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.
Barton County Engineer Barry McManaman can now at interim county administrator to his job title after action by the County Commission Monday morning. According to the employment agreement, the appointment went into effect Monday and McManaman will continue as engineer. … Included in the session along with commissioners were McManaman, County Clerk Donna Zimmerman and County Counselor Patrick Hoffman. It was also noted Monday morning that Zimmerman will continue in the assistant administrator role. McManaman has been county engineer at the end of 2015, coming to the county from the Kansas Department of Transportation’s Great Bend office.
Source: Great Bend Tribune
In an effort to prevent warehouse development from crossing the Johnson County/Miami County border, homeowners in rural Miami County have petitioned to form a new city. In June, the county commission heard public feedback on the potential incorporation of the City of Golden. Now the commission is hosting a series of study sessions to get expert testimony about how creating a new city could affect the county overall. On Wednesday, the Miami County Board of Commissioners heard from water quality experts from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) about how incorporation could affect water quality within the Hillsdale Lake Watershed.
Source: fox4kc.com | FOX 4 – WDAF
The state of Kansas paid an estimated $700 million in state and federal unemployment benefits to illegitimate claimants during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic while blocking $2 billion in potentially fraudulent jobless claims from people attempting to rip off the system, auditors said Monday. The Kansas Department of Labor and the Kansas Legislature’s audit division both had high confidence $380 million was sent to fraudsters impersonating others from January 2020 to February during the coronavirus health emergency. There is less compelling evidence in hands of labor department investigators and legislative auditors regarding $306 million in red-flagged payments requiring further analysis. The auditors’ total of $686 million in potential loss — a number rounded to $700 million in the report — was divided evenly between the federal unemployment fund and the state’s unemployment trust fund.
Source: Kansas Reflector
In a sharply worded opinion, the Kansas Supreme Court last week stayed a Johnson County judge’s ruling that a pandemic emergency powers law is unconstitutional. Why it matters: The ruling temporarily puts a hold on Judge David Hauber’s ruling that the law, known as SB 40, violated the separation of powers and the due process rights of the Shawnee Mission School District. But SMSD officials say the stay will have no immediate impact on the district’s COVID-19 mitigation measures currently in place, including a universal mask rule in all schools.
Source: Prairie Village Post
A new fund from the Lawrence-Douglas County Housing Authority aims to reduce high barriers for people to get housing by spurring landlords to loosen some screening requirements and agree to lease their units. The Landlord Risk Reduction Fund aims to help individuals and families who are either experiencing homeless or at immediate risk of becoming homeless, according to information from LDCHA. In order to do so, the fund will provide financial incentives to landlords in Lawrence and Douglas County: A lease up bonus will pay double the amount of rent upon successfully leasing to an LDCHA-referred tenant. That is a per-unit incentive, so more units can mean more funding. A damage reduction fund will offer damage claims beyond the initial security deposit. “Landlords will receive one month’s rent funded to cover any damage that may occur, guaranteed. If security deposit and initial incentive coverage is used and there are still damages, landlords can request additional funding up to two month’s rent (not to exceed 3x month’s rent).”
Source: The Lawrence Times
Six years after the state Legislature mandated that nearly all guns used in Kansas crimes be sold back to the public, the city of Wichita has become a substantial gun dealer, selling an average of about 400 firearms a year online — but receiving less than half of the proceeds. More than 2,000 firearms have been sold by City Hall since 2015, when it held its first gun sales in compliance with the state law that was passed a year earlier. The guns, seized from robberies, drive-by shootings, drug deals and myriad other offenses and investigations, are sold through an online auction site. Supporters say selling the guns is no different from disposing of any other surplus city property and safeguards are in place to ensure they’re only sold to law-abiding citizens through a licensed dealer. Opponents say local government shouldn’t be in the weapons business at all and that there’s no guarantee the guns won’t find their way back to the criminal element through private person-to-person sales and “straw purchases,” where potential buyers who can’t pass a background check enlist a friend with a cleaner record to take delivery.
Source: Local News | Wichita Eagle
El Mercado Fresco on Broadway and Harry in South Wichita was buzzing Sunday morning. The store has been open for just under two weeks and some shoppers, like Elizabeth Gallardo, say it’s already making a big impression. “It’s really good has a good variety both the Hispanic variety of the foods that Hispanics use a lot of and that other stores don’t carry and then has a good variety of just your American foods.” For Gallardo and other customers, this is more than just a new supermarket. It solves a problem many have been dealing with for a while. The area is part of a “food desert,” meaning there is no store with fresh produce for miles, at least, until now. “We missed it when it was Save-A-Lot and then it was the Dillon’s prior to that way way back. So it’s it’s been much needed,” Gallardo said.
Source: KAKE – News
Derby Public Schools is exploring a pay-to-ride busing program with hopes of having it in place for next school year. Under the potential program, parents who live less than 2.5 miles away from their child’s school would be able to pay for busing services. Currently, the state only reimburses each school district for bus riders who live 2.5 miles or more away from their designated school building.
Source: Derby Informer | News
More than half of Kansas students are now required to wear masks in school as cases the delta variant increase, leading to widespread quarantines and forcing one district to call off classes because of a COVID-19 outbreak. An Associated Press analysis has found that 30 of the state’s 50 largest districts have mask mandates in place, with most passed in the last month during often heated meetings and protests. Those 30 districts educate a combined 262,585 of the state’s 476,435 public schoolchildren. Several other smaller districts also have mandated masks as well, including Atchison and Wamego.
Source: KAKE – News
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