Derby business community’s input sought on sales tax future

15 Thursday, September 15

Derby business community’s input sought on sales tax future

info2022-09-15T00:55:04-05:00September 15th, 2022|

With the pending sunset of the Derby Difference sales tax in 2024, the city has started efforts to generate public feedback to shape the direction of future sales tax utilization. In line with that, the city hired Wichita State University’s Public Policy and Management Center to direct feedback efforts and create a community survey regarding the Derby Difference sales tax. As part of that, WSU staff will be holding focus groups to shape the survey – with members of the Derby Chamber of Commerce the first to participate in one held at a luncheon on Sept. 8. Source: Derby Informer | [...]

15 Thursday, September 15

Wind turbines going up in Marion County

info2022-09-15T08:16:03-05:00September 15th, 2022|

Pieces of wind turbines for Sunflower Wind Farm will be seen on highways and roads in the county starting Oct. 3, planning and zoning director Sharon Omstead told county commissioners Monday. Erection of turbines is expected to begin Oct. 6. Omstead told commissioners excavation of turbine locations was 70% complete and turbine foundations were 40% complete. Source: HILLSBORO Star-Journal

15 Thursday, September 15

School security a top priority for districts

info2022-09-15T00:49:56-05:00September 15th, 2022|

Keeping students safe in Jackson County’s three school districts remains a priority for the districts’ superintendents, particularly with a new school year just getting started and the effects of one of the deadliest school shootings in the nation’s history still reverberating with educators across the country. Officials in all three of the school districts — Holton, Jackson Heights and Royal Valley — worked with law enforcement agencies this past summer on how to bolster security in school buildings, with those efforts led by Joe Romans, a deputy with the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office who, as Royal Valley Superintendent Aaric Davis noted, [...]

15 Thursday, September 15

‘It’s a numbers game’: Residents asking when downtown Wichita will finally get a grocery store

info2022-09-15T08:17:32-05:00September 15th, 2022|

"We get that question a lot and really what it comes down to in that industry is it's a numbers game," said Jason Gregory with Downtown Wichita. Gregory with says right now there are about 3,500 people who live in what he calls the core of downtown. But, while there is a gap there, Gregory says it could be closed pretty quickly with businesses locating downtown and the potential of another school, WSU and KU's joint health sciences' campus, coming in the next few years. "I think we're on the precipice of, you know, an explosion of growth. It's really exciting [...]

15 Thursday, September 15

A giant solar farm project is pitting neighbor against neighbor

info2022-09-15T00:45:19-05:00September 15th, 2022|

Frank Gieringer rides a flatbed trailer toward rows of apple trees loaded with Galas, Crimson Crisps and other varieties, ready for the picking. His family owns this bucolic orchard and berry farm outside Edgerton, Kansas. Just beyond its borders lie 2,000 acres of land, a potential location for the state’s first utility-scale solar farm. Gieringer says he’d welcome the new neighbor. “To really look at ‘em, it’s not a heck of a lot of difference than looking at an orchard or a vineyard really. It’s just rows of panels,” Gieringer says. “They’re harvesting sun. Same thing I’m doin’. All of agriculture [...]

15 Thursday, September 15

Sedgwick County threatens to bill Wichita for minor marijuana cases after city decriminalizes

info2022-09-15T08:18:02-05:00September 15th, 2022|

The Sedgwick County Commission has ordered a cost analysis of the Wichita City Council’s decision to decriminalize marijuana, exploring how much it would cost the county to book people in jail for misdemeanor marijuana offenses and pursue charges in district court. Commission Chairman David Dennis said Wednesday he plans to bill the city for any future costs of jailing and prosecuting people on misdemeanor marijuana charges. “At what point do we start charging the city of Wichita for this process,” Dennis said. “Because we’re going to bill them for all the people that go into our jail.” Source: Wichita Eagle

15 Thursday, September 15

Pickleball court ready for action in Sedgwick

info2022-09-15T08:20:33-05:00September 15th, 2022|

Sedgwick Park is a new destination for pickleball enthusiasts. In the past week, the city finished converting the west side of its basketball slab into a pickleball court. City council member Monty Leonard, who spearheaded the project, was at the park last Friday afternoon applying a special paint to the concrete surface. “I grossly underestimated how much it takes to paint a pickleball court,” he said. Source: Harvey County Now

15 Thursday, September 15

Wichita, Sedgwick County growing more slowly than predicted

info2022-09-15T08:20:52-05:00September 15th, 2022|

The populations of Wichita and Sedgwick County are growing slower than predicted. A 2015 city-county comprehensive plan predicted that, by 2035, Sedgwick County would reach a population of 610,000 and Wichita would reach 448,000. Now, the city-county planning department is predicting this won’t happen until 2045. Source: Derby Informer | News

14 Wednesday, September 14

Why are people moving to a Kansas town of 120?

info2022-09-14T07:33:56-05:00September 14th, 2022|

There's no stoplight, no high rise, not even a Mcdonald's. However, what the small town of Damar, Kansas, lacks in infrastructure, it makes up for in heart and personality. "It's wonderful because most of it is the people here. They want to be here. They are not here just because they are born and raised here. They want to stay here," said Jim Desbien, the treasurer for the Damar Community Foundation. Desbien's family settled in the French Canadian heritage town, also known as the "Acadia of the West," in the late 1800s. Source: KSN-TV

14 Wednesday, September 14

Wichita City Council votes to decriminalize marijuana and fentanyl test strips

info2022-09-14T07:32:00-05:00September 14th, 2022|

The Wichita City Council voted Tuesday to reduce the penalties for people caught with marijuana or fentanyl test strips. It was an issue that has been up for discussion in the past several months. Fentanyl strips would no longer be classified as drug paraphernalia, and marijuana possession would be decriminalized in the city. An average of 850 cases for illegal possession of marijuana are filed each year in municipal court. Possession of marijuana and marijuana paraphernalia would remain illegal under state law. Any charges for these crimes would need to be filed by the district attorney. Source: KSN-TV