News

ELLY GRIMM

   • Leader & Times

This year’s Five State Fair is bringing some things back for this year’s festivities, including the popular Gospel Songfest.

This year’s Gospel Songfest will be headlined by Jason Waller and the CrossPoint Worship group, and Waller said he is excited for the opportunity to visit Southwest Kansas.

ELLY GRIMM

   • Leader & Times

Housing in rural areas can be hard to come by and recently, some legislation was introduced that could help with that.

Thursday, U.S. Senators Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) introduced bipartisan legislation to streamline rural housing regulations between the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) by requiring the two agencies to enter into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to align housing standards.

Special to the Leader & Times

Western Kansas Community Foundation (WKCF) is currently accepting board applications to fill vacancies for the next term starting January 2026. With a service area of 15 counties in Western Kansas, the Foundation is specifically welcoming applications from Finney, Grant, Gray, Greeley, Hamilton, Haskell, Kearny, Lane, Meade, Morton, Scott, Seward, Stanton, Stevens and Wichita County. Board applications are collected online at wkcf.org and are due Sept. 1.

ROBERT PIERCE

   • Leader & Times

A Sublette man and a Dighton man suffered suspected minor injuries in an accident involving a semi and a pickup Tuesday afternoon in Lane County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported around 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, a 2004 Freightliner and a 2019 Ford F250 were traveling northbound on Kansas Highway 23 with the semi behind the pickup.

KHP said the pickup began to do a left turn onto Lane County Road 200, and while turning, the semi tried to pass on the left, causing it to crash into the pickup.

The Freightliner’s driver, 63-year-old Ben R. Fehr of Sublette, and the F250’s driver, Jesse R. Beesley of Dighton, 32, of Dighton, were taken to Lane County Hospital with suspected minor injuries. Both drivers were wearing seat belts at the time of the accident.