The end of the year marks a key deadline for local governments that received pandemic-era money from the American Rescue Plan Act in 2021. Officials have until Dec. 31 to declare how they plan to…

TOPEKA — The state task force working to target $721 million in federal relief dollars into economic, health, connectivity and education investment projects received proposals for $12.8 billion in expenditures — about 17 times available…

The executive board of SPARK, a Kansas committee of appointed leaders proposed late last month to divvy up some $150 million of Kansas federal COVID relief funding. For K-12 schools, $4 million was proposed for…

TOPEKA — The SPARK executive board of state officials and business advisers agreed to move ahead Monday with allocation of federal funding for $100 million in commercial building infrastructure projects and $50 million in direct…

The idea of giving sole discretion on how to spend up to $500 million of federal funds to just three people did not sit well with Gov. Laura Kelly. For that, and other reasons, she…

Count it. Allen County’s $2.4 million in federal stimulus money has been completely dispersed. Lisse Regehr, CEO of Thrive Allen County, presented commissioners with a detailed report on how those SPARK funds were spent and…

Time is running out. After originally receiving $2.4 million in CARES Act/SPARK funds, Allen County has to spend every remaining cent by the end of the year … or else return it. Lisse Regehr and…

Tuesday’s meeting of Allen County commissioners was fairly short and sweet, but did provide an opportunity to try out new audio and internet streaming equipment purchased by the county via SPARK funds. The new equipment…

For the second week in a row, county commissioners debated how best to spend unallocated SPARK funds awarded to Allen County. Earlier this summer, the county received $2.4 million from Kansas’s SPARK task force, which…

Allen County commissioners received a check for $192,500 to represent CARES/SPARK funding allocated to Kansas counties, at their meeting Tuesday. About 20 local businesses and 20 local nonprofits will receive the funds. Thrive Allen County…