Special to the Leader & Times

Black Hills Energy released its annual Community Impact Report Thursday, detailing a year in which the regulated electric and natural gas provider generated $1.65 billion in direct economic impact across the eight states it serves including Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming.

The report underscores the company’s mission of “Improving Life with Energy,” translating that commitment into measurable support for the 1.37 million customers and 850-plus communities Black Hills Energy serves.

ROBERT PIERCE

   • Leader & Times

The months of June and July are busy for Seward County United Way, and with only a month before area students return to school classrooms, the organization is looking to help out with those needs.

SCUW has three events which will help those students, the first being Stuff a Box, which runs through July 20 at local businesses. Director Patricia Fierro said for this year’s event, each box is designated for a specific item of school supplies.

“We’ve been asked a lot, ‘Here it only says markers. Here it only says map colors,’” she said. “The reason being is we want to be able to have a specific item, so we’re not getting an overload on colors, but we’re not getting on markers, or we’re not getting any on color paper. That way, it’s just a designated box for that particular item, and it’s easier for us to know which item we need to look into purchasing more for distribution.”

ELLY GRIMM

   • Leader & Times

The Kansas State Board of Education is seeking some new people, and Lorie Wood is one of the candidates running for District 5.

Wood said her roots in the area and in education run deep.

“I was born and raised in Colorado, but my husband was military for 22 years, so we traveled all over, and I’ve taught overseas. I have been an educator for more than 30 years,” Wood said. “I have a bachelor’s degree in secondary education and an endorsement in ESL, and then I have a master’s degree. My last full-time teaching physician was at the University of Colorado, and we moved to Kansas in fall of 2019 At that time, I was teaching online classes only, and that was due to me developing multiple sclerosis. Then, I started getting focused on politics due to some of the things that have been happening throughout the past year. I was talking with a friend of mine, and we were both talking about how we needed action, not just talk. The first thing I had to do was take a stand on which side of the political field I wanted to be on, because I was an unaffiliated voter at that time. The Democratic Party has  more in line with my beliefs than the current extreme Republican Party. I organized a party in our county since we didn’t have one, and as the chair of the party, I looked into what offices were coming open this year, and we discovered one of them was the state board of education for our district. I actually tried to find other people to run, and didn’t find anybody, but multiple people asked me ‘Why aren’t YOU doing it?’ After talking to my husband and my family, everybody was very supportive, and even though I’m in a wheelchair, my brain still works for me, so I decided to run. That’s how I got involved, and given my background as an educator, it seemed like a perfect combination.”

Kansas Department of Transportation

The Kansas Department of Transportation plans to start a chip seal project the week of July 13 along Kansas Highway 190 from the U.S. Highway 160 junction south to the U.S. Highway 56 junction in Grant and Haskell counties.

K-190 will be reduced to one lane in smaller sections as work takes place on the 12.29-mile project area. Motorists should expect delays of up to 15 minutes as flaggers and a pilot car direct traffic through the work zone. The lane reduction will be marked by signs and cones. K-190 will be open to normal traffic when construction is not taking place.

Dustrol Inc. is the contractor for this $1.6 million project. Conditions permitting, it is expected to be completed by the end of August.

KDOT urges motorists to stay alert, follow posted signs and refrain from hand-held mobile device use in all active work zones. For current road conditions, visit kandrive.gov or call 511 in Kansas or 866-511-5368 outside Kansas.

For more information, contact Joel (Simon) Valdez, construction manager, at (620) 417-7706 or Yazmin Moreno, public information officer, at (620) 765-7080.