“If I wasn’t having to fight Walmart and Dillons right now to stay in the liquor business, it would be a whole lot easier to stay less sober.”
— R&J Discount Liquor owner Jeff Breault who, when asked about the Daily Beast website naming Wichita the 16th most sober city nationally, instead wanted to talk about grocery stores trying to pass legislation to sell liquor
WICHITA — KSN, Channel 3, hasn’t officially announced plans for a new 10 p.m. newscast, but sportscaster Jim Kobbe isn’t waiting around to hear them.
He’s turned in his resignation for a new job in human resources at Spirit AeroSystems, where he worked between KSN and a previous job with KWCH, Channel 12.
“I’m really delighted,” Kobbe says.
His last day at KSN is March 20.
Last month, Have You Heard? reported that Kobbe, anchors Stephanie Bergmann and John Snyder and chief meteorologist Dave Freeman were told their services will no longer be needed at 10 p.m.
Freeman has just won a public service award from the National Weather Service.
His award is the civilian equivalent to the federal award the National Weather Service’s Dick Elder and Chance Hayes recently received.
The three worked to get the national criteria for the definition of a severe thunderstorm raised from hail three-quarters of an inch in diameter to one inch – or about the size of a quarter.
The problem, Freeman says, is sometimes “waking people up at 2 o’clock in the morning to tell them to go back to bed.”
“Most people think weather guys love warnings,” he says. “Ironically, it was a bunch of weather guys trying to find a way to issue fewer warnings.”
Freeman says he was happy when his colleagues won their award and had no expectations for one for himself.
“I was literally speechless, which anybody who knows me will tell you is remarkable.”
Oleksandra and Phil Ruffin greeted Richard Smith and his wife, Sondra Langel, at the Junior Achievement 2011 Wichita Business Hall of Fame dinner Tuesday.
WICHITA — The Junior Achievement 2011 Wichita Business Hall of Fame dinner Tuesday offered an entertaining evening full of poignant and funny moments.
Emcee Susan Peters of KAKE, Channel 10, started with words of wisdom for business people who might like to be inducted in the future.
“If you would like to be honored, you should be on your best behavior,” she advised.
Jim Farha spoke on behalf of himself and his brother, fellow inductee George Farha. The Lebanese immigrants are both physicians.
“We love this great country,” Farha said. “Without being political, we believe that America is truly an exceptional nation, and we are very grateful for the opportunities that we have been afforded.”
Phillip Ruffin Jr. introduced his father, inductee Phil Ruffin Sr., whom he noted was a grand state wrestling champion while at North High School.
“And this is something we hear about almost on a daily basis,” said the younger Ruffin.
He noted the win was back when there weren’t different divisions for schools, meaning the then 147-pound Ruffin had to wrestle everyone in his weight class.
“He whooped ’em all.”
WICHITA — Pixius is planning to move its headquarters to the northwest corner of Second and St. Francis.
That’s where Mayor Carl Brewer currently has his re-election headquarters.
Pixius, a wireless broadband service provider with more than 7,000 customers in Kansas and Missouri, currently is on East Central near Hydraulic.
The deal for the new space, which has more than 14,000 square feet, isn’t done yet.
No one is talking officially yet, but if the deal goes as expected, Pixius should move in by the fourth quarter along with affiliated companies Scotland Group, an insurance agency, and Sinclair Masonry.
Scotland Group and Sinclair Masonry would be placeholders of sorts, meaning they’d use space there until Pixius grows and needs more room.
The plan is to remodel the building and add a mezzanine, which would increase the building’s square footage.
Look for more information on the project in coming weeks.
WICHITA — Wichita-based EagleMed and Newton-based LifeTeam are not merging after all.
The Wichita Eagle first reported late last year that the competing air ambulance providers would merge.
“Circumstances are not conducive to join forces under the EagleMed brand at this time,” says EagleMed president Larry Bugg.
Originally, the companies expected the deal to close this quarter.
Bugg won’t elaborate on what happened except to say previously there was only a letter of intent. He says that during the due diligence phase, that’s when the deal fell apart.
“We’ll continue to look for opportunities to serve the citizens of Kansas.”