News

Kansas Department of Transportation

The Kansas Department of Transportation has started a resurfacing project along U.S. Highway 50 from east of Spearville to the Edwards/Ford county line, reducing traffic to one lane through the project area.

Motorists should be aware of delays of up to 15 minutes as flaggers and a pilot car direct one-lane traffic through the work zone. Signs and cones will mark the lane reduction. U.S. 50 will be open to normal traffic when construction is not taking place.

Venture Corporation, from Great Bend, is the contractor on this $1.7 million project, which is expected to be completed by June, weather permitting.

For more information on this project, contact David Ubel, Construction Manager, at (620) 682-7938, or Yazmin Moreno, KDOT Southwest Region Public Affairs Manager, at (620) 260-6397.

Special to the Leader & Times

U.S. Senators Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) – members of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee – introduced the Honoring Veterans’ Legacies and Burial Benefits Enhancements Act to improve memorialization and burial benefits for veterans and their families.

This legislation would establish a nonprofit entity that would be able to accept private donations to be used to fund the Veterans Legacy Program (VLP). VLP issues grants to educational partners to conduct historical research projects on veterans buried in national cemeteries in their communities to then share those veteran stories through educational programming. This legislation would also make certain veteran burials are dignified and honorable, while also enhancing current burial benefits for dependents and historical Medal of Honor recipients.

ELLY GRIMM

Leader & Times

The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) organization does a lot of good for many veterans in the area and soon, there will be a chance for the community to help them in return.

There will be a banquet and auction to benefit VFW Post 3166 at the Seward County Ag Building Saturday, April 27. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m., along with the silent auction, and dinner (which includes steak, baked potatoes, salad, green beans, and cookies) will start at 6:30 p.m., with a live auction to follow. Sponsor tables are $500 (and that includes eight seats and a chance to win the sponsor gun), and there are still some sponsor tables available. Single tickets are $30, couple tickets are $50, tickets for children 6 to 16 years old are $10, and children 5 years old and younger are free. People can purchase their tickets by getting in touch with Daniel Strickland at (620) 200-9291, Brenda Mallory at (620) 482-1128 or Caily Grindle at (620) 655-5886.

Emergency personnel responded to a ditch fire early this afternoon west of Liberal on U.S. Highway 54, and information is still being gathered about the incident.