people, including Anthony Thoene, crowd into a machinery shed to browse. Thoene was hoping to get some fishing rods for his grandkids but was outbid. … For rural communities, auctions like these are often a social event to see neighbors and friends. But it’s not just the bundled-up neighbors looking for a deal. Internet bidders are logging on from as far away as Montana to make an offer. “There’s about 200 people here, but on the internet you’re talking thousands,” Thoene said. He occasionally helps Creamer Auction Company, the local business running this sale, set up their auctions. “So it definitely has improved the sales. But it’s harder to buy!”
Source: KCUR News
Weskan community comes together to clean up after severe storms tear through town
The Weskan community is picking up after severe storms hit the town Thursday, uprooting trees and damaging homes and buildings, including the high school. Earlier in the day, there was tornadic activity happening just across the Colorado state line. “It was terrifying,” said Sandy Miller, Weskan resident. “It was shocking, like ‘Oh man, it really did happen,'” said Jeff Montero, Weskan High School Principal.
Source: KSN-TV
Municipal Bond Trends for May 12, 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.
Pittsburg Police utilize What 3 Words app
The Pittsburg Police Department is encouraging citizens to start using a cell phone app in their spring safety campaign that could help them help you. They recently began using the free cell phone app What 3 Words. This app provides a way for emergency responders to help locate you when you are not certain of your exact location. If you’re going camping or out on a hike, you might not know the closest crossroads, or even a way to describe your location. When you download the app it divides the world into a grid of 10 feet by 10 feet squares, then it will generate three words. Those words will give first responders your exact location.
Source: KSNF/KODE
The highest and lowest-paying school districts in Kansas
Kansas ranks in the bottom third for teacher salaries nationwide and average pay by district ranges from $41,318 to $74,989, according to government records. In 2021, Kansas ranked 36th in the nation for public school salaries with an average public school salary of $53,932 or $11,158 less than the nation’s average, according to the Kansas Department of Education. Some of the higher-paying districts in Kansas include Shawnee Mission, Olathe and Lawrence which offer salaries over $60,000 per year, according to govsalaries.com. The districts with higher pay tend to be in more affluent areas of Kansas with higher property values and tax revenues.
Source: KSNF/KODE
Governor vetoes broad tax bill barring government competition against private sector
Gov. Laura Kelly on Friday vetoed a broad tax bill that prohibited governments from running businesses that compete with the private sector, a measure that critics said was intended to help one statewide business. The vetoed bill had 18 tax provisions, including one that would provide real and personal property tax exemptions for some businesses in cities where a government facility competes against a similar business.
Source: Sunflower State Journal
Fed’s Bostic casts doubt on rate cuts this year even if there’s a recession
Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic said Monday that he doesn’t foresee rate cuts at least through 2023, even if there’s a recession. “For me, inflation is job No. 1. We’ve got to get back to our target,” he told CNBC’s Steve Liesman during a “Squawk Box” interview. “If there’s going to be some cost to that, we’ve got to be willing to do that.” His comments came as the Fed has raised rates 10 times since March 2022 in an effort to bring down inflation that a year ago was running at its highest levels since the early 1980s.
Source: CNBC
Please don’t use guns to fish, Kansas officials warn
Officials from the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks came across a fishy situation last Friday after finding a firearm allegedly being used to fish. A Finney County Game Warden seized a 9 mm handgun “that was being used to take fish in Garden City,” Kansas game wardens said in a Facebook post May 5. The wardens said that written violations were issued for “illegal means of take of fish” and “no fishing license.” They also reminded Kansans that “firearms are not a legal means to take fish.” While firearms can’t be used to fish in Kansas, it is however legal to fish with a bow and arrow or a crossbow.
Source: KAKE – News
‘It will look like it did in 1926.’ $5M grant expected to restore Jayhawk Theatre to former grandeur
A $5 million grant announced Thursday is expected to enable downtown Topeka’s Historic Jayhawk Theatre to be restored to its former grandeur. “For the untrained eye, you’ll be able to walk in there and it will look like it did in 1926,” said Scott Gales, a board member for that historic entertainment venue and chairman of the fundraising committee for its restoration project.
Source: CJonline
Our love affair with uniform landscapes kills trees. So Kansas and Missouri are going for variety
Each fall, as temperatures drop, people in this suburb can count on head-turning displays of richly hued maple leaves. But maples make up about one-third of the city’s street trees, and Overland Park has learned the hard way that too much of a good thing can mean fragility. So last year, the city put the kibosh on planting more maples. The emerald ash borer — a tiny, shiny green hitchhiker from Asia with a voracious appetite for a different beloved street tree — taught this city and others across Kansas and Missouri a painful lesson. Now some communities are hedging their arboreal bets and protecting local home values and tax bases by embracing variety. Streets with mature trees command higher home prices, temper the dog days of summer, and draw more people outdoors for fresh air, walks and chats with neighbors. “It is likely the emerald ash borer will kill all of Overland Park’s ash trees,” city spokeswoman Meg Ralph said in an email. “The more variety we have in our tree canopy, the more resilient it will be when the next invasive species or tree disease comes to our community.” Ash made up about a fourth of the city’s street tree canopy when the insect arrived a decade ago. In a thoroughly globalized world, the city has no guarantee that a bug with a taste for maple syrup won’t turn up next. So last fall, its forester dropped maples from the list of trees that people can plant along residential and commercial streets in the public right-of-ways — such as that strip of turf between street and sidewalk. For now, Overland Park won’t add more maples to any city property. It will steer developers away from those trees, too. Builders need city forester approval for their landscape plans.
Source: The Lawrence Times
Panel finds Wichita mayor violated city’s ethics policy at neighborhood cleanup
Wichita Mayor Brandon Whipple violated the city’s ethics policy and will have to undergo ethics training for his role in an encounter with a Wichita police officer at a neighborhood cleanup. The officer stopped the mayor after he entered the wrong entrance to dump a load of trash from his rental property at a neighborhood cleanup event where residents can dispose of large objects like mattresses and tires for free.
Source: Local News | Wichita Eagle
Governor Kelly Announces $30 Million in Tourism Grants
Governor Laura Kelly announced today that $30 million has been awarded to 18 recipients developing and improving tourism sites statewide. Funding was made available through the State Park Revitalization & Investment in Notable Tourism (SPRINT) program launched by the Department of Commerce earlier this year. “A thriving tourism sector is critical for the Kansas economy,” Governor Laura Kelly said. “These grants enhance attractions that draw visitors to the state and showcase what makes Kansas a great place to live, work, and raise a family.”
Source: Kansas Department of Commerce
Iola to study sports needs
In his travels across the state, Iola Mayor Steve French occasionally makes note of how other communities have invested in their sports facilities. “Just go south to Chanute and look at their ball diamonds, and look at what other communities are pouring into their sports complexes,” French said at Monday’s Iola City Council meeting. French’s comments were sparked by conversations he’d had with a handful of local parents in recent days, wondering if it’s time for Iola to consider an upgrade.
Source: The Iola Register
Kansas legislation got ‘watered down’ but will help aquifer conservation efforts
Kansas state representatives this spring voted for “historic” legislation spending more than $50 million a year on preserving groundwater and restoring the state’s reservoirs. By the time the Senate finished with the bill, it was “watered down” but “a good start.” Rep. Lindsay Vaughn, D-Overland Park, said when lawmakers and farm and environmental groups come together, sometimes the least common denominator is all everyone can agree on. She said the legislation didn’t accomplish everything she hoped.
Source: Kansas Reflector
Kansas Main Street Selected for Rural Main Streets Entrepreneurial Program
Main Street America has announced that Kansas is one of 10 states selected to participate in the Equitable Entrepreneurial Ecosystems in Rural Main Streets Program, supported by the Kauffman Foundation. The program aims to spur economic development in rural Kansas not just by fostering entrepreneurship but by building out entire ecosystems. Kansas Main Street has partnered with Main Street America (MSA) to put on a one-day statewide workshop on Equitable Entrepreneurial Ecosystem building that will be open to any rural community to attend. The workshop is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday, June 7, in Great Bend.
Source: Kansas Department of Commerce
Fed Official Signals Support for Further Rate Increases
A Federal Reserve official said the central bank should be prepared to continue lifting interest rates because inflation remains too high and the labor market is too tight, hinting at disagreements within the central bank’s rate-setting committee. Fed governor Michelle Bowman, in remarks prepared for delivery Friday at a banking conference in Germany, said she wasn’t confident the central bank was making enough progress slowing down economic activity and inflation even though she allowed that interest rates were now at a restrictive setting.
Source: WSJ.com: US Business