Frank Dudgeon

A memorial service will take place in downtown Wichita to honor Sedgwick County law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty.

A company that operates hotels and resorts around the world says it plans to hire about 180 people later this year for a new customer call center in Wichita.

Officials of the Kansas Department of Commerce and Starwood Hotels announced plans for the center Thursday.

The new Ambassador Hotel in Wichita has up to 100 positions to fill before it opens in December.

At a job fair next week, hotel managers will be recruiting for a variety of positions including front desk concierge, bellman, valet, housekeeping, administrative assistant, accounting assistant, sales coordinator and supervisors. The Siena Tuscan Steakhouse will also be hiring a full staff.

Through Walmart's Fighting Hunger Together initiative, a Walmart store in Wichita gave a $50,000 grant to help expand the Kansas Food Bank of Wichita's backpack program.

Debi Kreutzman, community relations manager at Kansas Food Bank, said they were proud of the local community for participating in the effort.

The Kansas Department of Commerce said Monday registration remains open for the Kansas Skills Summit next Monday in Wichita.

The event will feature Gov. Sam Brownback and industry and workforce leaders. It will feature presentations and a roundtable discussion on the best ways to recruit and train a skilled workforce.

The goal of the summit is to develop a system of industry-endorsed, third party credentials that can be used by Kansas businesses to standardize the skills and knowledge workers bring to the labor market.

A data management company plans to add more than 400 jobs in Wichita over the next five years.

The Kansas department of Commerce and the Greater Wichita Economic Development Coalition announced Thursday that NetApp, a provider of storage and data management solutions, will significantly expand its Wichita facility.

The plan to add more than 400 jobs over the next five years will nearly double its workforce in Wichita, when added to their existing 450 employees.

The Justice Department’s bankruptcy watchdog agency opposes a move by Hawker Beechcraft to pay eight senior executives more than $5.3 million in bonuses.

In a court filing yesterday, U.S. Trustee Tracy Hope Davis argued that Hawker Beechcraft hasn’t shown that its proposed bonus plan isn’t a disguised retention plan. Bonus plans are allowed, but must do more than simply reward managers for staying during a bankruptcy reorganization. Hawker Beechcraft calls it an incentive award and says its plans are consistent with its commitment to strongly emerge from bankruptcy.

City of Wichita officials are urging water customers east of Rock Road in Wichita, and in all of Andover, to not water their lawns until Saturday due to a loss of electrical power at a water pump station on Webb Road.

The power outage has reduced water pressure in areas east of Rock Road. Westar is working to restore the power to the pump station.

The voluntary watering restriction is not requested of customers west of Rock Road, because they are not affected by the power outage.

The Federal Elections Commission has fined the Kansas Republican Party $6,500 for violating campaign finance law.

Aircraft maker Hawker Beechcraft is narrowing in on potential buyers as part of its plan to emerge from bankruptcy reorganization. 

The company disclosed in court documents that along with its investment banker, Hawker Beechcraft developed a list of potential buyers and investors over several months ahead of its May 3rd filing for Chapter 11.