KS - February 10 2025

1. Major Winter Storm Set to Blanket Kansas, Heaviest Snow Along I-70
2. Spirit AeroSystems Issues Going Concern Warning
3. Kansas Introduces New Medicaid Expansion Bill
4. Rural Kansas Town Offers Remote Worker Incentives
5. Trade War Fears Rattle Some Midwest Farmers

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1. Major Winter Storm Set to Blanket Kansas, Heaviest Snow Along I-70

A significant winter storm system is poised to impact Kansas beginning Tuesday evening, with the National Weather Service issuing a Winter Storm Warning for northern portions of the state and a Winter Storm Watch for central regions. The Interstate 70 corridor is expected to bear the brunt of the system, with forecasted snowfall amounts of 5 to 9 inches from Manhattan to Topeka. Central and southern Kansas, including the Wichita metropolitan area, could see 3 to 5 inches of accumulation through Wednesday afternoon. Adding to the winter weather concerns, dangerous wind chills as low as 18 below zero are expected Wednesday and Thursday mornings across central Kansas, while a precursor system may bring light snow and freezing drizzle to southern Kansas tonight with minimal accumulation. The storm will create hazardous travel conditions, particularly impacting Wednesday commutes statewide, with blowing and drifting snow expected. Meteorologists are also tracking another potential snow-producing system that could affect the region late Friday night into Saturday.  

Article Source: NOAA

2. Spirit AeroSystems Issues Going Concern Warning

Spirit AeroSystems Holdings’ management expects to make a going concern disclosure in its 2024 Form 10-K annual filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, anticipating to conclude that there is substantial doubt about its ability to continue due to its cash flow and liquidity position. The forecast comes as the fuselage supplier swung to a loss and posted lower revenue in its preliminary fourth-quarter results. Formed by a spinoff from Boeing in 2005, Spirit AeroSystems projected a gross loss of $413 million for the quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with a gross profit of $291 million a year earlier. Revenue is expected to fall 8.3% to $1.66 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet were expecting a net loss of $168.4 million, as well as revenue of $1.52 billion.  

Note: A going concern disclosure is a statement made by a company in its financial filings when there is substantial doubt about its ability to continue operating in the foreseeable future (typically the next 12 months). This disclosure is required under U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) when a company’s financial position raises concerns about its liquidity, cash flow, or ability to meet its obligations.

Article Source: WSJ

3. Kansas Introduces New Medicaid Expansion Bill

A new bill to expand Medicaid access to 150,000 Kansans has been introduced in both branches of the state legislature. Kansas Governor Laura Kelly says a middle-of-the-road proposal to expand Medicaid to 150,000 more Kansans - the Healthcare Access for Working Kansans Act - has been introduced in both chambers of the state legislature. The Governor indicated that the passage of Medicaid expansion would create 23,000 new jobs, inject $1.2 billion in annual funds into the state’s economy and reduce healthcare costs for all Kansans. The expansion would also address the healthcare workforce shortage and safeguard rural hospitals so they can remain open.  

Editors note: this Democratic priority has failed to gather enough Republican support to pass in recent years

Article Source: KWCH

4. Rural Kansas Town Offers Remote Worker Incentives

A small town in rural Kansas has offered income tax waivers, student loan repayments and more to incentivize remote workers to move there. MakeMyMove, the nation’s first and only online relocation marketplace, has announced that Neodesha, Kansas, - population 2,100 - has hopes to recruit remote workers to live in a rural town on the plains. According to MakeMyMove, Neodesha has offered incentives to those who qualify including a waiver of state income tax through 2026, daycare for working parents, student loan repayment assistance and more. MakeMyMove indicated that Neodesha is about 100 miles from Wichita, Topeka and Tulsa. Its claim to fame is a 65-foot derrick that supplied the first commercial oil well west of the Mississippi River.

Article Source: KWCH

5. Trade War Fears Rattle Some Midwest Farmers

The opening salvo of a new trade war has sent a chill through the Midwest. Canada, Mexico and China together account for half of all American agricultural exports. Just last year, the US sold more than $30bn in farm products to Mexico, $29bn to Canada and $26bn to China, according to American Farm Bureau statistics.  Suddenly, farmers were facing the spectre of retaliatory tariffs and the prospect of a full-scale conflict that some fear could decimate America’s rural heartland. Farmers in an area of the country that has become a bedrock of support for Trump now worry that the president’s tariffs, though suspended at the last minute, have permanently damaged the image of the US in the eyes of its most important trading partners.

Article Source: FT

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Sources

1. NOAA

2. https://www.wsj.com/business/earnings/spirit-aerosystems-to-declare-going-concern-amid-boeing-takeover-905c85bf?st=okyazf&reflink=article_copyURL_share

3. https://www.kwch.com/2025/02/09/bill-expand-medicaid-150000-kansans-introduced-house-senate/?utm_source=taboola&utm_medium=organicclicks&tbref=hp

4. https://www.kwch.com/2025/02/09/this-kansas-town-hopes-incentivize-remote-workers-move-there/?utm_source=taboola&utm_medium=organicclicks&tbref=hp

5. https://on.ft.com/4gqQD6R