Joel Branstrom and his family will be headed to the Final Four basketball tournament after all. And in style.

Image this, your house is on fire and the fire department arrives only to find or in this case can’t find your water hydrant without wasting precious time because it is buried with snow. According to a Kansas City Star article, fire officials across the Kansas City Metro area are worried that critical minutes could be lost trying to locate hydrants to hook up water hoses. 

Bryan Dehner, Overland Park fire chief, said it would help fireman if homeowners would check on the hydrants near their house and dig them out if they have been buried. Dean Cull a fire Marshall and an official of the Heart of America Metro Fire Chiefs Council said “Being able to access water quickly can mean the difference of saving a life or a structure.” The council urges residents who decide to dig out their neighborhood hydrants to also shovel a one foot path from the street to the hydrant.  

According to Dehner, Overland Park fire trucks have systems that tell firefighter that a hydrant is in front of a particular address. Dehner also said that some Kansas City metro departments DO NOT have hydrant locator systems.

Rather than a cause for celebration, “no one believes that Congress in its ultimate wisdom, with all the deficits looming, with a recession and two wars … would ever allow the estate tax to lapse. But that’s what happened,” said tax attorney Martin Press.

“It’s created great uncertainty,” he told USA Today. The confusion comes, in part, from a wide agreement that Congress will either reinstate the tax that brought in revenues of $26.5 billion in 2008 or shift the tax to a capital gains levy on property that is inherited and then sold. “A lot of middle-income Americans could end up being affected by a tax they never expected,” Marguerite Mount, managing director of the Mercadien Group told the newspaper.

When members of the U.S. Senate finally headed home last week, they also left the future of 50 individual and business tax breaks in limbo. All expired at the end of 2009. To read more

Kids Build Better Bridges

Shakespeare wrote that all the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.

Well according to a Kansas City Star article a group of 20 young people ages 14-33 most of whom have developmental disabilities – “…might bristle at the word merely.”

The Johnson County-based non-profit B.E.S.T. Network — the acronym is for Beyond the Star Theater yesterday performed a special holiday revue at the Bishop Miege High School Theatre. The singing, dancing and sign-language show included favorite musical numbers the group has worked on all year long as well as holiday songs.

Founder and director Marlene Wagnon said the one thing all B.E.S.T. members have in common is their love of performing.

“We’re about reverse inclusion,” Wagnon said. “We want our kids to express themselves and express their abilities. We invite typical kids to participate with those with special needs, and we work to break down barriers and form real friendships.”

B.E.S.T. was the brainchild of Wagnon, whose daughter Audrey has Down syndrome. Audrey wanted to act, sing and dance, but Wagnon couldn’t find any outlets for young would-be performers with disabilities. So in 2002, Wagnon started B.E.S.T., offering classes out of her Overland Park, Kansas home. 

A junior at Bishop Miege High School, Allie Bishop first connected with B.E.S.T. after participating in a production of the Jellybean Conspiracy, a two-act play about similarities and differences. Allie also had a friend with developmental disabilities whom she liked spending time with. Allie performs with B.E.S.T. and volunteers to help the group. 

“I love all the people who do it, with and without disabilities,” Allie said. “They’ve changed my life completely. I know I want to spend my life working the special needs people… They make me happy.” “Becoming their personal best and letting them communicate their ideas and feelings is so important,” Wagnon said. “They bring joy and no fear.”

For more information about the show or the organization, call 913-663-9936 or go to www.thebestnetwork.org.

“Kansas City will receive $24 million in stimulus funds to turn the urban core of the city into a national model for electrical delivery and efficiency”, According to the Kansas City Star.  Combined with another $24 million in private investment from Kansas City Power & Light and its energy partners, the project will create a “smart grid” demonstration project, which many see as the future of the electric industry.

US House of representatives, Emmanuel Cleaver called the plan “a transformative project that we in Kansas City are doing something that no other urban center is doing in the nation.  KCP&L officials say “smart grid” project should help 14,000 commercial and residential customers.  Read More About the Kansas City Green Impact Zone.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Whether you’re thinking about buying or selling or seeking information, rely on RE/MAX Best Associates 800-391-BEST(2378) X106 or 913-339-0615 to provide accurate up to date information about the marketplace email to: tfarrell@remax.net or visit http://www.kansascityerealestate.com

The Senate reached a compromise on the extension and expansion of the 1^st time buyer tax credit. According to an article on RISMedia’s web page today, if approved the agreement could extend the existing credit to June 30, 2010. The current credit is scheduled to expire November 30 of this year. A new credit of up to $6,500. could be available to ALL homebuyers who have owned and resided in their current residence for a consecutive five-year period in the past eight years. The agreements additionally raised the income limits to $125,000 for single taxpayers and $250,000 for joint taxpayers. The limits are currently $75,000 and $150,000. Under the Senate compromise ratified contracts must be approved by no later than April 30, 2010.

For more details about the Possible Tax Credit Extension click HERE.

According to Active Rain the House of Representatives has voted unanimously to extend the the 1^st time buyer tax credit to active military personnel, foreign service and intelligence officers. The bill (HR3950) would extend the existing tax credit to this group only until November 30th, 2010. The bill must still be passed by the Senate