YMCA celebrates grand opening of ‘Dome’ project in Garden City

The Garden City Family YMCA celebrated the grand opening of the YMCA Dome on Thursday morning, located just northeast of Kenneth Henderson Middle School at 1706 E. Mary St.

The Dome began as a joint partnership with the City of Garden City, USD 457, and the YMCA, according to information on the YMCA’s Facebook page. Both KHMS and the YMCA needed additional gym space so they came together to create a mutually beneficial solution.

“It’s been a long journey,” said a visibly moved Chad Knight, CEO of the YMCA of Southwest Kansas, during the ceremony inside the facility.

(Read more: Greater Garden City » Feed)

Ranson Financial2019-07-25T21:37:28-05:00July 25, 2019|News|

Wichita on track for new water plant in 5 years, city says

Wichita is on track to receive a $270 million federal loan that would help pay for a new water treatment facility, Director of Public Works and Utilities Alan King said.

The loan could save the city more than $70 million and allow the project to break ground by the end of 2020. The Environmental Protection Agency gives loans, called Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act, or WIFIA, to repair the country’s crumbling infrastructure.

Wichita needs a new water treatment facility because the old one is in bad shape.

(Read more: Local News |)

Ranson Financial2019-07-25T21:53:44-05:00July 25, 2019|News|

KDOT announces I-135 mill, overlay work in McPherson County

The Kansas Department of Transportation will begin a mill and overlay project on Interstate 135 in McPherson County.

The project is scheduled to begin Monday one mile south of the Kansas Highway 61 junction and continuing north to the Saline County line for approximately 19 miles.

Traffic will be reduced to one lane with a 14-foot width restriction at the location the contractor is actively working.

APAC Inc. of Hutchinson is the prime contractor and have scheduled this project to be completed by Sept. 9, weather permitting, at a cost of $5.8 million.

(Read more: The Salina Post)

Ranson Financial2019-07-25T14:10:28-05:00July 25, 2019|News|

Douglas County will continue using one herbicide for invasive plant in Lone Star Lake, discontinue another that’s likely killing trees

Douglas County will end the use of one herbicide and continue using another for the treatment of unwanted vegetation at Lone Star Lake.

After hearing from public works director Keith Browning during their regular meeting on Wednesday, Douglas County commissioners accepted his plans for herbicide use at the lake. But before that, the commissioners heard from a local fishing enthusiast who argued that some of the unwanted vegetation was actually beneficial.

Topeka Metro gets $1.7 million federal grant for electric buses

The financially strapped Topeka Metro bus service got a jolt of good news Thursday in the form of a nearly $1.74 million federal grant to help it buy or lease environmentally friendly electric buses.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration has awarded the Topeka Metropolitan Transit Authority, which oversees Topeka Metro, that grant to buy or lease of “zero-emission and low-emission transit buses,” Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., announced in a news release.

The grant — totaling $1,737,825 — may also go to cover costs that include the “acquisition, construction and leasing of required supporting facilities such as recharging, refueling and maintenance facilities,” said Moran, who is a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Ranson Financial2019-07-25T12:06:11-05:00July 25, 2019|News|

Kansas school district votes to protect students from ICE

The USD 497 Board of Education in Lawrence approved a resolution this week in response to recent decisions made at the federal level regarding immigration and customs enforcement, according to the district’s web site.

“The school board objects to Immigration and Customs Enforcement making any attempt to use public schools to interview students or gather information on potentially undocumented students and families.”

The proclamation references board policies related to law enforcement access to students and families’ educational rights to privacy.

(Read more: Junction City Post)

Ranson Financial2019-07-25T12:03:09-05:00July 25, 2019|News|

New police chief named for Olathe

Mike Butaud, who has been acting police chief in Olathe since June 1, has been tapped to stay in the position permanently.

He has spent his entire career with the Olathe Police Department and replaces Chief Steven Menke, who retired in April.

“Olathe is one of America’s safest cities for a number of reasons, but none more so than the men and women who serve in the Olathe Police Department,” City Manager Michael Wilkes said in a news release.

(Read more: Joco 913 News)

Ranson Financial2019-07-25T12:02:01-05:00July 25, 2019|News|

Central Kansas Community Foundation hands out funds to area agencies

Four area organizations have been awarded funds from The Central Kansas Community Foundation (CKCF) as part of the Kids FUNd program. The program is funded from proceeds from the L. Marie Haun Charitable Fund for Children.

The four area organizations included in the grant are:

*Harvey County DV/SA Task Force, Inc., Building Better Lives for Children and Youth, Newton

*Heart to Heart Child Advocacy Center, H2HCAC Stewards of Children, Newton

*Mirror Inc., STAND (formally known as Youth as Resources), Harvey County

*CASA A Voice for Children, Inc., Conversations with CASA, Harvey and McPherson Counties

(Read more: Hutch Post)

Ranson Financial2019-07-25T11:58:57-05:00July 25, 2019|News|

KDHE pilots treatment to reduce blue-green algae in public lakes

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment initiated, on July 23, a project to treat the Milford Gathering Pond, located near the outlet of Milford Reservoir in Geary County, with a hydrogen peroxide-based algaecide. This project is part of the KDHE’s efforts to investigate and demonstrate in-lake treatment options to reduce the frequency and duration of Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) events on public lakes. The Milford Gathering Pond has been on a Public Health Advisory Warning due to HABs since June 27.

The Milford Gathering Pond has a surface area of about 100 acres. The current application is directed at a 75-acre portion of this pond, with a treatment depth of 3 feet, totaling 225 acre-feet of treated lake water. The work is being conducted by a State of Kansas contractor, utilizing an EPA-registered aquatic algaecide and precision application equipment, to complete a targeted treatment for control of cyanobacteria (blue-green algae). Peroxide-based algaecides can provide rapid, targeted in-lake management of HABs. Effects on desirable plants, fish and other aquatic life are negligible, and there are no water use restrictions after its application. Samples are being collected both before and after the application, to evaluate the performance of the treatment. The effectiveness of the treatment will be carefully evaluated as the state continues to pilot affordable and feasible tools to reduce HABs in Kansas.

(Read more: Hays Post)

Ranson Financial2019-07-25T11:57:17-05:00July 25, 2019|News|

Is Wichita water treatment facility failing? City leaders address concern

Wichita Mayor Jeff Longwell Thursday addressed concerns over the city’s aging water treatment facility.

This follows a new report that the facility could fail at any moment. Wichita’s director of public works made those statements. In his report, the public works director says the aging water treatment facility keeps him up at night and every hour it is running, it could fail.

(Read more: KWCH News)

Ranson Financial2019-07-25T21:56:37-05:00July 25, 2019|News|

YMCA celebrates grand opening of ‘Dome’ project in Garden City

Wichita on track for new water plant in 5 years, city says

KDOT announces I-135 mill, overlay work in McPherson County

Douglas County will continue using one herbicide for invasive plant in Lone Star Lake, discontinue another that’s likely killing trees

Topeka Metro gets $1.7 million federal grant for electric buses

Kansas school district votes to protect students from ICE

New police chief named for Olathe

Central Kansas Community Foundation hands out funds to area agencies

KDHE pilots treatment to reduce blue-green algae in public lakes

Is Wichita water treatment facility failing? City leaders address concern

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