Finney County approves RFP for future tourism facilities, venues

9 Thursday, February 9

Finney County approves RFP for future tourism facilities, venues

info2023-02-09T07:52:34-06:00February 9th, 2023|

The Finney County Commission approved a facilities/venues audit and assessment RFP ... with the goal to create a “long-term roadmap for future tourism product development and program enhancements that reflect Finney County’s unique needs, make up, values and existing assets that make it an active and enticing destination for both residents and visitors." ... Commissioner Lon Pishny said the proposal was a yearlong project that he initiated with an unofficial ad-hoc task force with the stakeholders of the county such as the city of Garden City, city of Holcomb, Garden City Community College, USD 457, USD 363, Finney County Economic Development [...]

9 Thursday, February 9

USD 253 Board of Education pauses discussion of four-day school week

info2023-02-09T07:48:53-06:00February 9th, 2023|

The USD 253 Board of Education is not moving forward with the consideration of a four-day school, five-day work week after reviewing the potential calendar change at its meeting Wednesday evening. Board members agreed Wednesday to set aside preliminary discussions of the revised week, after agreeing that the strategy did not seem like a fit for the district. According to Superintendent Dr. Allison Anderson-Harder, the request came from Thought Box input, informal feedback and responses on the 2024-2025 calendar priorities survey. Anderson-Harder said the presentation of the revised week was designed to “present a neutral foundation of the topic,” to gauge [...]

9 Thursday, February 9

Will Kansas crack down on Missouri weed?

info2023-02-09T07:48:31-06:00February 9th, 2023|

Kansas and Missouri have a long and colorful history when it comes to crossing state lines for the enjoyment of vices. Most of it has involved liquor and the states’ differing laws. Last year, with Kansas legalizing sports betting, Missourians had to start flocking west to gamble. Now we enter a new era, with recreational marijuana becoming legal in Missouri while all marijuana, including medicinal, is outlawed in Kansas.... Area law-enforcement officials on the Kansas side have said they will continue enforcing marijuana laws just as they always have. That means it won’t matter if your cannabis was obtained legally in [...]

9 Thursday, February 9

‘Choose Topeka’ expands to accept returning residents, military

info2023-02-09T07:47:36-06:00February 9th, 2023|

City and county leaders are working together to ensure those who currently live outside Topeka see it as a place they might want to call home. The "Choose Topeka," program offers financial incentives to people who relocate to Topeka. Since 2019, it's helped bring almost 100 individuals and families to the Capital City. On Wednesday, the Topeka and Shawnee County Joint Economic Development Organization (JEDO) approved "Choose Topeka 2.0." Members of JEDO approved almost $400,000 from the CarryFoward fund to fund the incentive. The program will now open its applicant pool to former Topeka residents want to return and exiting military [...]

9 Thursday, February 9

Return of passenger trains to Cowley County lurches forward

info2023-02-09T07:47:07-06:00February 9th, 2023|

Kansans might be riding trains to Texas in the near future. The long overdue return of passenger rail service to south-central Kansas has a much better chance of happening within the next several years than it has had in decades. A big incentive to extend and improve passenger rail service is the availability of billions of dollars in federal funding to be distributed nationwide during the next five years, it was reported at a legislative caucus in Topeka last week. That’s good news to Cowley County passenger rail proponents, who have organized to advocate the return of Amtrak for well over [...]

9 Thursday, February 9

Communities talk rural health

info2023-02-09T07:46:32-06:00February 9th, 2023|

The inaugural sessions of the Radcliff Lecture Series on Rural Health took place on Thursday at the Physicians Pavilion in Winfield and on Friday at Aunt B’s in Sedan. Hosted by William Newton Healthcare Foundation in conjunction with the Beats Go On community wellness initiative, Dr. Nancy W. Dickey, executive director of the Center for Optimizing Rural Health, spoke to more than 100 attendees on the importance of different entities working together to bolster access to health and wellness resources in rural areas. “If you’re not growing and changing, you’re dying,” emphasized Dickey during Thursday’s presentation. Source: The Arkansas City Traveler

9 Thursday, February 9

Fed Governor Christopher Waller warns that interest rates could go higher than expectations

info2023-02-09T07:22:40-06:00February 9th, 2023|

Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller on Wednesday talked tough on inflation, warning that the fight is not over and could result in higher interest rates than markets are anticipating. Speaking to an agribusiness conference in Arkansas, Waller said the January jobs report, showing nonfarm payroll growth of 517,000, indicated that the employment market is “robust” and could fuel consumer spending that would maintain upward pressure on inflation. Consequently, he said the Fed needs to maintain its current plan of action, which has seen eight interest rate hikes since March 2022. “We are seeing that effort begin to pay off, but we [...]

9 Thursday, February 9

Washington’s Old City Hall is ‘for sale’

info2023-02-09T00:08:44-06:00February 9th, 2023|

The old city hall building in Washington could be yours for free, but only if you have a plan for the building. At Monday night’s city council meeting, council members agreed to attempt to give the building away one more time. It was said that multiple previous attempts to give the building away have been unsuccessful. The council is now planning to demolish the building this year if someone doesn’t take the building. The council is preliminarily planning to allocate all of this year’s money for housing demolition to take down the old city hall building. Council member Theresa Herrs said [...]

9 Thursday, February 9

Sedgwick County commissioners approve spending plan for ARPA funds

info2023-02-09T07:24:58-06:00February 9th, 2023|

Sedgwick County commissioners have voted to approve spending plans for 2023 and 2024 for federal funds provided through the American Rescue Plan Act, but commissioners want to have meetings later to make changes in some items. The largest item on this year’s spending plan is $25.9 million for district court to help with a backlog of cases. In addition, construction is underway to renovate spaces in the courthouse that were left vacant when several county departments left the building. The spaces will be turned into additional courtrooms. There will also be almost $3 million to go toward public health response efforts this year. [...]

8 Wednesday, February 8

Downtown district dominates Larned council meeting

info2023-02-08T23:59:52-06:00February 8th, 2023|

The city’s downtown business district received the lion’s share of discussion at Monday’s meeting of the Larned City Council. Beginning with public perception of the pros and cons of the drive down Larned’s Broadway street, discussion in the three-hour session segued into ideas of what it could look like and what it would take to get there. Source: Great Bend Tribune