Wichita to spend $1 million to add fresh produce to convenience stores, dollar stores

6 Wednesday, July 6

Wichita to spend $1 million to add fresh produce to convenience stores, dollar stores

info2022-07-06T07:45:59-05:00July 6th, 2022|

Wichita plans to spend $1 million on a plan to install refrigerated cases in convenience and dollar stores to provide healthier food to residents who may not have access to grocery stores. The money will come from federal pandemic relief funds. A 2013 study by the Health and Wellness Coalition of Wichita found that neighborhoods with the lowest incomes experienced the highest food prices. It also found that 44 square miles of Wichita was considered a food desert, an area with a significant number of residents more than 1 mile from a supermarket. Source: Wichita Eagle

6 Wednesday, July 6

Kingman man on mission to save small town America

info2022-07-06T07:47:29-05:00July 6th, 2022|

A Kingman native is on a mission to save small-town America, particularly his hometown. "I am a place guy and this is a great place and I think it has kind of made me who I am over the years," said Scott Mueller. Scott Mueller grew up on a farm just outside of Kingman, Kan. The K-State graduate spent the last three decades on the west coast pursuing his career in agriculture economics. However, he never forgot the place that raised him. "I think there's a lot of ways to go back to your roots. A lot of people go back [...]

6 Wednesday, July 6

How Cities and Counties Are Thinking Big With Their ARPA Plans

info2022-07-06T07:48:06-05:00July 6th, 2022|

When President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act into law on March 11, 2021, the fiscal future for states and localities looked bleak. Public officials on both sides of the aisle were predicting that the pandemic was putting their cities and counties in dire financial straits and they would not recover for the foreseeable future. As a result, many anticipated that the $350 million of APRA money that was going to states and localities would be used to simply dig the country out of a covid-based hole. Source: Route Fifty

6 Wednesday, July 6

Great Bend Fire Department busy with Fourth of July calls

info2022-07-06T00:35:23-05:00July 6th, 2022|

Great Bend Fire and EMS were flooded with calls on the Fourth of July. At one point, the majority of the department was called back to work to assist due to high call volumes. The department said they responded to 25 fireworks fires, one of which the home was a total loss. Seven of the calls were for EMS, one for a gas leak, and another five were from fires of an unknown cause. Source: KSN-TV

6 Wednesday, July 6

New Museum opens in Southeast Kansas

info2022-07-06T00:34:16-05:00July 6th, 2022|

The "Parsons Historical Society Museum" unveiled its newest addition. Today the museum held a ribbon cutting for the "Farm Heritage Museum" that sits at 19th and grand. All the pieces of farm equipment on display were donated and the display cases were created by volunteers. The museum has been in the works since 2018 and was fully funded by donations. "Over there we have a wooden rake that a farmer pulled with one horse. When it get full of hay it would automatically flip. That's probably the oldest pieces is 1880. I think they will get a great education bringing young [...]

6 Wednesday, July 6

Shawnee seeking public input in rebranding efforts, asking ‘What Makes Shawnee Shine’

info2022-07-06T07:49:18-05:00July 6th, 2022|

The city of Shawnee wants residents’ help in polishing up its image as part of a rebranding effort happening this year. “What Makes Shawnee Shine” is seeking input in order to create new signs, logos and images in how the city will present itself to the public in coming years. The rebranding is different from the larger visioning or strategic plans cities sometimes do to guide their future policies, said spokesperson Julie Briethaupt. An online survey and a series of informal public meet-ups has been scheduled to give residents a chance to talk about the role the city plays in their [...]

6 Wednesday, July 6

Overland Park introduces e-bikes

info2022-07-06T07:50:49-05:00July 6th, 2022|

The long-anticipated electric bikes have officially flocked to the Overland Park area as of late last week. A total of 40 e-bikes supplied by Bird Rides Inc. are now available to ride in various parts of the city. Overland Park officials have been exploring the concept since 2018. The bikes are part of a two-year pilot program the Overland Park City Council unanimously approved in February. In addition to the bikes, the city introduced 75 electronic scooters in April as part of the program. Most of the bikes can be located in northern Overland Park, but city officials said they are working to expand into [...]

6 Wednesday, July 6

Digging It Up at two Arkansas City sites: Large crowd hears latest on Etzanoa discoveries

info2022-07-06T07:51:42-05:00July 6th, 2022|

Archaeology students and volunteers working at two Arkansas City sites last month uncovered many valuable artifacts that will help archaeologists piece together the Etzanoa story, said Wichita State University archaeologist Don Blakeslee. He described Etzanoa — a five-mile settlement of 20,000 ancestral Wichita located along the banks of the lower Walnut River — as a “mega-site.” Mega-site is a relatively new term that archaeologists have been using for the past five years or so, he said. It is a new concept that is not fully understood yet. They are using it to describe really large settlements that don’t quite match terms [...]

6 Wednesday, July 6

Olathe, Spring Hill annexation pact silences ‘will of voters’ in future

info2022-07-06T07:52:23-05:00July 6th, 2022|

Attorneys representing the city of Olathe argued the Kansas Supreme Court’s derailment of an annexation pact between Spring Hill and Olathe could jeopardize similar alliances among municipalities guiding development throughout Kansas. On the contrary, said lawyers for the city of Spring Hill, the type of open-ended annexation truce adopted in 2006 by the neighboring cities in Johnson County shouldn’t be construed to unfairly bind elected officials of those cities. The Spring Hill argument was that voters shouldn’t be perpetually disenfranchised by policy decisions of city council members who served more than 15 years ago. Source: The Iola Register

5 Tuesday, July 5

Hays, Russell Receive Favorable Ruling In R9 Ranch Water Use

info2022-07-05T10:21:21-05:00July 5th, 2022|

Thursday, the Cities of Hays and Russell received official ruling from the Chief District Judge of the Edwards County District Court denying Water PACK's Petition for Judicial Review of the State's order allowing the conversion of water irrigation rights of the R9 Ranch in Edwards County to municipal use. The District Judge's decision affirmed the Kansas Department of Agriculture's Chief Engineer's 2019 approval of the Cities' change applications. The City of Hays purchased the approximately 7,000-acre R9 Ranch and its thirty water rights in southwestern Edwards County in 1995, and a year later Russell purchased an 18-percent interest in the property, [...]