Wichita State releases 2021 employment forecasts for Kansas and Wichita

Wichita State University’s Center for Economic Development and Business Research has released updated employment forecasts for Kansas, Wichita, Topeka, and Kansas City. Total employment in Kansas increased to 1,423,200 workers in 2019, with 0.5% growth, as unemployment declined 3.2%, its lowest level since 1978. Nine consecutive years of declines in unemployment ended in the second quarter of 2020, as employment fell 8% in the second quarter of 2020. This was the single largest one-quarter drop in state history, with a reduction in employment of more than 113,000 workers.
Source: KSN-TV

Ranson Financial2020-10-09T07:41:29-05:00October 8, 2020|News|

City of Wichita conducts pilot program for new scooters

With Zagster’s departure from Wichita earlier this year, Wichita lost its orange Spin scooters along with its bike ride share program. VeoRide scooters remain, and now there’s a second option for scooter fans through a new pilot program with Santa Monica-based Bird scooters. “There was a new opportunity in the market,” spokeswoman Jasmine Wallsmith said.
Source: Carrie Rengers: Business Columns & Blogs |

Ranson Financial2020-10-09T07:45:36-05:00October 8, 2020|News|

Renowned architect Moshe Safdie remembers Exploration Place as ‘a seminal project’

World-renowned architect Moshe Safdie probably could be forgiven if he didn’t remember many details of his time in Wichita designing Exploration Place two decades ago. After all, the 82-year-old has gone on to do acclaimed, massive international projects in many more exotic places, such as Singapore’s Jewel Changi Airport and its Marina Bay Sands development, Brazil’s Albert Einstein Education and Research Center and Israel’s Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Center. Still, Safdie not only has what he called vivid memories of his time in Wichita, he regularly checks back on Exploration Place.
Source: Carrie Rengers: Business Columns & Blogs |

Ranson Financial2020-10-09T07:41:43-05:00October 8, 2020|News|

Shawnee County makes $93,000 investment in mail-in ballot equipment

Shawnee County Commissioners unanimously approved the purchase of a ballot sorting machine and scanner to aid the elections office with the “record number” of mail-in ballot requests. Election commissioner Andrew Howell said at the Oct. 8 county commissioners meeting, 701 N. Kansas Ave., the county already received over 20,000 requests for mail in ballots, which is a sharp increase from the 8,000 requests in 2016. Howell said the sorting machine will increase the efficiency of ballot sorting, and the scanner will help the county match signatures on ballots with election office records. If any signature is not similar, election office staff will review the signature to determine its authenticity.
Source: Local News | Topeka Capital-Journal

Ranson Financial2020-10-09T07:41:57-05:00October 8, 2020|News|

Saint Luke’s to close community hospitals in Overland Park

Saint Luke’s Health System says it will close its two community hospitals in Overland Park at the end of the year. Both hospitals opened just a couple of years ago. The health system, which took over management of Allen County Regional Hospital in Iola in July, said declining patient volumes were behind the decision. “Overall, our community hospital model has performed remarkably well and has allowed us to effectively expand access in a critical segment of our market,” Bobby Olm-Shipman, CEO of Saint Luke’s South and East, said in a statement.
Source: The Iola Register

Ranson Financial2020-10-09T07:42:05-05:00October 8, 2020|News|

South central Kansas could provide new Space Command headquarters

At the start of September, four Kansas cities were announced as potential sites for the new U.S. Space Command headquarters – with Derby and Wichita among that short list. The U.S. Air Force announced its search for a new location for Space Command – currently operating out of Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo. – back in May, distributing screening information to governors across the country. Criteria in order to be considered included being within the top 150 metropolitan statistical areas in the U.S., being within 25 miles of a military base and scoring at least 50 points (out of 100) on a livability matrix created by the American Association of Retired Persons.
Source: Derby Informer | News

Ranson Financial2020-10-09T07:42:30-05:00October 8, 2020|News|

After repeated warnings, Topeka police make camping violation arrest

Topeka police on Wednesday arrested a man they said repeatedly refused to stop violating a city ordinance by camping beneath the Interstate 470 overpass that crosses over Wanamaker Road, where he was blocking the sidewalk. Eugene Frank Richardson, 63, was being held on a $500 bond Thursday after being booked at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday into the Shawnee County Jail in connection with unlawful camping in public infrastructure, according to jail records. The arrest came in connection with an alleged violation of an ordinance Topeka’s mayor and city council approved last December banning camping in some locations.
Source: Local News | Topeka Capital-Journal

Ranson Financial2020-10-09T07:42:49-05:00October 8, 2020|News|

Casino in Park City moves forward with construction

Construction for a casino in Park City is right on schedule. …managers expect to open in mid-January. The Wyandotte Nation purchased the land of about 100 acres nearly 30 years ago. Some people in Park City tell us the opening of Crosswinds Casino could not have come at a better time. “I do think it would bring in some money and give a lot of jobs which this town needs bad,” says Debra Cimmiyotti, Park City resident.
Source: KAKE – News

Ranson Financial2020-10-09T07:43:29-05:00October 8, 2020|News|

Over 70,000 Kansas families may finally get broadband through $50M in COVID grants

After years of unreliable service, more than 70,000 households across Kansas could finally gain access to high speed internet. The access will come from 67 public and private projects funded by nearly $50 million in federal coronavirus relief grants, Gov. Laura Kelly announced at a news conference Thursday. An additional $85 million will be spent over the next 10 years on improving statewide internet access through the Kansas Department of Transportation’s Eisenhower Legacy program, Kelly said.
Source: KC Star Local News

Ranson Financial2020-10-09T07:43:39-05:00October 8, 2020|News|

Seeds for this tree have been to the Moon; now it’s planted in Hutchinson, Kansas

Last week, Hutchinson’s “moon tree” finally took its place on 11th Avenue. The seeds traveled to the Moon, became trees growing across the U.S., and descendants are still planted today in all corners of the earth. Locally, Hutchinson’s young tree waited patiently in Carla Stanfield’s office at the Cosmosphere — the coronavirus pandemic pushed back plans to plant the tree during the Apollo mission anniversary events this spring. “Alright, little moon tree,” the public relations coordinator laughed as she patted soil around the root ball. “You get to be a real tree now.”
Source: News – The Hutchinson News

Ranson Financial2020-10-09T07:45:06-05:00October 8, 2020|News|