Augusta airport runway renovation will strand tenants for 7 months

“For me, it means I have to commute a lot more around the section doing my engineering contract work,” said Keiter. Keiter has lived just east of the airport for 32 years. The problem is, in order to make room, the city permanently shut down 110th street, meaning Keiter now lives at a dead end instead of having a straight shot to Highway 54. “So four times a day, okay, times an eight-mile round trip extra. So that’s 32 extra miles a day on some days that I have to commute,” Keiter said. While the project will be a major challenge for people like Keiter and McLemore, the worn-out, pothole-ridden runway will become a brand new, bigger runway with modern flight equipment in hopes of ultimately bringing in even more money for the little airport. “Once we get through the project, and it’s unveiled, you know, I think it’ll really be great for our business and for Augusta too,” said McLemore. He’s talking about the massive runway reconstruction project that’s about to leave his business, and every airplane parked at the airport on the day of the closure, stranded for seven months. “It’s actually been in the works for almost 15 years, going back to the original studies. And now we’re finally in the process of building it,” said Augusta City Manager Josh Shaw. Shaw says the FAA is paying for 90% of the more than $11 million new runway, and the city already set aside the rest of the money it needs to pay for it in 2016.
Source: KAKE – News

Ranson Financial2024-02-13T10:41:36-06:00February 13, 2024|News|

‘I loved how it was:’ Johnson County neighbors fight apartment plans on tree-covered land

Bootsie Martin moved to Olathe’s Cedar Creek neighborhood for the nature. “I have deer that come in my backyard. In the spring they bring their babies. There are foxes running through my backyard. It’s the wildlife, the trees, the lake. I loved how it was,” said Martin, who has now lived in Cedar Creek, near the confluence of K-10 and K-7 highways, for about five years. But a fight is brewing in her quiet neighborhood over a proposed development, with many homeowners worried that the doorstep to their slice of paradise could forever change. The sprawling neighborhood is home to rolling hills and dense woods. Modern subdivisions — with homes ranging from $500,000 to $2 million — are tucked between winding roads marked by waterfalls and limestone bluffs. “I have to drive a ways for a grocery store, but I don’t care,” Martin said. “I wanted to live out here where it is quiet, remote. It is just something to see when you live out here.” Lenexa-based Oddo Development is proposing a mixed-use project at the southeast corner of Cedar Creek and Valley parkways, including four- and five-story luxury apartment buildings with 300 units and a parking garage below. Plans also include two buildings with 11 “brownstone” townhomes, priced at $500,000 and up, as well as retail and sit-down restaurants. Oddo Development is asking city officials to approve rezoning 14 acres, which is almost entirely covered by trees, to allow the project. The site was previously zoned for a hotel development.
Source: Joco 913 News

Ranson Financial2024-02-13T10:35:55-06:00February 13, 2024|News|

Liberal attempts Guinness World Records for pancakes

Liberal is attempting to break two Guinness World Records ahead of the 75th International Pancake Day (IPD) race on Tuesday. The race is a pre-Lenten tradition between Olney, England and Liberal. The race in Olney dates back to 1445. In Liberal, the race will take place at 11:55 a.m. The race will start at 6th and Kansas Avenue. On Monday, the IPD hosted an attempt to break the record for the longest line of pancakes. Each pancake had to touch each other in a continuous line. The IPD used 120 feet of tables to lay out 900 feet of pancakes which amounted to about 2,800 cakes. The pancakes will be repackaged and will go to food banks. On Tuesday, a record will be attempted to break the highest pancake toss. The current record stands at 31 feet, 2 inches and is held by Mike “Mr. Pancake” Cuzzacrea. Frank Hampton, the proclaimed “Pancake Maestro,” will attempt to break the record. For more Pancake Day information, go to www.pancakeday.net.
Source: KSN-TV

Ranson Financial2024-02-13T10:34:16-06:00February 13, 2024|News|

Exploring Kansas heritage with the Osage Trail

Members of the Southeast Kansas Museum Alliance are hoping a proposed project will help people learn more about Kansas history. Leaders in the Southeast Kansas Museum Alliance are discussing an official Osage Trail Byway designation through the Southeast Kansas region. So far, the Oak Grove School Historical Society has restored the Oak Grove School House which was built in 1877, it is southeast of Neosho County. “We’re getting ready to open it up to school districts in the Southeast Kansas region to bring fourth-grade school classes out. When they learn about Kansas history for the first time. And they can have a history, lesson, experience and activities there in the schoolhouse,” said Roger Pruitt, Oak Grove School Historical Society Treasurer. The schoolhouse was built along the Osage Trail Byway, a mile west of the Neosho River. “The Osage Trail had two main arteries. One came down from the north and came through Missouri and then down along the western bank of the Neosho River, all the way to Indian territory in Oklahoma. And the other one came across southern Missouri into the southeast corner of Kansas and went west all the way to the Santa Fe Trail,” said Pruitt.
Source: KSNF/KODE

Ranson Financial2024-02-13T10:32:39-06:00February 13, 2024|News|

No injuries after train derails in southwest Kansas

Authorities say no one was hurt when a train derails near Hazelton in south-central Kansas early Monday morning. The incident happened at around 5:20 a.m. east of Hazelton in southeastern Barber County. A county emergency management official said there were no reports of injuries, no hazardous materials were involved, and no homes were in danger. Investigators are on scene working to determine the cause. Barber County Emergency Management shared a photo on Facebook showing multiple cars piled up and told KAKE News there were three piles like it. Director Mike Loreg later shared additional photos.
Source: KAKE – News

Ranson Financial2024-02-13T10:28:46-06:00February 13, 2024|News|

Prices rose more than expected in January as inflation won’t go away

Inflation rose more than expected in January as stubbornly high shelter prices weighed on consumers, the Labor Department reported Tuesday. The consumer price index, a broad-based measure of the prices shoppers face for goods and services across the economy, increased 0.3% for the month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. On a 12-month basis, that came out to 3.1%, down from 3.4% in December. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for a monthly increase of 0.2% and an annual gain of 2.9%. Excluding volatile food and energy prices, the so-called core CPI accelerated 0.4% in January and was up 3.9% from a year ago, unchanged from December. The forecast had been for 0.3% and 3.7%, respectively. Shelter prices, which comprise about one-third of the CPI weighting, accounted for much of the rise. The index for that category climbed 0.6% on the month, contributing more than two-thirds of the headline increase, the BLS said. On a 12-month basis, shelter rose 6%. Food prices moved higher as well, up 0.4% on the month. Energy helped offset some of the increase, down 0.9% due largely to a 3.3% slide in gasoline prices. Stock market futures fell sharply following the release. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were off more than 250 points and Treasury yields surged higher.
Source: Economy

Ranson Financial2024-02-13T10:25:59-06:00February 13, 2024|News|

Municipal Bond Trends for February 12, 2024

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.

Henry Schmidt2024-02-13T10:23:30-06:00February 13, 2024|News|

What’s in Humboldt’s century-old time capsule?

A mystery 100 years in the making was recently solved in Humboldt, Kansas. “We started trying to get into it last year,” said Amber Wheeler, Superintendent, Humboldt Schools. Humboldt superintendent Amber Wheeler says despite having newspaper coverage to go off of, this box, a time capsule from 1922, remained elusive for more than a year. “When they pulled out the little black box it was an excitement for everybody,” said Wheeler. Wheeler says they knew the capsule was somewhere around the cornerstone of the high school… but when they pulled the bricks around it last year, they came up empty. “There wasn’t anybody to ask. One hundred years ago is a long time. There was nobody to ask where they really put it, or how they had put it in there. We had one newspaper article and a whole lot of guesses,” said Wheeler. This year, they pulled the cornerstone out as part of adding on to the school. And inside of the cornerstone — was the capsule. “Who knows what’s in there, and how things have survived in the last 100 years,” said Wheeler. Monday night, they found out. “What we can see right now is that there is obviously something that was a baseball at one point in time,” said Wheeler.
Source: KSNF/KODE

Ranson Financial2024-02-13T10:23:28-06:00February 13, 2024|News|

Newton sees resignation of high school, grade school principals

At its February 12 meeting the USD 373 Board of Education approved a personnel report that included the names of two building administrators under the resignation column. Newton High School Principal Blake Smith’s name was listed with his final day with the district being June 30 – the last day of the school’s fiscal year. Smith worked as an assistant principal at the high school starting in 2019, before taking over in August of 2022, replacing then principal Caleb Smith. Sherri Terrell, who’s been principal of South Breeze this school year was also listed as resigning, with her departure date in June. Harvey County Now reached out to both administrators late Monday night after viewing the personnel report and hopes to add more information to this article, once they’ve replied.
Source: Harvey County Now

Ranson Financial2024-02-13T10:19:51-06:00February 13, 2024|News|

Topeka petition seeks to demand ‘a public vote before they raise our taxes’

Keeping Topeka’s city government from raising property taxes without a public vote is the aim of a recently initiated petition drive. The petition calls for the passage of a proposed ordinance that would ban the city from collecting more property taxes in any given year than it collected the previous year, said Topekan Earl McIntosh, the petition drive’s leader.
Source: CJonline

Ranson Financial2024-02-13T07:22:22-06:00February 13, 2024|News|