Ignite Emporia attempts to forge path to state-wide changes in childcare

28 Wednesday, December 28

Ignite Emporia attempts to forge path to state-wide changes in childcare

info2022-12-28T01:43:01-06:00December 28th, 2022|

Amid a childcare crisis in Kansas, Ignite Emporia is making great strides to address the needs of Lyon County families — and helping those throughout the state. Sherry Harrison started her new position as Ignite Emporia director in June of this year. Early into her role, Harrison conducted in-depth questioning around Emporia and Lyon County, especially about the lack of housing. Within that research, another problem arose: the lack of childcare. “We started hearing from employers that they had people that would like to come to Emporia and work but they could not find housing that they were happy with,” Harrison [...]

28 Wednesday, December 28

‘Tiny Jails’: Historic Kansas lockups may be endangered

info2022-12-28T01:42:09-06:00December 28th, 2022|

The Kansas Preservation Alliance’s annual list of the state’s Most Endangered Buildings includes six specific locations and a statewide category called “Tiny Jails.” Several of these lockups can be found in the Golden Belt. Most were built in the 1880s through 1920s and were used merely as “holding tanks” in later years of operation, according to the KPA website. By the 1960s, more were retired and then forgotten about. The “bear cage” jail cell that is alleged to have belonged to the City of Claflin is now located at the Barton County Historical Society Village and Museum. It provides a fun [...]

28 Wednesday, December 28

Gary Demel retires after 51 years

info2022-12-28T01:41:00-06:00December 28th, 2022|

The question Gary Demel has heard most for the past month is, “What are you going to do when you retire?” Demel’s last day as Superintendent of the Barton County Road and Bridge Department was Dec. 1. He’d worked for the county for 51 years, with some time off to serve in the U.S. Army. “I’ve been busier than ever since I retired,” he said. His wife Renee’s father passed away and they’ve been taking care of selling his property in Trousdale, and Gary also takes Renee’s grandchildren to and from school. Then there’s the Demels’ rural property in the Walnut [...]

28 Wednesday, December 28

Wastewater recognized by Mid-America Regional Council for sidestream treatment process

info2022-12-28T01:39:44-06:00December 28th, 2022|

Johnson County Wastewater was recently included in the Mid-America Regional Council's 2022 Resilient Success Stories. The success stories highlight climate resilient-focused policies, plans, projects or practices that are aligned with the Kansas City Regional Climate Action Plan. Wastewater was honored for the impact of the Tomahawk Wastewater Treatment Facility's sidestream treatment process. The process has resulted in a decrease in energy consumption, helping the facility meet environmental requirements and reduce costs. In the video below, Tami Lorenzen, Assistant Chief Engineer-Integrated Planning Manager and Tomahawk Project Leader, explains the sidestream treatment process at the Tomahawk facility. Source: Johnson County Kansas |

28 Wednesday, December 28

‘That’s huge’: Kansas grocery tax to drop on New Year’s Day

info2022-12-28T01:37:43-06:00December 28th, 2022|

Starting on New Year's Day, the state tax on groceries will drop two and a half percent. Right now, the plan is for the grocery tax to disappear in 2025. Say you pay $10 in taxes on groceries. With the state tax reduced by 2.5%, you could save 25 cents for every $10. "I paid, looks like 13 dollars." That's what Chuck Crawford paid in taxes on his grocery bill Monday. But, come Sunday, anyone paying $13 in state tax on their bill now, will pay just eight dollars. “Paying less on anything feels good right now because everything just seems [...]

28 Wednesday, December 28

‘We are working day in, night out’: City of Caney battling water troubles

info2022-12-28T01:35:50-06:00December 28th, 2022|

The cold weather during the last few days has added to the water woes in Caney. It's now issued a Boil Water Order after freezing pipes caused a sudden drop in pressure, but that's not the only problem they're dealing with. "This is the stuff that we have pulled from our filters," said Caney Mayor Josh Elliott. "This gets stuck in our filters. This is like goo." A day after the city's latest water troubles began, Elliott took to Facebook live to explain what was going on. "All this stuff has clogged them and we are working day in, night out [...]

28 Wednesday, December 28

Kansas public universities finalizing plan in response to shortage of K-12 teachers

info2022-12-28T01:34:07-06:00December 28th, 2022|

Education deans at public universities in Kansas working on solutions to a K-12 teacher shortage want to dramatically expand over three years state financial aid for college students in education programs and to implement a partnership to uniformly compensate student teachers. The task force appointed by the Kansas Board of Regents has also been working to refine an agreement among community colleges and universities allowing education students to automatically transfer 60 credit hours of courses. Another of 15 recommendations in the report draft would strengthen literacy instructional skills of teachers. Source: Kansas Reflector

28 Wednesday, December 28

County employees benefit from deeper dig into ARPA pocket

info2022-12-28T01:32:19-06:00December 28th, 2022|

County employees on the payroll as of November all received a special piece of the federally funded American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 funding by way of a bonus. Atchison County Grants Administrator Mark Zeltner said all fulltime employees received $1,200 and the part-timers were paid $600 bonuses before taxes. The rounds off to about $1,000 and $500 respectively. The employee bonuses are one of the top priorities Atchison County Commissioners approved as one of the internal pieces to benefit for the county. Source: News | atchisonglobenow.com

28 Wednesday, December 28

City implements mandatory water conservation measures

info2022-12-28T01:29:49-06:00December 28th, 2022|

The City of Atchison is implementing mandatory water conversation measures due to record low river levels which have limited our ability to draw a sufficient amount of water to meet the normal demand from domestic, commercial, industrial and agricultural customers. The City of Atchison is requiring all industrial and agricultural customers to limit the use of water to only what is necessary to maintain the health and personal hygiene of employees on duty. The City of Atchison is requiring commercial/business customers (e.g. office buildings, restaurants, salons, stores) to limit the use of water to what is necessary to conduct normal operations [...]

28 Wednesday, December 28

County official to retire

info2022-12-28T01:28:15-06:00December 28th, 2022|

Cara Barkdoll, longtime Register of Deeds, will retire at the end of the week. A ceremony will be from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 28, in the assembly room in the basement of the courthouse. Gov. Laura Kelly appointed Misty Rice, who has worked alongside Barkdoll as her deputy for the county department, to serve the remaining two years of the term. BARKDOLL earned an associate degree from Allen County Community Junior College before joining the appraiser’s office in 1985. Source: The Iola Register