Featured Stories

A $50,000 Blue Cross and Blue Shield Pathways grant was awarded to assist in funding phase two of the Iron Horse Trail Project. “This is the final connecting piece,” said Ross Boelling, president and general manager of the Abilene and Smoky Valley Railroad. “We received one grant that will cover the construction from Brady Street to Jeep Road and we […]

Chaplain Ben Ray (right) speaks with officer Andrew Storey at the Derby Police Department. As chaplain, Ray officers mental and emotional support to officers but he is also pleased to see a new peer support group taking off to further help address mental health among staff. Mental health issues continue to be on the rise in the U.S., with Mental […]

Nothing sounds better in the middle of February than daydreaming about warm summer nights filled with good food, family and friends. Pair it with a beautiful evening sunset and it becomes the perfect escape from winter weather blues. Nancy Thellman turned that daydream into a reality when she started a new and wildly successful outlet in 2020 – agritourism. Juniper […]

  NORTH NEWTON—Gordon Unruh has been tied to his hobby, making rope, for decades. “I started this back in the 1970s,” he said. “I learned from one of my principals when I taught in Marquette. It’s just a fun hobby.” He’s brought his hobby to Celebrate Kansas Day! for kids to make rope for about the past 15 years, and […]

  Hiawatha’s school band director has been chosen to march in the 2023 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade with the Band Directors Marching Band. Jarod Estrada, the director for middle and high school bands, will join a marching band of 400 directors from across the country in the historic parade on Nov. 23. Following its amazing inaugural appearance in the 2022 […]

A reunion of sorts brought believers and curious food producers to Salina, Kansas in mid-January, to share and learn about regenerative agriculture. Parking lots packed with pickup trucks as farmers, ranchers, and agribusiness professionals gathered to promote soil health that could help curb climate change and weather extremes throughout the nation and the world. Spiritual leaders from a sponsor, Catholic […]

Robertson celebrates during the 2018 state title game against Bishop Miege. Photo by Kendall Shaw MCPHERSON – No matter which way someone looks, they will find tradition-rich basketball roots in McPherson. The town plays home to 22 high school state basketball titles, the first ever basketball gold medal in Olympic history and now to the all-time made three-point leader in […]

For the fourth year, Devlin Ogg of Frankfort is the Marshall County Spelling Bee champion. Ogg, an eighth-grader at Frankfort Junior High, will represent the county at the Sunflower State Spelling Bee on March 25 at Newman University in Wichita. This year’s county bee was a proctored, written bee in county schools on Jan. 19. Ogg missed three out of […]

HOLYROOD  — Snow covered the parking lot Sunday afternoon, but chords from Barefoot Becky & The Ivanhoe Dutchmen drifted out of the new Holyrood American Legion building. During a break from playing, Becky Livermore, the band’s namesake, stood in her signature bare feet, rekindling friendships. “Thank you for coming from Colorado,” she told Brenda and Jim Albert, who drove more […]

The 2022 Royal Purple yearbook is a finalist for the national Pacemaker award for best college yearbook in the country. The Pacemaker is considered the Pulitzer of college journalism. The Associated Collegiate Press (ACP) chose the Royal Purple among 10 finalists in the competition. The Royal Purple is a publication of the Collegian Media Group, which also publishes the Collegian […]