“The general goal of economic development is to provide a community with the resources necessary to retain and increase its population,” summarized Jared Wheeler, Thrive Economic Development Director, in his annual report to Allen County…

Iola City Council members expressed a willingness Monday to see the city set up a land bank program. A land bank is essentially a collection of community-owned abandoned, vacant or otherwise foreclosed properties that could…

The concept of a land bank will be the topic of a roundtable discussion at Monday evening’s Iola city council meeting. A land bank is a community-owned entity established to acquire, manage, and repurpose vacant,…

TOPEKA — Gov. Laura Kelly praised labor unions for contributing to unprecedented economic growth in Kansas and touted her administration’s economic development gains in a speech at an annual labor rally Tuesday at the Statehouse.…

The optics of Kansas legislators debating whether to support an effort to lure the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals across the border during Tuesday’s special session are somewhat jarring. Initially, the session was to solely…

Allen County’s economic development director approaches his job first with community in mind, knowing that developing a healthful, caring local environment will reap economic benefits, Jared Wheeler told Iola Kiwanians Tuesday. Wheeler assumed the economic…

Allen County received an influx of $4.9 million in grant funding over the past year, seeing growth and economic development in 2023. Lisse Regehr, CEO of Thrive Allen County, noted this and other successes during…

HUMBOLDT — In an effort to attract more employees, Humboldt council members agreed to give an across-the-board 83-cent per hour raise for 2024. The increase raises the city’s overall payroll by about 4%, said Cole…

More than a year ago, Iola council members voted 7-0 to extend water, electric and streets in the Cedarbrook Addition and followed through last spring by committing $1.7 million to the project with the goal…

Monday was Jared Wheeler’s first day on the job as Thrive Allen County’s new economic development director. He’s stayed busy. “Someone asked me if it felt like I was drinking from a firehose,” said Wheeler…