ROBERT PIERCE

   • Leader & Times

Some major progress has been made on a local bridge project in Seward County.

Tuesday, Administrator April Warden issued a press release saying the Fiscal Year 2026 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) Appropriations Bill had been approved, and as part of that legislation, U.S. Senator Jerry Moran secured $2,378 million for the Massoni Bridge project.

“The funding has been awarded through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Highway Infrastructure Program (HIP) and will be administered through the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) before distributed for the project,” Warden said.

ROBERT PIERCE

   • Leader & Times

Art lovers still have a few days left to see some of the work of a former local art teacher.

Liberal’s Baker Arts Center currently has on display some of the art of former Liberal resident and Seward County Community College art instructor Steve Heckman.

Baker Director Misty Martin said she found Heckman to be extremely talented.

“I would say he was, I don’t know if hidden gem is the right word, but definitely a talent who was extraordinary, and we were fortunate to be able to experience his art here in our area,” she said.

Kansas Department of Health and Environment

Barbecuing on the grill, making s’mores over a fire pit and sitting around a campfire are all great ways to spend quality time outdoors in the summertime.  But it’s important to remember any fire can cause serious injuries to children. In fact, summer is the season when there is an increase in emergency room visits due to fire and burn injuries. Safe Kids Kansas and the Kansas State Fire Marshal (KSFM) remind families to take simple steps to make sure your summer is a safe one.

Data from 2020 through 2024 shows that as summer approaches, there is an increase in the number of unintentional fire and burn emergency department visits in Kansas. The percentage of emergency department visits nearly doubled during this period compared to winter months. The highest number of emergency department visits occurred in July.

ELLY GRIMM

   • Leader & Times

Changes to the fees for the district’s BLAST afterschool program for the 2026-27 school year were a hot topic of discussion with the USD 480 school board at its most recent meeting Monday evening.

The discussion began with parent Theresa Carrillo, who spoke during the Comments from the Floor portion of the meeting.

“I wanted to come before the board as a parent regarding this potential increase to the BLAST fees,” Carrillo said. “My husband and I are considered more among the middle-class income bracket, and with the projected increases in the fees that are being proposed, I assure you we would have to pull our son from the program if the fee increases end up being approved. Being in non-profit and government funding, I wanted to come and be sure the district is truly exhausting every possible option before cuts are made to that program completely and claiming it was due to a lack of participation. We do not utilize the full semester of BLAST, we don’t utilize it while my son is participating in basketball and has practice or during the school play season when he has rehearsals. One of the options I’m hoping will be discussed include class sizes for the BLAST program – I don’t know how all of the schools run their individual programs, but at my son’s school, we did see kind of a personality conflict in his program, so I asked him if I could come in and observe since he’s on the autism spectrum. When I went in, in his class, there were only five or six students, and we were paying for the entire thing. I would be okay if some of the smaller classes were combined to help make that more efficient.”