On shaky ground: One small neighborhood, two days, six earthquakes

East Wichita was shaken by two more earthquakes Monday morning, bringing the total number of temblors since Sunday to six. Five of the six have occurred in a square bounded by 13th Street on the south, 21st Street on the north, Rock Road on the west and Webb Road on the east. The sixth was just outside that square, slightly west of Rock near Eastview Park. Residents of the neighborhood said damage has been light to imperceptible.
Source: Local News | Wichita Eagle

Ranson Financial2021-03-16T07:31:11-05:00March 16, 2021|News|

Bill requires more property tax transparency

A bill that recently passed the Kansas House and Senate would remove the property tax lid enacted on governing bodies a few years ago, replacing it with a requirement to publish notices and hold a public hearing before exceeding their revenue neutral rate. The revenue neutral rate is what the mill levy has to be in order for property taxes to not be higher than the previous year. SB 13 requires governing bodies, such as city and county commissions, to publish legal notices and hold a public hearing before they can exceed their revenue neutral rate for property taxes, and discontinues the property tax lid enacted by the legislature a few years ago. It also prohibits property valuation increases solely as the result of normal repair, replacement or maintenance of existing structures, and establishes a payment plan for payment of both delinquent and non-deliquent property taxes. The bill also reimburses governing bodies for costs associated with publishing notices for the first two years.
Source: Cowley CourierTraveler

Ranson Financial2021-03-16T07:30:31-05:00March 16, 2021|News|

Hiawatha votes to move toward rescinding mask mandate – reopens City Hall

The Hiawatha City Commission agreed on Monday night to request an ordinance be brought to the next meeting, which will replace the current mask mandate ordinance. Once approved, the new ordinance would end the mask mandate in the City of Hiawatha after publication, effective April 12.
Source: Hiawatha World Online

Ranson Financial2021-03-16T07:30:00-05:00March 16, 2021|News|

Governor: Kansas speeding up COVID shots to hit May target

Kansas will give COVID-19 vaccinations faster than planned so that all adults with medical conditions can seek shots next week and the state will aim for President Joe Biden’s goal of having inoculations available for all adults May 1, Gov. Laura Kelly announced Monday. Kelly said the state will launch both the third and the fourth phase of its planned vaccine distribution next week, a week before the expected arrival of 100,000 doses of a single-shot vaccine made by Johnson & Johnson. The combined phase will cover about 600,000 of the state’s 2.9 million residents, after the first two phases covered twice that number.
Source: KAKE – News

Ranson Financial2021-03-16T07:29:32-05:00March 16, 2021|News|

String of Wichita earthquakes raising concerns

Eight earthquakes in northeast Wichita between Sunday and Monday morning have raised concerns for homeowners in the city. Most homeowners insurance policies protect your home from damage due to fire, smoke, lightning or even theft but insurance agents say earthquake insurance is typically sold separately. “Most policies will only allow you to add that coverage on at either the inception of the policy or the renewal,” said M & M Insurance agent Jonathan Lamunyon.Source: KAKE – News

Ranson Financial2021-03-16T07:29:12-05:00March 16, 2021|News|

Riley County caught between lawmakers and KDHE in debate over who controls vaccine prioritization

After the Kansas Department of Health and Environment prevented the Riley County Health Department from rolling out COVID-19 vaccinations according to the county’s specific needs, some state legislators want to minimize the state’s power to intervene in how counties make such decisions. A few weeks ago, Riley County health officials announced they were ready to move into phase three of the vaccine rollout. That would have allowed people in the county with severe underlying conditions, such as cancer and some other illnesses, to get their vaccines ahead of the state’s distribution schedule — and way ahead of what had been predicted for Riley County. But Kansas Department of Health and Environment secretary Lee Norman said the county needed to continue following the state’s plan as approved by the federal government and vaccinate another group in phase two: essential workers. … Sen. Richard Hilderbrand, who chairs the Public Health and Welfare Committee, said Senate Bill 295 would put a stop to what he called KDHE’s “micromanagement” of counties. He said he isn’t happy with how Kansas has prioritized its distribution phases and wants to see local governments have more flexibility in how they distribute vaccines. Hilderbrand indicated his committee would take action Tuesday on the proposed legislation.
Source: Kansas Reflector

Ranson Financial2021-03-16T07:28:44-05:00March 16, 2021|News|

Cluster of earthquakes in east Wichita shake south-central Kansas on Sunday

If you were woken up earlier than you would have liked Sunday morning after losing an hour to daylight savings time, it may have been due to earthquakes that rattled east Wichita. The Kansas Geological Survey recorded four earthquakes early Sunday morning. … More than 1,600 people reported feeling the strongest earthquake, according to USGS data as of 2 p.m. The vast majority of reports were from south-central Kansas. Additional reports came from near Salina and near Emporia. … The Kansas Corporation Commission previously determined that the swarm of earthquakes in November and December was not related to fracking. “Based on our investigation, KCC staff does not believe the seismicity in Wichita, Kansas is tied to any oil and gas activities in the area,” said Ryan Hoffman, director of the KCC Conservation Division, in a Dec. 23 statement.
Source: Wichita News

Ranson Financial2021-03-15T07:56:14-05:00March 15, 2021|News|

Kansas sees its best week of cases in more than eight months

The dropping trend of COVID-19 cases in Kansas continues. The past week in Kansas saw 1,887 new cases, the lowest week since the end of June. The weekly high of cases was more than 19,000 cases at the end of November. From there, it ebbed and flowed before starting to drop in all but one consecutive week so far this year. Friday’s report from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment listed an additional 519 cases, continuing the trend of fewer cases. Each one of the thrice-weekly reports from Sept. 18 to Feb. 19 listed cases in the thousands. The high was more than 7,500 cases on Nov. 23. Each weekly report so far in March has been under 1,000.
Source: Wichita News

Ranson Financial2021-03-15T07:54:34-05:00March 15, 2021|News|

Welcome to the only county in Kansas that doesn’t have a COVID emergency

Greetings from Chautauqua, the only county in Kansas where COVID-19 isn’t an emergency. This bucolic and remote county, nestled on the Oklahoma border 100 highway miles southeast of Wichita, is the only place in Kansas that isn’t under a COVID disaster emergency declaration, according to the Kansas Association of Counties. “We didn’t feel like we needed it,” said Rodney Shaw, who serves on the three-member County Commission that doubles as the Board of Public Health. If you wear a mask in Sedan, the Chautauqua County seat, you might as well hang a sign around your neck saying “Not From Around Here.” Coming here is like stepping back into 2019, those halcyon days before a global contagion that would kill an estimated 2.6 million people, including more than 527,000 Americans.
Source: Wichita News

Ranson Financial2021-03-15T07:53:24-05:00March 15, 2021|News|

Local government groups present ‘bond modernization agenda’ to Congress

Local government groups told a House committee Thursday the reinstatement of tax-exempt advance refunding and tax credit bonds are top priorities for infrastructure financing, part of a “bond modernization agenda.” They also highlighted the importance of raising the limit on bank-qualified debt to $30 million as part of that effort. … Mayor Stephen K. Benjamin of Columbia, South Carolina, a former president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, described the reinstatement of direct-pay tax credit bonds through another round of Build America Bonds as “an excellent complement” to municipal bonds. Although all of the proposals have some bipartisan support in Congress, the extent of that support remained unclear at the hearing.
Source: The Bond Buyer

Ranson Financial2021-03-15T07:48:37-05:00March 15, 2021|News|