Municipal News & Jobs

Leading tech news publication PCMag just released their ranking of 50 best work-from-home cities in America and Pittsburg, Kansas made the list. The COVID-19 pandemic sparked a remote work boom, driving many North Americans to find new, more affordable homes. But if you can work from anywhere, where should you go? That’s the question PCMag set out to answer. The magazine searched for cities with affordable housing, great gigabit internet connections, plus remote-friendly lifestyles, and Pittsburg passed the test with flying colors. “Our list started by looking at towns where people have and use gigabit broadband, and the work Craw-Kan and now Optic have done to put Pittsburg in the fast lane caused it to bubble up on our list,” says PCMag Analyst Sascha Segan.  “Combine that with the presence of PSU, low housing prices, a walkable layout, and plenty of parks, and the city came up as a hidden gem.”

The interest rate table above illustrates recent changes in a sample of MBIS “investment grade” yields. Every issuer’s credit is different. For rates that may be applicable to your municipality, contact our Municipal Bond Advisors, Larry Kleeman and Beth Warren.

Water flows freely and easily in parts of Kansas. But in other locations, the splash and splatter of a river is far less frequent. A heavy downpour, though often prayed for by farmers, is rare. Edwards, Ellis, Russell and Stafford counties sit at the bullseye of a major water issue. A wildlife refuge needs water for its migrating birds, farmers need water to manage their crops, industry needs the commodity to increase capacity and local municipalities, Hays and Russell, need water for their citizens. In January, with the help of U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, Quivira National Wildlife Refuge, by actions of the director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Aurelia Skipwith, said Rattlesnake Creek funding will be used for the development of a watershed plan for the Rattlesnake Creek Basin, which flows into Quivira. NRCS will work with stakeholders to assess the existing resources, evaluate conservation alternatives and develop a plan to conserve and protect the area’s resources, but they will not give the refuge’s senior water rights to them.
Source: Hutchison News.

The yield of the 30-year U.S. Treasury bond pushed past 2% Monday for the first time since February 2020, before the coronavirus pandemic roiled government-debt markets. The move comes amid a recent surge in yields of longer-term Treasury bonds compared with short-term debt, as traders bet that government stimulus will accelerate a rebound in economic growth. Bond investors closely watch the differential between interest rates on short and longer-dated Treasurys as a bellwether for growth and inflation, both of which can push bond yields up as the Federal Reserve raises short-term rates and investors demand higher returns to lend out capital.
Source: Wall Street Journal.

With bitterly cold weather forecast for this weekend and next week, the City of Lawrence will be opening its recreation centers and other facilities for use as drop-in warming spots. … The city is funding an overnight cold-weather shelter at local hotels and helping operate a campsite with heated tents in Woody Park, and it stated in a news release Friday that the warming centers would continue the city’s work to provide safety and shelter for all residents.
Source: LJWorld.com.

The interest rate table above illustrates recent changes in a sample of MBIS “investment grade” yields. Every issuer’s credit is different. For rates that may be applicable to your municipality, contact our Municipal Bond Advisors, Larry Kleeman and Beth Warren.

In July 2019, local businessman and longtime Topekan Kent Lammers sent a letter to Topeka’s mayor and city council asking whether improvements were being planned for the southernmost stretch of S.W. Topeka Boulevard. “With several new and exciting attractions, such as the Heartland Stampede and the downtown Evergy Plaza, is there a plan to address the condition of the South Topeka Boulevard corridor?” he wrote. “As a main gateway to Topeka from Forbes and a major thoroughfare to and from Heartland Park and downtown, the first impression of Topeka when arriving from the south is not good.”
Source: CJonline.com.

There is a new, unique housing project coming to the city of McPherson, put together by the McPherson Housing Coalition over the course of the past several months. The coalition is looking to build several “tiny homes” under the banner of “Oak Harbor Cottages” on the corner of S. Oak and E. Skanke. The 10 homes — about 460 square feet each — will be there to help people get back on their feet after life changes render them homeless or near homeless. It is a response to the phone calls that come in too often — a family sleeping in their car because they have no place to go. The coalition can help, but sometimes there is a struggle and a wait. “We often have no place to put them,” said Chris Goodson, coalition member.
Source: Hutchinson News.

“There is a lot of money on the sidelines going to work on new issues,” a New York municipal manager said. However, a lot of the demand is intermediate and long focused. “It’s still a challenge in the front of the market with the low yields. Once you get to below the 0.20% level you lose retail,” he said. … And rates should not rise anytime soon, as inflation should remain “subdued” this year, although higher than it’s been in a while, according to Ned Davis Research Senior U.S. Economist Veneta Dimitrova. The firm expects inflation to rise about 2.2% this year, despite a “temporary spike” in the spring as a result of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on inflation last spring.
Source: Bond Buyer.

The interest rate table above illustrates recent changes in a sample of MBIS “investment grade” yields. Every issuer’s credit is different. For rates that may be applicable to your municipality, contact our Municipal Bond Advisors, Larry Kleeman and Beth Warren.

Joey Bahr walks out to the front of his yard along a blacktop county road. He stops in a ditch and points to an orange-and-black sign that marks a buried fiberoptic cable. But for Bahr, the cable running beneath his feet is off-limits. It’s owned by a neighboring internet service provider and is merely passing through on its way to a nearby town. “It’s just maddening,” Bahr said. “We’re at the end of the line basically.” Bahr’s story illustrates just how out-of-reach broadband remains for tens of millions of people in rural America. Nearly 9% of Kansas households — roughly 130,000 — still don’t have access to high-speed internet. Yet the promise of a future with broadband for all Kansans, no matter how remote, might rest in the wide-open skies over the Bahrs’ home — and a plan to send Wi-Fi to a future Mars colony.
Source: Hutch News.