General News in the 316

[SubGod22]

Exploration Place continues to grow.

KFDI - Exploration Place sets new attendance record

he Exploration Place science museum in Wichita has reached a new attendance record.

The museum announced Tuesday that it had 409,975 visitors in the 2023-24 fiscal year. That’s a 13 percent increase from the previous record of 363,047 visitors that was set in the 2022-23 time period.

There has been a 17 percent increase in family memberships, now totaling 10,753 households.

Museum officials said the Digital Dome Theater has been a major contributor to the success. It brought in over 100,000 visitors for the first time in its history.

Exploration Place president and CEO Adam Smith called attention to more growth and expansion for the museum that will help attract even more visitors. The EP2 initiative includes the Wichita Foundation Amphitheater, which will open in September. Construction has started on a 6.5-acre destination playscape that will have ten landscaped playgrounds crafted to theme park standards, and it will open next year.

I'm looking forward to the numbers in 2025-26 once the playscape is in place and the amphitheater has time to establish itself.

KWCH - Exploration Place sets new attendance record

In addition, Exploration Place has unveiled a new permanent gallery called TeamLab, supported by NASA, which features a Chiefs uniform donated by Blake Bell.

The museum also has exciting national traveling exhibits lined up for the future, including Toytopia in Fall 2024, Sharks in Winter/Spring 2025, and Barbie: You Can Be Anything and Hands-On Harley-Davidson in Summer 2025.

Exploration Place is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with extended hours until 8 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays during the summer.

Still waiting for their internal upgrades (not sure if they've started or finished) that may be able to bring in the Beyond Van Gogh immersive experience. I know Smith had previously mentioned that there would be required upgrades to be able to land the exhibit.

[SubGod22]

WBJ - Bombardier looks to deepen defense, aftermarket presence in Wichita following Sudduth's retirement

Tonya Sudduth has left Bombardier's U.S. headquarters in Wichita in great shape, said Paul Silslian, the aircraft company's executive VP of aftermarket services and corporate strategy.

With Sudduth's retirement at the end of last month as head of U.S. strategy and Bombardier redistributing her roles internally at the Wichita site, Sislian said the company will continue to grow in the Air Capital.

"Evolution of Wichita for Bombardier is going to be growth, there's no doubt about it," he said. "We will continue to invest in the site, our services and our defense business. And I'm looking forward to it because it's such a great ecosystem and the population is so knowledgeable, it's the perfect place for us to continue to grow in the US."

Since 2022, Sislian said the company has "revectored" the Wichita manufacturing site to incorporate aftermarket services and defense operations into the facility.

Sudduth led the aircraft company's efforts after Wichita became its U.S. headquarters in April 2022. She said employees were reallocated to service and defense departments and retained for manufacturing services that year.

This shift in strategy toward service and defense meant that all U.S. defense, aftermarket, manufacturing and testing operations were being conducted in Wichita. It also led to Bombardier recording $1.5 billion in 2022 sales revenue — the company's highest at the time — and seven total hangars in the service center of the Wichita site.

The company ended 2023 with $1.75 billion in aftermarket services revenue,according to a February earnings report.

Bombardier may have a smaller total footprint in Wichita than Spirit and Textron, but they're committed to Wichita and looking towards growth.

[SubGod22]

Eagle - NBC World Series to honor Satchel Paige heroics in Wichita to open 90th tournament

Almost a century has passed since legendary pitcher Satchel Paige helped launch the National Baseball Congress World Series in Wichita into a national success story.

Raymond “Hap” Dumont paid $1,000 to bring Paige and his barnstorming team, the Bismarck (N.D.) Churchills, to the inaugural tournament in 1935. Paige won all four games he started and struck out 60 hitters, which still stands as the tournament record today.

It seemed only fitting to tournament director Katie Woods to pay homage to Paige on opening night of the 90th annual NBC World Series, a 10-day tournament that kicks off Thursday at Wichita State’s Eck Stadium.

Not only will the first 1,000 fans at Eck Stadium when the gates open at 5 p.m. Thursday receive a custom NBC World Series bobblehead of Paige, but members of Paige’s family will throw out the honorary first pitch before a 6 p.m. game between TPA Texas and the Hutchinson Monarchs. Tickets begin at $12.

There is also a special event being held before Thursday’s game with Michael O’Neal, Paige’s grandson, speaking to guests about Paige’s life and legacy as a trailblazer and baseball legend. The event will be held in the All-American Club at Eck Stadium and begins at 5 p.m. Tickets cost $50 and include entry to the game and dinner courtesy of Candle Club Wichita.

Pretty cool tribute and event for this. And to have his family involved in it all is fantastic. I really hope this word gets out and this is supported at a high level.

[SubGod22]

I wasn't aware of this.

Eagle - Two 8-pound black bear cubs are at Sedgwick County Zoo. Here's when you can see them

When a mother black bear was shot and killed in Oregon earlier this year, her two cubs were left on their own, unable to hunt or fend for themselves.

Those cubs, a male and a female believed to be between three and four months old, have found a new home at the Sedgwick County Zoo.

They were flown in from Oregon several weeks ago on the sheriff’s office airplane usually used to transport prisoners arrested in other states.

The zoo lost its only black bear, 20-year-old Mitch, to old age last December, so when wildlife authorities found the cubs, Sedgwick County got the call.

Zoo CEO Scott Newland told the County Commission Wednesday morning that the cubs exhibit could open as early as next Monday. Hours of exhibit for the cubs will soon be posted to the zoo website, he said.

[Shockm]

The "Big Ditch" has a long history of preventing flooding in Wichita and Sedgwick County, saving citizens and millions of dollars every year. Here is the story behind the Valley Center floodway project that was completed in 1959, and includes the story, and some pictures of the previous damage to the Downtown, Riverside, and areas east of I35 that often happened to a great deal of the city.

https://www.kansas.com/news/local/article289922694.html

[SubGod22]

Wichita could be losing a lot of defense work after the Boeing/Spirit deal is finalized.

WBJ - Report: Textron's Bell likely to take Army helicopter contract elsewhere after Spirit AeroSystems sale

As industry leaders ponder the future of Spirit AeroSystems' defense portfolio after its sale to The Boeing Co., Textron Inc.'s Bell division is expected to find a new supplier for work on its Future Long Range Assault Aircraft for the U.S. Army.

In Wichita, Spirit (NYSE: SPR) builds the fuselage on the V-280 Valor for Bell's FLRAA program — and it's considered to be one of the most important defense programs to the local economy.

After the closure of Boeing's acquisition, expected in mid-2025, Aviation Week reported Thursday that Texas-based Bell is likely to either search for a different company to build the fuselages or take on the work itself.

Bell beat out a Sikorsky-Boeing proposal for the Army job, valued at around $70B.

And it's not just Bell. Spirit also had work for Lockheed Martin-Sikorsky CH-53K helicopter and the Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider and others.

This not only impacts Spirit, but many of their local suppliers as well.

Spirit has nearly 2,000 people employed in defense and space locally.

[Maizerunner08]

What’s going on at KAKE? Firing Annette Lawless…what the actual?

[ShockTalk]

What’s going on at KAKE? Firing Annette Lawless…what the actual?

Go to her Facebook to see her video. I failed at posting it here.

[Shockm]

Go to her Facebook to see her video. I failed at posting it here.

For anyone who doesn’t do Facebook, can you summarize?

[ShockTalk]

For anyone who doesn’t do Facebook, can you summarize?

It was long. Info is also a little confusing as was the timing of different things. KAKE (I think) was parting ways with her. On July 20th, KAKE told her that her last day was August 9th. Then cut it short. She was NOT leaving Wichita.

[shocktown]

Wichita could be losing a lot of defense work after the Boeing/Spirit deal is finalized.

WBJ - Report: Textron's Bell likely to take Army helicopter contract elsewhere after Spirit AeroSystems sale



Bell beat out a Sikorsky-Boeing proposal for the Army job, valued at around $70B.

And it's not just Bell. Spirit also had work for Lockheed Martin-Sikorsky CH-53K helicopter and the Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider and others.

This not only impacts Spirit, but many of their local suppliers as well.

Spirit has nearly 2,000 people employed in defense and space locally.

I don’t understand all the dynamics of the spin offs to Airbus and Boeing. Why can’t Spirit stand alone with all remaining contracts for military and other miscellaneous projects? Seems like there would be someone in the financial world unless all the remaining contracts are money losers and can’t stand alone without the AB and BA income.

[Kung Wu]

Wichita could be losing a lot of defense work after the Boeing/Spirit deal is finalized.

WBJ - Report: Textron's Bell likely to take Army helicopter contract elsewhere after Spirit AeroSystems sale



Bell beat out a Sikorsky-Boeing proposal for the Army job, valued at around $70B.

And it's not just Bell. Spirit also had work for Lockheed Martin-Sikorsky CH-53K helicopter and the Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider and others.

This not only impacts Spirit, but many of their local suppliers as well.

Spirit has nearly 2,000 people employed in defense and space locally.

Ugh.

[SubGod22]

I don’t understand all the dynamics of the spin offs to Airbus and Boeing. Why can’t Spirit stand alone with all remaining contracts for military and other miscellaneous projects? Seems like there would be someone in the financial world unless all the remaining contracts are money losers and can’t stand alone without the AB and BA income.

The way the US Government is willing to overpay for everything, there's no way these military contracts were money losers. Sounds like Bell may do the Spirit work internally in I believe Texas when the time comes. Can't speak as to the others.

[SubGod22]

Another FYI for tomorrow (Saturday) morning. Exits from northbound 235 to northbound 135 and eastbound 254 will be closed between 5am and noon as they work to install more footings for signage.

[SubGod22]

More Park City growth.

WBJ - Park City's Kice Industries expands corporate headquarters, requests incentives

Since 2019, Andrew Kice, president and CEO of Park City-based Kice Industries, said his company has "somewhat quietly" expanded its operations beyond equipment manufacturing for its customers to include engineering, design, construction and installment services.

"We've dabbled in this for many, many years. ... Now, we're ready to be more public with our customers and offer these services to a wider scope of people," he said.

Echoing Kice's intent, Park City approved this week a letter of intent for industrial revenue bonds for Kice Industries to expand its footprint on the 25-acre headquarters on 5500 North Mill Heights Drive, north of 53rd Street.

The expansion project is scheduled for an Aug. 27 public hearing at a City Council meeting. If approved, the manufacturing company — which works with mineral, food and wood processing companies, to name a few — will receive $2.2 million in IRBs over 10 years, with an 80% property and sales tax exemption. The company will build an 8,000 square-foot building east of its current buildings.

The headquarters is in the same area near 53rd and I-135 as NWI Aerostructures, Rush Truck Centers and Twister Center Harley Davidson.

I work for a company that has a very good relationship with Kice and we've helped them out on a number of jobs around the country. They seem to be a good, quality company with good leadership. Their growth is no surprise and is good for the metro area as a whole.