Reardon speaks at fiber conference

Former Kansas City, Kan., mayor Joe Reardon was a featured speaker at the C Spire Fiber to the Home “FTTH” conference held in May in Ridgeland, Miss.

The event heralded the start of construction on the nation’s first statewide 1 Gbps FTTH initiative.

C Spire, a diversified telecommunications and technology services company, is building out the ultra-high speed infrastructure in nine Mississippi cities in the initial phase. The conference celebrated the beginning of construction in the first neighborhood in Mississippi, reviewed progress made in qualifying other cities for construction and provided details on plans to add additional cities in the next phase of this initiative.

In addition to Reardon, C Spire President and CEO Hu Meena, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant, Chris Coleman, mayor of St. Paul, Minn., and president of the National League of Cities, and Heather Gold, president of the Fiber to the Home Council Americas, attended to help celebrate this step.

Reardon, now practicing attorney with McAnany, Van Cleave and Phillips Law Firm, offers a unique perspective. Reardon is a leader in advocating for more robust broadband infrastructure in communities and states across the United States. He has first-hand knowledge of the public-private link from his experience of being mayor while Google Fiber implemented an ultra-high-speed fiber network in Kansas City, Kan.

Equal pay webinar for women to be July 15

An Equal Pay webinar for women will be presented from 11 a.m. to noon July 15.

The webinar, a presentation over the telephone through a conference call, is for people who may be employers, advocates, individual working women, legislators, educators, career counselors and college students.

The webinar is free, and requires registration on a first-come, first-served basis.

The webinar is intended to raise the awareness regarding the pay gap women still face compared to men and help persons understand women’s rights under certain laws that govern equal pay and compensation.

The webinar presenters include the U.S. Department of Labor, Women’s Bureau, Missouri Women’s Council, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Missouri Commission on Human Rights, U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), and American Association of University Women (AAUW).

Topics to be discussed at the webinar include:
• Understand the Equal Pay Act
• Gain a better understanding of federal discrimination laws enforced by the EEOC
• Obtain statistics and information on a state and federal level regarding equal pay discrimination
• Acquire knowledge of wage and salary information that can be used in negotiations with employers.

To register for the webinar, visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/webinar-equal-pay-matters-tickets-11950218425.

Wyandotte County has highest unemployment rate in Kansas

Wyandotte County had the highest unemployment of any county in Kansas in the latest unemployment figures.

In Wyandotte County, a 7.8 percent unemployment rate was recorded for May. That is up from 6.6 percent in April. The May rate is the same as one year ago, 7.8 percent.

The Kansas Department of Labor released the unemployment figures this week.

Kansas City, Kan., had an unemployment rate of 8 percent, the highest of all the large cities in Kansas.

The 7.8 percent unemployed in Wyandotte County represents 5,513 persons, according to KDOL figures.

Sedgwick County, which has a 5.6 percent unemployment rate and includes Wichita, has 13,625 unemployed persons. Johnson County, with a 4.3 percent unemployment rate, has 12,986 unemployed persons, according to KDOL figures.

According to KDOL, the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 4.8 percent was about the same as last month, and was down from 5.6 percent a year ago.

State officials said Kansas counted 5,459 persons who entered the labor force as employed in May, as compared to 398 people who entered the labor force as unemployed.

To see the county unemployment rates, visit https://klic.dol.ks.gov/admin/gsipub/htmlarea/uploads/LR%20F%20May2014%20-%20Comparison.pdf.