KS - December 3 2024

1 - New State School Board Members Urged to Prioritize Students Amid Declining Achievement: OPEN LETTER
2 - Kansas Businesses Celebrate Record-Breaking Holiday Weekend Sales
3 - CDC Pushes Flu Vaccines for Kansas Farm Workers to Protect Rural Health Systems
4 - 11.6M SQFT Of Kansas City Office Space Vacant
5 - K-State Unveils $3.4M Biomedical Core Facilities At College of Veterinary Medicine

1 - New State School Board Members Urged to Prioritize Students Amid Declining Achievement: OPEN LETTER

Congratulations to the four newly elected members of the Kansas State Board of Education: Betty Arnold, Beryl New, Connie O’Brien, and Debby Potter. You were elected with a D or an R next to your name, but we hope you will retire those labels and adopt the only one that matters: student-focused. Student-focused state school board members are constitutionally and statutorily charged with setting high standards and improving student outcomes. The standards (what students are expected to know and be able to do to qualify as proficient) are pretty good. Unfortunately, achievement levels are nowhere near what students need and deserve. Only 18% of the 2024 Kansas graduates who took the ACT exam were college-ready in English, Reading, Math, and Science. That’s a tragic decline from 32% in 2015, and the future likely holds more of the same, with nearly half of 10th-graders below grade level in math and one-third below grade level in English language arts.  

Article Source: KS Policy Institute

2 - Kansas Businesses Celebrate Record-Breaking Holiday Weekend Sales

Local businesses are seeing more profit from Cyber Monday and the long shopping holiday weekend this year. Wichita business owners say this year’s kick-off to holiday shopping is proving more profitable than the last few. It’s helping one owner catch up after a challenging year. “It’s our best holiday weekend in the last eight years, even dating back before pre-COVID,” said Michael Hephner, CEO of Hephner TV. He said this year, the family-owned business saw a 35% increase over the same weekend last year.

Article Source: KSN

3 - CDC Pushes Flu Vaccines for Kansas Farm Workers to Protect Rural Health Systems

The falling temperatures also signal the thick fog of flu season. But in rural areas of Kansas, people are less likely to get vaccinated for the flu. This year, that has health care professionals worried, specifically for those who work with livestock. “This makes them more susceptible to flu and other potentially serious complications,” said Lisette Durand, chief veterinary officer for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC is trying to mitigate some of those complications this season by offering 100,000 free flu vaccines to farm workers in 12 states, including Kansas, with the hope of reducing the burden on fragile rural health care systems.

Article Source: Topeka Capitol-Journal

4 - 11.6M SQFT Of Kansas City Office Space Vacant

Office vacancy rates are at their highest point in 45 years. Commercial real estate insiders predict one-quarter of existing American office space could be vacant by early 2026. And currently, 11 major metros have at least $1 billion worth of empty space. In Kansas City, more than 11.6 million square feet of office space was vacant as of mid-year, with an expected lost rent value of more than $262 million. That’s according to a new report by insight firm Switch On Business, which compared second-quarter occupancy data against market rates provided by commercial real estate giant Cushman & Wakefield Inc. In terms of lost rent value, Kansas City ranks around the middle of the pack compared to other major metro areas. Sacramento and Tampa had similar expected lost rent values. Kansas City ranked No. 27 by vacant square feet, with Fairfield County, Connecticut, and suburban Maryland having a similar amount.

Article Source: KC Biz Journal

5 - K-State Unveils $3.4M Biomedical Core Facilities At College of Veterinary Medicine

The College of Veterinary Medicine at Kansas State University held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Oct. 30 for the new Biomedical Core Facilities, which will provide low-threshold access to well-maintained, state-of-the-art instrumentation and expertise to foster multidisciplinary collaboration across K-State. The $3.4 million, 5,000 square-foot facility, located on the second floor of Mosier Hall in the College of Veterinary Medicine, was funded through a C06 construction grant from the National Institutes of Health.

Article Source: High Plains Journal

Sources

1. https://kansaspolicy.org/open-letter-kansas-state-board-of-education/

2. https://www.ksn.com/news/local-businesses-see-best-black-friday-weekend-in-years/

3. https://www.cjonline.com/story/news/state/2024/12/03/cdc-urges-kansas-farm-workers-to-get-their-flu-shots-this-season/76703352007/

4. https://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/news/2024/12/03/heres-how-much-empty-office-space-is-costing-your.html?ana=RSS&s=article_search

5. https://hpj.com/2024/12/02/k-state-vet-med-launches-biomedical-core-facilities/