Community

Nearly $100 million was invested in downtown projects last year including the Ambassador Hotel, St. Mary's Cathedral and the YMCA.

This figure comes from the 2012 Project Downtown annual report that was presented to the Wichita City Council Tuesday by Jeff Fluhr, president of the Wichita Downtown Development Corp., and Scott Knebel from the city.

David Dixon, principle for planning and urban design at Goody Clancy out of Boston, was also part of the presentation because he helped craft the master plan.

A program to persuade college graduates to move to Kansas is succeeding.

The Rural Opportunity Zones program entices college graduates to move to Kansas counties with declining populations. The program gives these new residents income tax waivers for up to five years. It also pays of their student loan debt--up to $15,000.

St. Mary's Cathedral will reopen after the dedication of the altar Saturday in downtown Wichita.

Father John Sherlock says after $17 million dollars and five years of planning, the sanctuary has been totally renovated, including a new baptismal, 7-ft bronze statues, extension of the choir loft and the return of the tabernacle to the front of the church.

He says there is also a significant space inside the top of the dome.

Students and support organizations in Wichita will lead a prayer vigil at Newman University Friday in support of immigration legislation that creates paths to citizenship.

The Newman University Hispanic American Leadership Opportunity group (H.A.L.O.), student organizations, Sunflower Action, the Wichita Casa De La Semilla, and other organizations are partnering to host the prayer vigil called Respect Human Dignity - Keep Families Together.