GDP growth slows to 2.9% in fourth quarter

26 Thursday, January 26

GDP growth slows to 2.9% in fourth quarter

info2023-01-26T20:46:23-06:00January 26th, 2023|

U.S. economic growth slowed to a 2.9% annual rate in the fourth quarter of 2022, bringing an end to a year marked by high inflation. In the third quarter of last year, real GDP increased 3.2%, the U.S. Commerce Department said Thursday. "The deceleration in real GDP in the fourth quarter primarily reflected a downturn in exports and decelerations in nonresidential fixed investment, state and local government spending and consumer spending," according to the Commerce Department report. "These movements were partly offset by an upturn in private inventory investment, an acceleration in federal government spending, and a smaller decrease in residential [...]

26 Thursday, January 26

Jackson County Commissioners continue to research solar farm regulations

info2023-01-27T12:07:22-06:00January 26th, 2023|

The Jackson County Commissioners continue to research regulations regarding commercial solar projects in an effort to “do what’s best for the entire county,” according to Commissioner Keith Kelly. Commissioners Kelly, along with Commissioners Dan Brenner and Mark Pruett, addressed several members of the public during their meeting on Tuesday afternoon this week regarding a large solar farm being proposed near Delia by NextEra Energy of Florida. County resident Mitchell Nicol and Matt Wheeler of KansaSolar, a local residential and commercial solar company out of Holton, met with the commissioners and asked them about the county’s role in the proposed solar field [...]

26 Thursday, January 26

Don’t eat the fish: Arkansas River, other Kansas waters remain under advisory

info2023-01-27T12:08:00-06:00January 26th, 2023|

This is your annual reminder: If you fish the Arkansas River in Wichita, limit or don’t eat any bottom-feeding fish you catch. Those fish, which include buffaloes, carps, catfishes, sturgeons and suckers, could have chemical contamination, according to an advisory issued by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks. Health officials advise people not to eat bottom-feeding fish from a portion of the Arkansas River stretching from the Lincoln Street Dam to the Cowskin Creek near Belle Plaine in Sumner County. Source: Wichita Eagle

26 Thursday, January 26

School choice debate gets started at Capitol

info2023-01-27T12:08:27-06:00January 26th, 2023|

The debate over school choice opened in earnest at the Capitol on Wednesday with a proposal to expand a program that offers state tax credits for donations to private-school scholarships. The K-12 Budget Committee spent more than two hours late Wednesday afternoon hearing testimony over a bill that for the second time since 2021 would expand a program making tax-subsidized scholarships available for more students to attend private schools. Source: Sunflower State Journal

26 Thursday, January 26

New bill seen as first step toward fixing problems in Kansas juvenile justice system

info2023-01-26T19:54:29-06:00January 26th, 2023|

Lawmakers have begun evaluating legislation in an effort to fix years of built-up problems within the juvenile justice system. First up: A bill that could expand access to behavioral health treatment through crisis intervention centers. During a House Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee meeting Monday, a week after lawmakers heard from attorneys and foster care workers who urged for more juvenile crisis intervention centers and adequate resources, lawmakers said they were trying to quickly come up with solutions for young offenders who need more intensive help. Source: The Chanute Tribune

26 Thursday, January 26

Kansas educators share personal insights in quest to reverse statewide teacher shortage

info2023-01-26T19:53:01-06:00January 26th, 2023|

Byron Lewis was a student at Topeka High School when allowed to use study hall to read to kindergartners at his old elementary school. It was the first time Lewis — now an elementary school teacher in the Turner district — thought a career in education could be in his future. He earned an education degree at Kansas State University and was introduced to programs that urge men of color to enter the profession. Statewide, it’s just not enough. Entering the fall 2022 academic year, there were an estimated 1,500 teacher vacancies in Kansas. “It’s an uphill battle,” Lewis said during [...]

26 Thursday, January 26

Officials discuss updates to Imagine Pittsburg plan

info2023-01-26T10:58:52-06:00January 26th, 2023|

Representatives from Imagine Pittsburg updated the city commission Tuesday evening on the progress of the next stage of Imagine Pittsburg (IP), a civic initiative originally known as Imagine Pittsburg 2030 (IP 2030) that began in 2010 to plan and implement economic and infrastructure improvements in Pittsburg. The IP representatives also discussed their plans over the next six to seven months for community engagement and a timeline for the next phase. Dubbed Imagine Pittsburg 3.0, this will be the third iteration of IP2030. Joe Dellasega, former chair of IP 2030 who oversaw the second phase, said that during last five years, his [...]

26 Thursday, January 26

Pittsburg area hotels rebound

info2023-01-26T10:58:23-06:00January 26th, 2023|

Explore Crawford County announced Monday that for the fourth time in five years, hotel room demand in the county has surpassed 100,000 rooms for the year, with 2022 hitting a record high of 109,750 rooms. The county also surpassed 10,000 rooms in a month six times during 2022 — doubling the previous high. Since 2015, room demand had been increasing each year until the 2020 pandemic. Demand reached 106,000 rooms in 2021, but was still just shy of the previous record for the entire year — 107,743 in 2019. According to Explore Crawford County Executive Director Dave Looby in a December [...]

26 Thursday, January 26

Swaths of Kansas lack written policies on exculpatory evidence

info2023-01-26T10:57:44-06:00January 26th, 2023|

The Brady and Giglio cases establish two different, but related, rights for criminal defendants. Under Brady v. Maryland, the prosecution is obligated to turn over to the defendant any exculpatory evidence — that is, evidence that tends to assist the defense. Generally, that requires the disclosure of virtually anything in the prosecution’s possession that relates to the case. Meanwhile, the rule announced in Giglio v. United States requires law enforcement agencies to deliver to defense counsel “material” evidence of a law enforcement’s dishonesty. The application of this rule can be fraught, as the parties involved may disagree on what counts as [...]

26 Thursday, January 26

Rural America grew in the pandemic’s early days. But mostly recreational counties saw gains

info2023-01-26T10:55:14-06:00January 26th, 2023|

COVID-19 accelerated death rates and slowed birth rates, exacerbating an existing trend of natural population loss in rural, or nonmetropolitan, areas. But because more people moved to rural areas, the U.S. rural population didn’t decline. “That’s extremely unusual historically, and so we’re still trying to understand all the nuances of this and whether it's just a short-term thing or if it's going to reflect longer-term changes,” said Kenneth Johnson, the author of the article and a professor of sociology and senior demographer at the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire. “But in any event, it’s unusual [...]