Czech Capital of Kansas keeps heritage alive

You see it and hear it, as soon as you get to town!

Czechoslovakian culture is everywhere, with polka music piped out of speakers on Wilson’s main street.

It’s the legacy of immigrants who settled here in the late 1800’s.

“I would say 80% of the people living in this town were Czech,” said Melinda Merrill, who points to old black-and-white photographs. “This is my grandfather and my two great aunts. These people and these people all lived in the house that my daughter is living in now.”

Merrill and others in Wilson are helping to preserve that history. She bought the Midland Railroad Hotel, built in 1899.

(Read more: KSN-TV)

Ranson Financial2019-08-08T22:00:30-05:00August 8, 2019|News|

McPherson mom likes smaller Inman schools

Toni Ollenberger, of McPherson, has been impressed with the USD-448 Inman School District since entering her daughter, Gracie, into preschool at the southern McPherson County district.

“It’s awesome,” Ollenberger said. “It was the smaller schools, the teachers and the students.”

Ollenberger was among the many parents who went to Inman’s onsite enrollment on Thursday, Aug. 1, at the Inman High School Library.

Originally, Ollenberger said she was just going to have her daughter attend preschool at Inman and then begin home-schooling her for kindergarten.

“We saw how awesome it is here,” Ollenberger said. “We decided to stay.”

(Read more: McPherson Weekly News » Feed)

Ranson Financial2019-08-08T21:59:12-05:00August 8, 2019|News|

Lenexa terminates TIF development agreement for Renner 87 mixed-use project in City Center

The city of Lenexa has decided to terminate a TIF development agreement with Renner Housing LLC in City Center over the company’s failure to acquire necessary financing or the property to build Renner 87 Flats at City Center.

The mixed-use project, officially titled “Project Plan 4C,” would have been located in the City Center Redevelopment TIF District. It included 250 multi-family units and about 10,000 square feet of retail on 7 acres in the northeast corner of Renner Boulevard and West 87th Street Parkway.

The city council had approved the disposition and development agreement in December 2018. The city amended the agreement in April to allow the developer more time, but the developer failed to acquire the property and financing for the project by the deadline set out in the agreement: June 28, 2019.

Ranson Financial2019-08-08T21:57:57-05:00August 8, 2019|News|

Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office to use drones to fight crime

Shawnee County Sheriff Brian Hill’s office announced Thursday it will begin flying drones over public roadways and pathways in areas of unincorporated Shawnee County that have seen increases in burglaries and thefts. It is important that the sheriff’s office “be proactive in trying to find these criminals,” sheriff’s Maj. Shane Hoobler said at Thursday’s meeting of the Shawnee County Commission.

Ranson Financial2019-08-08T21:57:06-05:00August 8, 2019|News|

Silicon Valley-based Plug and Play announces partnership with Topeka, Shawnee County

A Silicon Valley-based company with global reach has decided to put down roots in Kansas.The Greater Topeka Partnership announced Thursday in the Capitol rotunda that California-based Plug and Play — an innovation company aiming to find, invest in and advance startup companies — has entered into an agreement with Topeka to bring startups to the area. According to key players in pulling the agreement together, the deal’s impact will reach far beyond Topeka …

Ranson Financial2019-08-08T21:56:44-05:00August 8, 2019|News|

Proponent of Sunday liquor sales in South Hutch says he has enough signatures on petition

A South Hutchinson liquor store owner says he has enough signatures on a petition to bring Sunday liquor sales up for a vote.

Greg Dovel has been collecting signatures of South Hutchinson residents trying to drum up support for the vote.

Dovel had tried unsuccessfully to get the city council to pass a resolution allowing the sales just as he opened a new business selling alcohol and tobacco products.

(Read more: Hutch Post)

Ranson Financial2019-08-08T22:01:08-05:00August 8, 2019|News|

Group gets Atchison’s backing to aid victims

After several months of uncertainty following the closure of a regional domestic violence shelter last fall, the local government has found a new partner to provide aid to the victims of perhaps more than 300 domestic disturbance cases in the town each year.

Those in need of aid or shelter after experiencing abuse at the home in Northeast Kansas have gained a new partner in the last year in the form of The Alliance Against Family Violence. The Alliance, which recently re-formed after a closure in 2017, operates a single shelter supporting several rooms with five beds each at an undisclosed location in Leavenworth.

The City of Atchison governing body moved via a 5-0 vote on Monday to endorse The Alliance as the municipality’s official domestic violence shelter provider, replacing the defunct Domestic Violence Emergency Services (DoVES) facility.

(Read more: Atchison Globe Now)

Ranson Financial2019-08-08T22:03:08-05:00August 8, 2019|News|

New banners going up soon in the downtown Hutchinson area

Some new banners will start showing up in the downtown area soon.

Recently the Hutchinson/Reno County Chamber of Commerce took on the role of promotion for Downtown Hutchinson. In an effort to engage all downtown stakeholders, a Downtown Coalition was formed and meets the second Wednesday of each month.

One item that arose from those meetings was the need for new streetlight banners along Main Street.

(Read more: Hutch Post)

Ranson Financial2019-08-08T22:01:52-05:00August 8, 2019|News|

Tax on out-of-state internet sales coming in Kansas

Kansas businesses may not have to compete against online retailers much longer.

People in Kansas have to pay state sales tax at six and a half percent, but not all out of state internet purchases have had that charge.

“The main street retailer in Kansas being at such a competitive disadvantage and when you figure state and local rates you could have a ten percent differential, and that makes a difference,” Department of Revenue Secretary Mark Burghart.

The state will require out-of-state internet purchases to be taxed as well. Now supporters say in-state and out-of-state businesses will be on the same playing field.

“Companies are systematically soliciting customers from Kansas and to the disadvantage of in-state companies and to the state of Kansas because revenue is not being properly collected,” Burghart said.

Burghart said this could add $20 million to $40 million in state revenue. This comes after last year’s Wayfair v. South Dakota Supreme Court case allowing state taxes on internet sales.

Ranson Financial2019-08-08T22:04:25-05:00August 8, 2019|News|

10-year treasury yield drops under 1.6%, 30-year yield nears record low as collapse in rates accelerates

Investors again rushed for the safety of government bonds and dumped stocks on Wednesday, exacerbating the August exodus away from risk assets as traders around the world settled in for a U.S.-China trade war without an end in sight.

The flight to safety sent the yield on the 10-year Treasury note — used as a benchmark for mortgage rates and auto loans — falling to a low of 1.595%, the lowest since autumn 2016. The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond bottomed around 2.12%, near its all-time low reached in 2016. Yields pared some of their declines later in the session, but held steady near multiyear lows.

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