News

ROBERT PIERCE

    • Leader & Times

September is almost here, and soon cooler weather will be in the air. The milder climate likewise creates for many a craving for certain culinary delights not present during the rest of the year.

One of those foods is chili, and for many years, Seward County United Way has given locals a chance to taste some of the food favorite through its annual chili cookoff.

The cookoff, according to SCUW Director Diana Esparza-Villarreal, normally serves as the kickoff for United Way’s annual fundraising campaign, but she added this year, a golf tournament in June served that purpose. Still, though, the cookoff, which takes place in conjunction with the Liberal Chamber of Commerce’s Duck Race Festival Sept. 14 at Light Park, is a big event.

ROBERT PIERCE

    • Leader & Times

A highway construction project in Southwest Kansas has been delayed.

Resurfacing work was scheduled to start Aug. 12 along U.S. Highway 83 from the intersection of that highway with U.S. Highway 50 and U.S. Highway 400 north to the south city limits of Scott City.

However, Kansas Department of Transportation Southwest Public Information Officer Yazmin Moreno issued a statement Tuesday that the project had been delayed, as officials with the contractor, Venture Corporation of Great Bend, had changed the project’s schedule.

ELLY GRIMM

    • Leader & Times

The 2024 Five State Fair has officially come and gone, and as Five State Fair Board President Mary Rose tells it, there was a lot to be proud of for this year’s festivities.

“We as a board thought this year's fair was successful. On the 4-H/agriculture side, we saw several animals entered for judging, which was amazing to see. There was the Southwest Kansas weather to deal with, we had both 100-plus degree temperatures and sun and rain and cooler weather in the fair's five-day span, but we made it through all of that,” Rose said. “With the livestock, we had several Open Class entries and several 4-H entries. We had the Family Night that Wednesday and served nachos and ice cream to everyone, and that seemed to get a good response – we were expecting to see about 200 to 300 people that evening and ended up seeing more than that. We also brought back the Demolition Derby for that Friday and Saturday, and we had more than 300 people each night, which was amazing, and our antique tractor pull also drew in more than 20 entrants and about 150 spectators in the Grandstands, so that also saw a big crowd. All in all, we feel like this year's fair was a success, we brought it back to basics by showing off the agriculture of Seward County and our five-state area. The number of entries for the indoor classes and the livestock shows was amazing, and we as a board felt like those visual demonstrations helped draw a lot of people in.”

ELLY GRIMM

    • Leader & Times

An Elkhart man was sentenced Monday to 293 months in prison for using his former position as CEO of a bank to embezzle tens of millions of dollars in a cryptocurrency scheme which led the bank to fail at a complete loss of equity for investors.

Shan Hanes, 53, of Elkhart pleaded guilty to one count of embezzlement by a bank officer, according to a release from the Department of Justice (DOJ).