The Wichita projects supported by 14 community improvement districts

16 Monday, October 16

The Wichita projects supported by 14 community improvement districts

info2023-10-16T13:51:46-05:00October 16th, 2023|

Perhaps you've spotted the signs or noticed the extra tax on your receipt. Fans who buy Wind Surge merchandise at Riverfront Stadium, for example, will notice an extra 2% sales tax, outside of the usual 7.5% rate. Similarly, there's also an added 1.5% sales tax at Chicken N Pickle. That's because there are 14 community improvement districts across the Wichita area that are leveraging an additional sales tax — anywhere from 1-2% — to support certain commercial development projects. A CID is an incentive program that provides funds to a development project through the levy of additional sales tax within the district boundaries, [...]

16 Monday, October 16

Places to go, sites to see, tales of yore keep Atchison tourism on the Kansas Map

info2023-10-16T10:21:07-05:00October 16th, 2023|

For the curious, history lovers, adventurists, and naturalists near and far, they might tell Atchison is the place they like to go for good time experiences. Kansas Tourism recently announced that the Atchison Area Chamber of Commerce was recently awarded a $10,000 Marketing Grant in the 2023 Tourism Marketing Grant Awards Program. The grant awards announced on Aug. 28, are designed to assist local tourism or attractions in new or first-time innovative marketing initiatives. Atchison Chamber is one of the 22 projects that the Kansas Tourism Award will provide funding throughout the state to enhance and expand advertising efforts to attract [...]

16 Monday, October 16

Security breach in Kansas court network system

info2023-10-16T10:16:28-05:00October 16th, 2023|

The Kansas Supreme Court issued an order today declaring all court clerk offices inaccessible for electronic filings through Sunday, October 15th. This order comes after the court's network experienced interruptions on Thursday. Courts remain open according to the news release issued by the Kansas Judicial Branch on Thursday. The courts will continue to accept paper filings and fax filings. By declaring the courts inaccessible for efiling purposes, certain filing deadlines may be extended under applicable rules and statutes. Source: KSNF/KODE

16 Monday, October 16

With funding for Kansas schools higher, the attorney general wants to close their lawsuit

info2023-10-16T10:14:48-05:00October 16th, 2023|

Kansas’ Republican attorney general asked the state’s highest court to reward the GOP-controlled Legislature for following through on a decade’s worth of court-mandated education funding increases by making it harder for local school districts to force higher spending in the future. Attorney General Kris Kobach’s office wants the Kansas Supreme Court to close a lawsuit that four school districts filed against the state in 2010. The request was filed Wednesday by Tony Powell, a former state Court of Appeals judge who now serves as Kobach’s solicitor general. The state Supreme Court issued seven rulings from 2013 through 2019 requiring the Legislature to increase [...]

16 Monday, October 16

Thousands of local governments fail to report how they’ve spent COVID-19 relief funds

info2023-10-16T14:29:00-05:00October 16th, 2023|

States and local governments have spent about 45% of the $350 billion given out through one federal COVID-19 relief program, but tracking that money has been difficult and 4,268 local governments – about 14% – have yet to submit reports on how the money was used. The U.S. Department of the Treasury hasn't publicly released the names of the small local governments that have failed to report back on what they did with the money because it doesn't want to put "undue pressure" on them, according to a report released Wednesday. When Congress passed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, [...]

16 Monday, October 16

Does Wichita have secrets? New book highlights more than 80 of them

info2023-10-16T09:58:27-05:00October 16th, 2023|

Vanessa Whiteside is spilling Wichita’s secrets. Whiteside, a travel blogger and writer, again draws on her natural curiosity and the love of her hometown for her second Wichita-centric book published through Reedy Press. In the introduction to “Secret Wichita: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure,” Whiteside writes that she took on the task of sharing Wichita’s secrets “because I wanted to learn as much as possible about the city’s hidden gems, forgotten stories, and intriguing spaces.” The book highlights more than 80 people, places, artifacts, collections and things in Wichita that fall in the category of being weird, wonderful, [...]

16 Monday, October 16

Therapy dogs are making pawsitive impact in Parsons Schools

info2023-10-16T09:57:20-05:00October 16th, 2023|

Students in the Parsons School District have an extra resource to provide support and comfort. For the past six years the district has had a therapy dog inside just one of its schools. Now every school in the district has a certified therapy dog. "I tell the kids he's here for you guys. When you guys are down and you're upset and you need you just need to pitch someone. You just need to hug someone. And he gets plenty of hugs and kisses," said Jo Rae. Administrators say the dogs are a benefit for the schools in ways such as reducing negative behavior [...]

16 Monday, October 16

SEK sounds off on transportation

info2023-10-16T09:37:06-05:00October 16th, 2023|

The Kansas Department of Transportation heard from Southeast Kansas residents during a Local Consult meeting to seek public input on IKE, the Eisenhower Legacy Transportation Program. The event at the Bowlus on Thursday morning included discussion on needed improvements to state highways. Truck drivers hauling material to and from Monarch Cement Co. in Humboldt face a particularly troublesome stretch of road on K-39 west of Chanute toward Fredonia. Kent Webber, president of Monarch, shared his concerns about the road at a special meeting organized by the Kansas Department of Transportation at the Bowlus Fine Arts Center on Thursday morning. KDOT officials met with [...]

16 Monday, October 16

Union Pacific sued over chemical spill affecting Wichita neighborhoods near 29th, Grove

info2023-10-16T09:35:22-05:00October 16th, 2023|

Wichita residents living above a chemical spill from Union Pacific Railroad face property damages and a loss of property value as a result of the company’s negligence, according to a federal lawsuit filed this week by law firms across the country. The class-action lawsuit addresses a chemical spill at a Union Pacific rail yard near 29th North and Grove, which many Wichita residents learned about last year. The spill – which contains trichloroethylene, a carcinogenic degreasing agent – contaminated the groundwater beneath about 2,800 addresses. The groundwater plume runs about 3 miles, from 29th Street to the north to Murdock to the [...]

16 Monday, October 16

Some seniors, disabled Wyandotte County residents to be exempt from fee on BPU bills

info2023-10-16T09:33:13-05:00October 16th, 2023|

Wyandotte County residents of a certain age and income, or who are disabled, will soon be able to seek exemptions from a Unified Government fee on their utility bills. The Board of Commissioners, Wyandotte County’s governing body, on Thursday passed PILOT relief for people ages 65 or older who have an income of $37,750 or less. The exemptions for qualifying residents will start in 2024. Ratepayers have long complained of the UG fee on their bills from the Board of Public Utilities, the publicly-owned utility that provides water and electricity to Wyandotte County. The PILOT fee, which stands for payment in lieu of taxes, [...]