The Tonganoxie Public Library will be re-open next week.
Library director Nicole Holifield originally posted a note on the library’s website with an update that the library would be back in operation starting at 9 a.m. today, but that date had to be pushed back to next week. The library now will reopen this coming Tuesday.
(Read more: TonganoxieMirror.com stories)
The public will soon be able to provide input on what developments they would like to see in low-income areas of the city that have been designated as federal opportunity zones.
There are two Lawrence census tracts designated as opportunity zones, and developments within their limits are eligible for tax incentives under a provision in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. One of the opportunity zones encompasses all or part of three eastern Lawrence neighborhoods, and neighborhood groups have pressed for more local discussion and input regarding the program.
Read more: LJWorld.com.
The Douglas County Commission didn’t suggest any changes to a proposed comprehensive plan for the county and the City of Lawrence at a Wednesday work session, and one commissioner praised the plan’s focus on preserving rural areas.
Wednesday’s session was the commission’s first look at the plan, known as Plan 2040, which outlines how the city and county will consider development and land use in the future. The commission hasn’t voted on the plan yet — it’s tentatively scheduled to do so during its next meeting on Oct. 16 — but commissioners said they were pleased with the work that had already been done.
Read more: LJWorld.com.
A local tourism leader is asking that the Lawrence City Commission closely consider whether recent shifts in how the city spends an additional sales tax charged to Lawrence visitors are appropriate.
As part of its study session Tuesday, the commission discussed its recent allocation of transient guest tax funds at the request of Explore Lawrence, the travel and tourism organization for Lawrence and Douglas County. Explore Lawrence Executive Director Michael Davidson said that in recent years the city had made several changes to how those funds were spent.
Read more: LJWorld.com.
Manhattan is considering amending laws on smoking and vaping in public areas as well as in stores that market the wares.
The Manhattan City Commission Tuesday discussed combining regulations on the use of e-cigarettes and ordinary cigarettes under the same ordinance, requested by the Flint Hills Wellness Coalition in January. As it was a work session, they held no official vote.
Riley County Health Department Director Jennifer Green says vaping has doubled among high school students in Riley County in the past year. She says smoking rates decreased 10 percent since the smoking was banned in public 10 years ago, and that education campaigns are not enough to do the same in regard to vaping.
“Knowing better does not always result in doing better,” says Green. “We need to create norms and policy change that will help that and we can do that through a policy change like this.”
(Read more: 1350 KMAN)
Designing a strategic plan for the future of Ellis County drew the biggest interest and group during Tuesday night’s meeting of the Strategic Doing Re-Start for Ellis County.
Volunteers gathered at the Rose Garden Banquet Hall in Hays to winnow down the number of project ideas for community improvements generated at a meeting last month.
As attendees enjoyed bierocks and green bean dumpling soup, facilitator Betty Johnson, Lawrence, polled the group for their top topics. Many of the people had been at the first meeting and others were there for the first time.
(Read more: Hays Post)
The Kansas Department of Transportation has announced approved bids for state highway construction and maintenance projects in the area. The letting took place Sept. 18 in Topeka.
In Reno County, workers will be doing some pavement marking on K-61 for 8.6 miles. RoadSafe Traffic Systems of El Dorado won the bid for $183,135.82.
In Kingman County, a bridge replacement over South Fork of the Ninnescah River on Southeast 80th Avenue near Murdock will be done by King Construction Company and subsidiaries for a cost of $991,506.50.
(Read more: Hutch Post)
A federal grant will help homeless residents in Southeast Kansas find shelter as soon as possible.
Catholic Charities of Southeast Kansas is the recipient of a grant for more than a $100,000 from housing and urban development. The funding will be used to help the homeless across an 11-county area who qualify as being without a home, into housing.
Director Casey Brown says this is the first time his organization applied for the grant money. And, he says it will hopefully change the lives of many people the charity serves.
“Our hope is to meet with them as soon as possible and wrap around services with them and to be able to provide services to get them housed stably as soon as possible,” Brown explained.
(Read more: KSNF/KODE – FourStatesHomepage.com)
Opposition to the proposed 25-year, $29.9-million school bond issue has spurred a write-in campaign in a Nickerson-South Hutchinson USD 309 school board race.
Larry Meadows, who applied this summer to fill a vacant seat on the school board only to see the appointment vote delayed until after the election, has launched a write-in race against Mike Apfel.
One-term incumbent Apfel is running unopposed for Position 1 – a South Hutchinson seat – on the Nov. 5 ballot.
Meadows said he had toyed with the idea of filing to run for the seat, but missed the June deadline. He was on the steering committee as the district considered a school improvement bond issue, and he saw the development of the bond issue go “horribly wrong,” he said.
Meadows is conducting a “face-to-face” campaign, and he said he’s “not talked to anybody who’s been in favor” of the bond issue. A few have been opposed to any bond issue, but a majority are in favor of a smaller bond issue, he said.
(Read more: Local – The Hutchinson News)
Wichita’s new water plant has fallen behind schedule, delaying a City Council decision on whether to keep its contract with Wichita Water Partners until well after the November election.
Wichita Water Partners, a team lead by Burns & McDonnell and Alberici, was supposed to design 30% of the plant and come up with a final cost estimate by Oct. 4, according to its contract with the city.
The City Council was scheduled to approve that cost at the end of October and authorize Wichita Water Partners to start building the plant.
(Read more: Local News |)
200 W Douglas Ave, Suite 110
Wichita, KS 67202
(316) 264-3400
info@ransonfinancial.com
Registered municipal advisor with the MSRB and SEC
© 2026 Ranson Financial Group LLC. All rights reserved.
