What’s next for Wichita’s housing market?

6 Friday, October 6

What’s next for Wichita’s housing market?

info2023-10-06T11:02:10-05:00October 6th, 2023|

Wichita’s housing shortage will likely get worse in 2024, according to a new forecast from the Wichita State Center for Real Estate. Home prices are expected to stay high, and fewer units will be sold next year than in 2023, said Stanley Longhofer, the center’s founding director who pens annual analyses of Kansas’ major real estate markets. At least that’s his best guess, based on local and national economic indicators. “Housing markets have been so crazy over the past few years, it can be hard to see through the distortions to understand what ‘normal’ really is,” said Longhofer, who will present his [...]

6 Friday, October 6

Municipal Bond Trends for October 5, 2023

Henry Schmidt2023-10-06T10:08:28-05:00October 6th, 2023|

The interest rate table above illustrates recent changes in a sample of MBIS "investment grade" yields. Every issuer's credit is different, and other financing sources may be available. To obtain comprehensive Financial Advisory services for your local government, contact your Ranson Financial Municipal Advisor, Larry Kleeman, or Henry Schmidt.

6 Friday, October 6

Wichita East High School celebrates 100 years

info2023-10-06T10:17:04-05:00October 6th, 2023|

Wichita East High School is celebrating 100 years with celebrations and events on Friday and Saturday. The event is open to the public. “We’ve got band show, choir show, dancers our jazz band,” Principal Sara Richardson said. “We have self-guided tours going on and just kind of a fun atmosphere all the way up until three o’clock that really everyone and anyone in the community is invited to.” Wichita High School opened in 1873, but on Oct. 8, 1923, Wichita High School opened at Douglas and Grove. It then became Wichita High School East when Wichita High School North opened in [...]

6 Friday, October 6

Sedgwick County working on AI policy for employees

info2023-10-06T10:19:54-05:00October 6th, 2023|

Sedgwick County is adding employee guidelines for using artificial intelligence. Their information technology department met with commissioners Tuesday to discuss the artificial intelligence policy in the works. Chief Information Officer Mike Elpers explains their concern is on Generative AI, which takes in information to create content in the form of text or images. The policy will help prevent issues with security and inaccurate information. While AI is growing rapidly in professional industries, “There’s no guidance on how to use it in business,” said Elpers. “It’s going to be a very good time to sit down and understand what AI does, what it [...]

6 Friday, October 6

State tourism magazine features true crime exhibit at Finney County Historical Museum

info2023-10-06T10:22:25-05:00October 6th, 2023|

The True Crime Exhibit at the Finney County Historical Museum in Garden City is featured in the latest edition of Kansas! Magazine. The magazine’s fifth edition of 2023, just released, includes a collection of articles under the topic of “Notorious, a chronicle of the state’s extraordinary criminals,” with three pages devoted to the exhibit. The display, which opened in 2018, focuses on the way local and area law enforcement agencies ended the crime spree of the Finney County-based Fleagle Gang in the 1920s; and brought justice after the 1959 murders of the Herb and Bonnie Clutter family in Holcomb, which led [...]

6 Friday, October 6

Great Bend Police Department and Barton team up for mutual benefit

info2023-10-06T10:26:11-05:00October 6th, 2023|

Christian Rivas wanted real-life experience in law enforcement before he sought to attain his long-time goal of teaching college-level criminal justice. He was able to get that experience at the Great Bend Police Department (GBPD) and now is the instructor/coordinator for the Criminal Justice Program at Barton Community College. “I am grateful to the police department for the opportunity to be part of the real world of law enforcement,” said Rivas, a long-time Great Bend resident. “I am so fortunate they were willing to invest in me even though everyone knew my ultimate goal was to teach. I know the value [...]

6 Friday, October 6

Important link between Sumner and Cowley Co. has reopened

info2023-10-06T10:29:18-05:00October 6th, 2023|

A bridge replacement project on Kansas Highway 55 between Belle Plaine and Udall is finally complete. The barricades and signs were brought down Thursday afternoon, and the road is now open for traffic. Construction to replace the bridge began in September of 2022. During the bridge replacement, traffic between the two communities was detoured at U.S. Highway 81 up to K-53, east on K-53 through Mulvane to K-15, and south on K-15 down to Udall. That is 23.6 miles, with an average drive time of 28 minutes, according to Google Maps. Now that the bridge has been replaced, the distance is [...]

6 Friday, October 6

With limited housing options, city-owned houses draw interest in Wichita

info2023-10-06T12:49:18-05:00October 6th, 2023|

At a time when affordable housing is scarce, the city of Wichita hopes that the sale of homes once used for public housing will provide more options for prospective homeowners. Over the past week, the city offered open houses for the first 13 homes it is selling after receiving permission from the federal government. The city announced in 2022 that it would split up its 352 single-family public housing units into several groups and sell them. The units come at a time when buyers face a tight market. A report by the Wichita State Center for Real Estate found that sales [...]

6 Friday, October 6

Prairie Village’s housing recommendations have split the city

info2023-10-06T12:49:27-05:00October 6th, 2023|

When it comes to housing in Johnson County, all eyes are currently on Prairie Village. The Kansas City suburb — one of the most affluent in the county — is at a crossroads about what role city government should play in addressing a lack of attainable housing stock in the city. Over a period of months, Prairie Village went from scratching the surface of what it could realistically accomplish to being caught in a fierce debate about who belongs and what types of housing make sense for the landlocked city with very little undeveloped land remaining. Last summer, after the county [...]

6 Friday, October 6

Overland Park sets $15 minimum wage for city workers. How does it compare in the metro?

info2023-10-06T10:44:56-05:00October 6th, 2023|

Last week, Overland Park raised its minimum wage for city employees to $15 per hour — a move that city officials touted as a way to remain competitive and retain city workers. The city government is currently hiring for 71 open positions, according to its jobs page. Most of the jobs impacted will be in the city’s parks department, although some other positions will see their pay increase as well. Overland Park is the latest city in the metro to adopt a minimum wage for its government employees that’s higher than the statewide minimum. Kansas City and Kansas City, Kansas, also [...]