Topeka officials to discuss creating housing market strategy

Topeka’s mayor and city council plan Tuesday to see a consultant’s presentation about creating a citywide housing market strategy.

The Shawnee County Commission will meet at 9 a.m. Monday in its chambers in Room B-11 of the Shawnee County Courthouse, 200 S.E. 7th, while Topeka’s City Council will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday in its chambers at 214 S.E. 8th.

The mayor and council will hear a report from Development Strategies, the St. Louis-based urban planning and real estate consulting firm to which the city is paying $95,000 to carry out a study aimed at creating a citywide housing market strategy.

Ranson Financial2020-02-10T06:46:22-06:00February 9, 2020|News|

Wichita likely ‘most exposed’ metro in U.S. by Boeing 737 Max crisis, economists say

Wichita’s economy is likely the “most exposed” in the United States by the Boeing 737 Max grounding, economists say. And it could be years before the city fully recovers.

A report by Wells Fargo Securities Economics Group released last week concluded that Boeing’s strong order backlog and the tight labor market for skilled aviation workers is likely to limit layoffs across the county to a handful of areas.

Unfortunately for Wichita, it’s the area that will be hit the hardest.

“It’s bad news for Wichita,” said Mark Vitner, senior economist for Wells Fargo Securities and co-author of the report. “It’s a significant impact and hopefully it’s a temporary one.”

(Read more: Local News |)

Ranson Financial2020-02-09T19:11:20-06:00February 9, 2020|News|

St. John grocery store to be part of NBC documentary

A visit of the “NBC Today Show Weekend” with Willie Geist to St. John’s White’s Foodliner grocery complex in St. John didn’t go as planned last week. Footage filmed, however, will be part of a special television documentary in the near future.

Residents and travelers through St. John have taken advantage of the food products, prescription medications and fuel island options at the White’s Foodliner since the complex was built two years ago in St. John.

The successful establishment of a grocery store in a rural Kansas community caught the attention of “NBC Today Show Weekend,” and a crew from NBC planned to be in St. John on Thursday to film a segment that will be included in a larger NBC story on shrinking rural access to necessities like food, gas and medication. The entire segment will highlight the success of small grocery stores. It will likely last about 3 minutes.

Ranson Financial2020-02-09T19:00:30-06:00February 9, 2020|News|

Pool of rural high school grads smaller

Sitting amid wheat and milo fields in western Kansas, the challenge for Fort Hays State is recruiting rural high school graduates to enroll, according to FHSU president Tisa Mason.

“We are really working hard to get students here but it’s not easy to grow the on-campus population,” Mason said Tuesday morning at an informal gathering of Hays and Ellis County commissioners.

“It used to be several years ago it was said the population that is not going to college are students of color,” Mason said. “Well, now the biggest population not going to college are rural students.”

Ranson Financial2020-02-09T18:57:55-06:00February 9, 2020|News|

MSRB opposes withdrawing its submission calculator (which tracks continuing bond disclosure)

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board does not want to withdraw a proposal to more visibly track the timeliness of secondary market disclosures in the midst of opposition from analysts and issuers.

In a letter filed to the Securities and Exchange Commission Thursday afternoon, the MSRB said the SEC should not reject its “submission calculator” despite criticism from muni market participants. The tweak to EMMA would help efforts to improve transparency in the market, the MSRB said.

“The MSRB believes the proposed rule change is complementary to such efforts and so the proposed enhancements should not be withdrawn or disapproved at this time in anticipation of the outcomes of ongoing industry initiatives,” said Gail Marshall, MSRB chief compliance officer.

The MSRB proposed the “submission calculator” in November and would show the number of days between the posting of an annual financial disclosure and the end date of the financial period. The calculation would be triggered once the submission is made on EMMA. It would not require extra work from issuers.

(Read more: The Bond Buyer)

Ranson Financial2020-02-10T06:48:22-06:00February 9, 2020|News|

Finney County to add county park

Finney County Public Works director Roger Calkins is excited about the creation of Finney County’s newest county park — Wildwood Park.

Located two miles southwest of Garden City, just west of the fairgrounds, Wildwood Park will offer new recreation opportunities to area residents, Calkins said.

“We’re just excited to give the community an option,” he said. “It’s not necessarily a revenue generator, although it may create some revenue for the community, it’s more about quality of life, giving (people) an option.”

(Read more: News – The Hays Daily News)

Ranson Financial2020-02-09T18:38:44-06:00February 9, 2020|News|

Midwest Energy issues credit for overcharged Larned consumers

Midwest Energy customers in the city of Larned may be eligible for a refund credit due to a miscalculated rate last year.

Friday, the City of Larned released a statement providing information to residents about a miscalculated market rate, and their right to a refund.

Larned entered into a new contract with long-time provider, Midwest Energy, in March of 2019.

Midwest Energy is a customer-owned cooperative electric and natural gas company that serves 93,000 customers in 40 counties in western Kansas according to the company website.

According to the City of Larned, the new contract with Midwest Energy had a miscalculated market rate for customers, which both city staff and Midwest Energy noticed. Afterwards, both entities jointly began working on getting to the root of the issue.

(Read more: KSN-TV)

Ranson Financial2020-02-09T18:37:44-06:00February 9, 2020|News|

Sedgwick County shares damage estimates from Jan. 18 County Courthouse fire

Remediation and repairs are progressing in the County Courthouse following the fire on January 18, according to a Friday news release from Sedgwick County.

On Wednesday, February 5, Commissioners approved an emergency Resolution which allowed staff to work with on-call contractors to do the work rather than using a competitive bid process.

Currently, staff are conservatively estimating $750,000 in damages for an insurance claim. Invoices from on-call contractors have not yet been submitted to give a final amount.

The fire on the fourth floor of the Sedgwick County Courthouse was due to an electrical short.

(Read more: KSN-TV)

Ranson Financial2020-02-09T18:36:36-06:00February 9, 2020|News|

New downtown boot project under way in Abilene

Abilene Forward is the communities’ organized group of people that work on beautifying and promoting all businesses to bring revenue downtown. As a recent addition to bring tourism to local businesses, the idea of colorful boots placed at different locations downtown was raised.

The very first one has finally arrived in Abilene.

“This first boot will be painted by Karen Cooper and then sent to Holm Automotive for a protective clear coat,” said Allison Blake, co-facilitator of Abilene Forward. “It will either be placed in front of the Visitor’s Center or the city building, the exact location has not yet been confirmed.
Read more: Reflector-Chronicle.

Ranson Financial2020-02-07T06:45:42-06:00February 7, 2020|News|

Blanca Soto: Did you know southwest Kansas is a hard-to-count community?

Under counting is particularly common in Latino communities, which presents a problem for towns in southwest Kansas like Garden City and Dodge City, where according to census data, Latinos account for more than 60% of the population. Under counted minorities, such as Middle Easterners, East Africans, Asians and of course Latinos, list language barriers, fear, confidentiality concerns and a distrust of our government as pressing concerns that keep them from participating in the census.
Many Latinos residing in southwest Kansas who are hesitant of participating in the census feel that sharing personal data with anyone from the government means worrying what might happen to their information or themselves.
Considering what is at stake for southwest Kansas, local organizations aggressively are working to ensure an accurate count.
(Read more: News – The Garden City Telegram)

Ranson Financial2020-02-07T06:41:58-06:00February 7, 2020|News|