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.
Construction workers found an unexpected treasure while knocking down the Irene B. French Community Center in Merriam. The oldest part of the building was a school dating to 1911, and workers found a time capsule inside the cornerstone placed that year. The contents included a “Laws Relating to the Common Schools of Kansas” pamphlet from 1909, a list of those present when the cornerstone was set, and the signatures of students and other Merriam residents, including descendants of the city’s founder, David Gee Campbell, who settled the area in 1864. (Merriam was originally called Campbellton but later renamed for a railroad official.)
Source: Joco 913 News
Most rural hospitals have fallen on hard times — but not in Atchison. Atchison General Hospital has seen a growth in the number of patients it served in recent years, and the hospital has even been planning to grow, buying the assets of a shuttered facility in Horton. But there is at least one barrier still remaining, according to assistant city manager Justin Pregont: broadband internet connectivity. While the hospital, like the city itself, is served by AT&T and Vyve Broadband, they both use one set of cables. That means if there is an outage, both the hospital and Atchison residents alike are in trouble if they’re looking to get online. And residents say they are unhappy with the customer service provided by AT&T, while fear about a lack of competition looms.
Source: Leavenworth Times
A group of Merriam residents last week asked the city to work alongside them for traffic calming measures along Knox Avenue between Johnson Drive and 55th Street. The group of residents submitted a letter for public comment during the Aug. 24 city council meeting to express frustration with speeding on Knox. The 14 residents acknowledged the city’s 2019 and 2020 speed and traffic studies, which came to the conclusion that not enough people were speeding to merit a four-way stop sign at the intersection of Knox Avenue and 57th Street.
Source: Prairie Village Post
After noticing inmates in the Crawford County Jail weren’t getting adequate treatment for mental health issues and substance abuse, a new partnership was born. Crawford County Sheriff Danny Smith, said, “It’s vital that we address mental health.” Crawford County inmates will now have access to a mental health treatment program. Eric Thomason, Director of Behavioral Health Services, Community Health Center SE Kansas, said, “There’s a subset of populations that just aren’t getting adequate treatment and after meeting with Sheriff Smith, we recognized that the Crawford County jail population is one of them.”
Source: KSNF/KODE
State-owned casinos in Kansas are losing out on millions of dollars because of the coronavirus pandemic. Compared to last year’s revenues, casinos are down more than 90 million dollars since the crisis began. Casinos closed in March and were shut down for all of April. They began reopening in late May. The state gets 22 percent of what a casino makes in revenue, which means Kansas has lost about 20 million dollars from casinos alone. That money could be spent on paying down debt and infrastructure improvements or to help reduce taxes. As the number of cases started to decrease in May and casinos began to reopen, officials noticed a different trend among pent-up gamblers.
Source: KSN-TV
Two dogs and a skunk spent part of their morning trapped in a drain pipe in Bel Aire on Monday. It happened at 9:45 a.m. The Bel Aire Police Department received a call notifying them there was a dog stuck inside of a drain pipe. “When officers and fire personnel got here they discovered that it was not only a dog, but a skunk,” said Bel Aire Police Chief, Darrell Atteberry. “We are guessing the dog chased the skunk into the drain hole and now they’re both stuck.” Chief Atteberry said the drain pipe is about 50 feet long and because of its short grate exit the Sedgwick County Fire Department was releasing water into the pipe to get the dogs and skunk to move closer to the exit so they could be rescued.
Source: KSN-TV
Two former soccer club executives are hoping to help fund a planned $330 million redevelopment of the shuttered Schlitterbahn water park in Kansas City, Kansas, with sales tax funds. Robb Heineman, Sporting KC’s former CEO, and Greg Cotton, its former chief operating officer, and chief counsel, have proposed building a multisport complex on the site, which was sold in June last year. Unified Government of Wyandotte County-Kansas City officials say the redevelopment would “remove (the) blight and political stigma” that has tainted the park since 2016 when a 10-year-old boy was decapitated while on a ride billed as the world’s tallest waterslide.
Source: KSN-TV
Topeka ER and Hospital opened in July, but is looking to grow closer with the community. The hospital is fully-functional with the same abilities as any other major hospital in the country. It has an eight-bed emergency room and six-bed inpatient unit for those who may need to stay for an extended period of time. The hospital can handle anything from cuts and scrapes to heart attacks and major illnesses. “The whole idea behind it is to try and be within the community rather than being a larger that’s hard to get to or feel comfortable with,” Dr. Jared Schreiner, Topeka ER and Hospital Medical Director, said. “We want to be one that blends with the community.”
Source: KSNT News
Across the country, colleges and universities are struggling to decide how to teach students in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some schools have turned to remote learning; some have attempted to reopen campus with various precautions in place. Others are trying a mix of both. For the municipalities that are host to colleges and universities, these decisions can be costly. Whether it’s curtailing the spread of the virus in their communities, or losing the typical influx of student spending that arrives each fall, these cities and towns are bracing for a challenge. In South Bend, Ind. earlier this month, the University of Notre Dame paused in-person classes for undergraduate students until at least Sept. 2 after more than 100 students tested positive for the virus after just a week of classes.
Source: KMUW
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