(AP) – A Wichita man who feeds the homeless has learned it takes a permit to spread goodwill.

David Hill has been serving hot food every third Saturday for the past two years. The Wichita Eagle reported that he figures he feeds about 300 people per month.

It wasn’t until this fall that an officer asked to see his food safety permit. Hill says he didn’t know he needed one.

Hill has gotten a temporary permit and plans to meet with someone from the city.

Officials say the permit requirement exists to make sure the needy are fed safely.

Hill operates his program through One Spark. The effort started in Wichita and has built a following by encouraging people to pass on what Hill calls “random acts of kindness.”

(AP) – The Flint Hills Regional Council has received a federal grant to develop a plan for regional growth.

The council said that it has received the $1.98 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development.

The council says the grant will be used to create a sustainable development plan for the region, which encompasses 19 counties

The Flint Hills Regional Council is a voluntary service association of regional governments.

(AP) – Three south-central Kansas high school students are trying to use what they’ve learned about psychology to figure out why some people can be heartless.

The three are taking a psychology class at Winfield High School. They organized a “Stuff the Bus” event earlier this month, inviting people to fill a bus with new and used clothing for the Winfield Thrift Store.

On Nov. 13, they delivered more than half a busload of clothing to the thrift store and left the items on a sidewalk. The worker in charge of sorting the donations went to get some food first and returned to find everything gone.

Police say the thieves must have needed several trips to haul everything away. The case remains unsolved.

(AP) – A prominent Wichita commercial developer has tied up on 15.25 acres of land across from the Kansas Star Casino being built near Mulvane.

Colby Sandlian and his partnership group are considering possible casino-related businesses on the Kansas Turnpike frontage land across from the casino site.

The land once was held by Harrah’s as it competed to build the casino.

The 80-year-old Sandlian was noncommittal about whether his group would close the deal. He says a lot of research has to be done before his group decides whether to build such businesses as hotels, restaurants, retail and entertainment venues.

Sandlian declined to release details of the contract.

Peninsula Gaming’s $260-million casino, events center and hotel complex is scheduled to open early next year.

(AP) – A Kansas hunting organization is doing its part to help food pantries stay stocked with fresh meat while making sure deer meat doesn’t go to waste.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports that a group called Kansas Hunters Feeding the Hungry works with 40 locker plants across the state to process deer carcasses and distribute the meat to food pantries.

Tony DeRossett is president of the group. He says that the program satisfies the need for meat while ensuring that hundreds of deer that are killed each season don’t go to waste.

Last year, the program arranged for the processing of 1,108 deer taken during deer-hunting seasons. DeRossett said that totaled 225,000 meals for hungry Kansans.

DeRossett helped found the organization in 2001 after reading about a similar effort in Maryland.

(AP) – Kansas leaders and private groups are encouraging state residents to consider shopping from local artists and small businesses while looking for holiday presents.

The effort comes as the entire country is noting “Small BusinessSaturday” this Saturday. In signing a declaration for Kansas, Gov. Sam Brownback called small businesses “the lifeblood of our communities.

One group, called Kansas Originals Market and Gallery, represents more than 250 Kansas artists. It has a website, www.kansasoriginals.com, and two shops along Interstate 70 – near Wilson and five miles east of Topeka.

“We have had three bus tours in here a week, many of the people from out-of-state, and people rave about what we have here,” said Marge Lawson, chief executive of the nonprofit organization founded two decades ago by the Post Rock Opportunities Foundation to market Kansas artists.

“People love that we have hand-blown stained glass, wheat weavings, all kind of wood products, limestone yard art and more. We have products you can’t find anywhere else,” Lawson said.

Buying local products helps the state’s economy, said Becky Sullivan, education event coordinator for the Kansas Department of Agriculture. She is also director of the Simply Kansas program, which represents 400 Kansas companies that produce, process or grow their own products, The Wichita Eagle reported.

“When it comes to the holiday season, appreciate your state and the people working next to you by buying the products they are working on,” Sullivan said.

She said it’s worth touring the state to visit some of the businesses, such as Jinks Traditional Fruitcake in Columbus or the Alma Creamery in Alma that makes all-natural, homemade cheeses.

From barbecue sauces and jelly to lavender insect repellant, honey and jerky, the products are diverse and ingenious, Sullivan said.

“The innovation blows me away,” Sullivan said. “These companies keep on the cutting edge. Kansans have definitely learned to adapt to the times and changes.”

(AP) – Kansas State University researchers have found that recent oil shocks aren’t inflating costs as much as in the past.

The school says two of its economists recently wrote about the issue in the Journal of Money, Credit and Banking.

The economists used inflation data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to look at core goods, such as cars and clothing. Food isn’t considered a core good.

Associate economics professor Lance Bachmeier says core goods have actually experienced some minor deflation from rising oil prices.

He says that when consumers spend more to fuel their vehicles, that leaves them with less money to spend on other things. As a result, prices drop.

That’s possible in part because manufacturers are more energy efficient than in the past.

TOPEKA, KS—The Kansas Historical Society Board of Review has voted to list four properties in the Register of Historic Kansas Places and to forward 14 nominations to the office of the Keeper of the National Register of Historic Places in Washington, D.C.  If they concur with the board’s findings, the properties will be included in the National Register.

One of the nominated properties is the Union National Bank building in Wichita, site of the historic 1958 Dockum Drug Store sit-in by young African Americans protesting discriminatory policies.

Two area residents serve on the KSHS Board of Review:  Craig Crosswhite, Ness City, Chair and Leo Oliva, Stockton.

The National Register of Historic Places is the country’s official list of historically significant properties.