New layoffs in Wichita and Kansas appear to be slowing to a halt.  New numbers released today by the Workforce Alliance of South Central Kansas show that the number of laid off workers it is handling is up in November, but only about 2 percent, from October. The biggest percentage increase (7 percent) came in service sector, which makes sense. Those companies tend to feed off local manufacturers for business, and they would feel the squeeze later  and lay off later. But these companies are often small and wouldn’t go to the workforce alliance, which means this number is likely underreporting the real number of service sector layoffs all along.

In Kansas, generally, which hasn’t been hit as bad as Wichita, the number of initial claims for unemployment has leveled off since July and ongoing claims has been falling since then. It could mean that some of the unemployed are finding jobs faster than new ones are claiming unemployment. That would be good news.

But … I’m about ready to discount this one.

Seriously, there isn’t a market for a Snoopy Snuggie, is there?

Wow. That’s all I’ve got to say.

Many distinct sides to this equation: Can democracy prosper without detailed coverage of its inner workings? Does anyone care any more? Do news consumers want to be affirmed, rather than informed? Can the best interests of readers be preserved with government as an equity stakeholder in a journalistic organization?

Is it a good idea to have government as a stakeholder in journalism? Your thoughts?

Local banks continue to reassure us that they’ve been conservative with their commercial lending, and no such calamity awaits Wichita.

But it’s interesting to note how commercial lending has evolved, even in conservative Wichita: Even the region’s most accomplished developers are laboring to find credit for projects.

After some thought, I agreed with them. It’s easy to be cynical about large restaurant chains, with their market-tested look, menu and, for many of them, attempt to convey authenticity through a cheerful story of the founder’s history and high ideals. The result, too often, is a depressing sameness and mediocrity among chains.

But, who’s to say that Potbelly is like that. There are chains that are pretty good. It’s unfair to judge until I see what it’s like — and the sandwiches really do sound good.

Amazon.com, Coldwater Creek, HSN, JCPenney, Kohl’s Department Stores, Lands’ End, LL Bean, Nordstrom, Overstock.com, QVC and Zappos.

Funny, they didn’t post a list for the 10 worst.

But a quick look confirmed my suspicions: the list relies mostly on job growth figures from last year. Wichita always looks great at the end of the cycle because we go down later than most other cities. Oh well.

Those critics, who largely are justified because as taxpayers they’re equity partners, have reason to be heartened by the aggressive first steps announced by the new man in charge on the east bank, veteran Wichita entrepreneur Jack DeBoer.

A very sage developer told me years ago that there are two kinds of Wichitans: The people unafraid to act, and the people paralyzed by fear, more intent on pointing fingers.

Make no mistake about it: DeBoer falls into the first category, and his decision to pursue commercial traffic at WaterWalk is a decision playing very well, even with some of the project’s harshest critics in the local development industry.

DeBoer is a unique guy: A fountain of ideas, and a man who’s willing to crank out and try a dozen of them, secure in the knowledge that one or two are going to succeed.

Add to that his decision to retain Marlin Penner, the president and managing broker of NAI John T. Arnold Associates, to market the development’s commercial property. When you cover real estate, you learn quickly – and often by the hard way – whose word is gold and whose word isn’t worth the air it occupies. I’ve known Penner for 20 years, and he most assuredly falls into the former category.

I’m not here to tell you that DeBoer will succeed. I doubt that even Jack would be that presumptuous.

But I am here to tell you that his decision to shift focus to market-driven traffic down at the WaterWalk is the development’s best chance for success.

It’s time for the finger-pointing to stop. What went wrong at WaterWalk has been rehashed enough. Let’s sit back and watch a veteran entrepreneur at work.

It becomes a little more obvious, doesn’t it, why all the great verve to convince the easily fooled that commodities markets are governed by supply and demand? Greed.

I remain annoyed, frankly, that President Obama continues to fiddle while these scandals burn.

But as the article points out, the depths to which people have gone over the past 60 years to turn the commodities floor into a casino where only the ordinary man loses probably aren’t correctable in one presidential term.

Or two. Or three. Or four.