Kalistan

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Kalistani News in Brief: Empress delivers third child in Kaliburg
Foreign Ministry acknowledges meeting with Kundrati; Sulari Housing starts will meet demand by 5678
Kaliburg, Grand Duchy of Ananto
June 15, 5676


Her Imperial Majesty recovering at Cliff House earlier this month

Empress delivers third Child in Kaliburg
The office of Her Imperial Majesty, Empress Jennifer Ananto-Connor has announced that the Royal Family has had a new edition. On May 5 of this year, His Highness, Minor Prince Mark-Henry Joseph Ananto-Connor was born at Kaliburg National Hospital in the nation's capital. According to the announce, the baby was born at 3:44 am Kaliburg time following 14 hours of labor, and weighed 7 pounds, 3 ounces. The baby was born naturally, and was healthy at birth though developed a slight case of jaundice two days after birth, for which he was treated with light therapy.

"His Highness, the Minor Prince nursed with no difficulty, and was appropriately fussy," said Her Imperial Majesty's spokeswoman, Lady Amber Dawson. "The Royal family are very happy with their new arrival, and were soon visited by Her Highness, Princess of the Empire Mary Ananto-DeLaurentis and Princess Margaret Ananto-DeLaurentis, as well as Her Highness, Princess Nicolette Ananto-Collins, who is up from Luxon, Count Martin Collins from Sulari, and the two Minor Princelings, His Highness, the Minor Prince William-David Martin Ananto-Connor and the Minor Princess Carolina-Katherine Michelle Ananto-Connor, who were staying with their aunt in Luxon as their mother finished her labors."

All are reportedly happy. Her Imperial Majesty is currently on leave for two more months as she and the new baby continue to settle back into Cliff House. It has been a very long time since Cliff House was so full of the joy and happiness of small children. Princess of the Empire Mary Ananto-DeLaurentis, who, along with the Lady Companion Victoria Jensen, is staying with the Emperor and Empress for a few more months, said the chaos of small children is delightful, and she is enjoying spending time with her grand children and is so happy for the new-again parents. "Now if my daughter would just get married, maybe we could keep this up for another decade," she reportedly said, jokingly.

Foreign Ministry acknowledges meeting with Kundrati
Their Imperial Majesties' Foreign Minister, Sir Henry Greene, has confirmed reports about an off the record meeting with representatives from the nation of Kundrati. "Upon direction from Their Imperial Majesties, I can confirm that representatives of the Anantonese Government have met with representatives of the Kundrati Government in Ft. William, Luthor," said Minister Greene. "The meeting was a preliminary meeting aimed at cracking a door, and while it represents a significant step forward in relations between our two nations, it is merely the first step in a thousand mile journey."

The Foreign Minister would not talk about who was involved in the meeting, or at what level the talks occured. "We made contact," was all the Minister would say. "We concluded nothing during the meeting except that we would like to continue to meet. Nothing was exchanged during the meeting, no paper came of it. Obviously with our level of estrangement from Kundrati, it will take a long time for our two nations to trust one enough to the point where we both feel comfortable sitting down in public. We aren't there yet: this meeting was I think more about seeing if the other side is as much of a two headed, six eyed monster as we all have believed until now."

Sir Greene stressed that the meeting was held on neutral ground in Luthori, it was informal, and no agreements were made. "Given the limited scope of the agenda, which was essentially 'Sit Down, shake hands, speak civilly, try to ascertain what you can about the other side, and then if prudent, schedule a second meeting,' I'd say it went well." The Foreign Minister stressed that this meeting was one of the aims of the new orientation of The Emperor and Empress' desire to reach out to the world. "Many people advised against this meeting," said the Foreign Minister, "but at the end of the day, we get our directives from our Sovereigns, and we carry them out. So the Foreign Ministry complied with Their Imperial Majesties' fiat on Kundrati, and it went about as well as can be expected." Sir Greene stressed that other nations are also opening to Kundrati, and Kaliburg is watching how that is going when making its own decisions.

Sulari Housing starts will meet demand by 5678
Following ducal reorganization in Kalistan Proper, the Lord Mayor of Sulari has announced that the Suldanor Ducal Housing Authority now projects that with current housing starts, Sulari builders are on track to meet existing demand for domiciles by the end of 5678. "The end of supply side homelessness is in our sights," announced Lord Mayor Greg Xander. "With the units we are currently either starting or converting, we anticipate a slight surplus in housing by the end of 5678 in the Empire's largest city. This is a dream hundreds of years in the imagining and it is finally coming true for Sulari's residents."

The Lord Mayor has stressed low income housing as a priority, while offering homeowners in higher income neighborhoods direct subsidies to rehabilitate their home, subdivide their lots to create additional housing units on their property, and modernize water service, electrical service, and sewer service. "Even before the Ducal Council was established, we saw significant investment by the Duke Alvarez in Suldanor and in Sulari specifically to tackle chronic homelessness, and treat it as a public health issue, rather than a legal matter," said the Lord Mayor. "Housing First is the byword in this city. If we can keep people in their homes, and ensure those homes are modernized, we see families staying in our community, and we are able to build new homes for those who are here without a home. We know when people are housed, crime and preventable disease goes down, work productivity and school attendance goes up, and the added security a stable housing situation offers leads to a host of other securities for individuals and families. And Sulari is on track to do that for all of our more than 3 million citizens."

Most of the new housing comes through vertical development with easy access to services including public transit, food sources, and other retail services. "The amount of planning which has gone into Sulari's downtown revitalization over the decades is insane," said Mayor Xander. "No home is more than a mile away from the nearest National Food Bank branch, so fresh nutritious food can be obtained easily. Nor are these houses more than a half a mile from bus or commuter tram routes. With the new housing, we've also had to look at neighborhood schools, with the aim to avoid overcrowding. The City Unified School System employs more than 24,000 primary, secondary and pre-K teachers, and all of them are organized because of closed shop, making the Sulari Teachers' Union one of the largest syndicates in the entire nation. So we wanted to make sure we were both complying with the contract and ensuring that our children get quality neighborhood based education that meets both city and national curriculum standards.

The announcement follows similar announcements from Port Swedes, Addisjah and Eshar, all of whom have been working on similar housing efforts. Kaliburg, for its part, has long provided housing adequate for its population, partly because it is the capital. Along with the news from the Free Cities, homeless numbers have been decreasing in Vrassa City, Nevaras City, Senvias, and Gendaris as well, while Yoshimi and Lucid continue to struggle with an average rate of 3 individuals out of 1,000. The population of Yoshimi is large enough for this to be considered problematic by the Baronial government in Yoshimi, but Lucid's problems are often due to transients passing through, rather than ling in the town.

@TheRepublic