In the News

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are stepping up efforts to redeem billions in fraudulent small business loans.

The Small Business Administration says tens of thousands of fraudulent loans were taken out over the course of the pandemic. Kansas Democratic Rep. Sharice Davids said there were several victims in her district alone.

"We saw a number of folks who had their identities stolen. We saw fraudulent actors take out loans that were for businesses that didn't exist," said Davids.

Sharice Davids, Democrat and Kansas' Third District Representative for the U.S. House, visited southwest Johnson County Tuesday, May 24 to discuss recent federal and local investment in Johnson County infrastructure and shipping opportunities.

She toured Logistics Park and took a brief ride on the short-line railroad at NewCentury AirCenter.

Davids said infrastructure and shipping opportunities in Johnson County are part of a multilayered effort to strengthen domestic supply chains.

More than a dozen newly graduated Johnson County high schoolers are headed into the first steps of military service.

Making it official: In a celebratory sendoff event hosted by U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids Wednesday, 15 local students received certificates for their appointments to a U.S. service academy or academy prep program, including 6 from the Shawnee Mission area.

The process: Rep. Davids nominated 28 students for appointments and 15 met the final criteria from a reviewing panel and their respective academies.

Kansas elected public officials expressed dismay Wednesday at the murder of 19 children and two teachers by a lone gunman in a classroom at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat, ordered flags lowered to half-staff throughout the state until sundown Friday in response to the deadliest school shooting in the United States since the 2012 carnage in Newtown, Connecticut.

For Sharice Davids, infrastructure and shipping opportunities in Johnson County are part of a multilayered effort to strengthen domestic supply chains. She underscored those and recent federal and local investment in these efforts in an appearance in Olathe Tuesday morning.

Rep. Davids, a Democrat who represents Kansas' Third District in the U.S. House, stopped in southwest Johnson County for a quick ride around the short-line railroad on the New Century AirCenter property.

House Democrats are pushing the Internal Revenue Service to increase a tax break that would help truckers, Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. drivers and other transportation-related businesses cut their tax bills as they struggle with soaring gasoline prices.

President Joe Biden and the Food and Drug Administration are taking action to alleviate the ongoing baby formula shortage.

The head of the FDA on Thursday said the shortage should start to improve within a matter of days.

For months, families have been struggling to find ways to make sure they can feed their babies as they navigate the formula shortage.

Kansas is in line to receive as much as $69 million in additional federal support for small business development and entrepreneurship through a U.S. Treasury Department program used to support companies through the pandemic.

The American Rescue Plan expanded the State Small Business Credit Initiative, or SSBCI, established in 2010 to assist businesses following the Great Recession from 2007 to 2009. The goal is to improve access to capital in rural and other traditionally underserved communities.