News

ROBERT PIERCE

   • Leader & Times

Five years ago, the Kansas Legislature overwhelmingly passed the Eisenhower Legacy Transportation Program, or IKE for short.

Officials with the Kansas Department of Transportation got to work, and IKE is already making a difference in communities across the state.

As part of the program, KDOT hosts local consults every two years as the agency’s public engagement process for IKE. KDOT is in the process of wrapping up this year’s consults, with final events scheduled to take place this week and early next week.

Liberal’s local consult took place Tuesday, Oct. 21, and KDOT Secretary Calvin Reed called the events an exhausting, but fun time for agency leaders.

EARL WATT

   • Leader & Times

Every now and then, food and film come together to create an artistic fusion, and a rare film festival in South Korea focuses on the rare coupling.

The film festival seeks to share stories of how food influences culture, and out of 1,047 films submitted to be highlighted at the festival only 10 were selected from 10 different countries, and the recent film directed by Liberal native Ben Scantlin called “Flipping Pancake Day” made the cut.

“This festival has been on my wishlist for years,” Scantlin said. “I heard about it from a friend who attended it and loved it. Typically it’s all film centric. This balances film and food. It focuses on films about food story lines. I had it on the radar when I did this film.”

ELLY GRIMM

   • Leader & Times

Many people are throwing their hats in the ring for various political offices, including for governor of Kansas.

One of those on the ballot for the office is Ethan Corson, who recently made a visit to Liberal to talk with community members. As Corson tells it, politics was not always among his aspirations.

ELLY GRIMM

   • Leader & Times

The holiday season is rapidly approaching and in the midst of all of that busyness, military personnel serving overseas can be forgotten about.

As with the past few years, however, Volunteer Kansas is looking to make sure that does not happen, and Volunteer Kansas Executive Director Nola Brown said she is excited for this year’s Presents in a Package campaign.