A sparse crowd of curious Barton County voters gathered in Great Bend's Crest Theater Tuesday night. Attending the Great Bend League of Women Voters Forum, they hoped to gain insight into where various local candidates stood on issues facing the area.
Kansas labor officials are pinning January's larger-than-anticipated rise in the state's unemployment rate on weather and the end of holiday hiring, not on the lingering impact of the recession. The January 2011 jobless rate was 7.4 percent, up from 6.4 in December 2010 but down from 7.1 percent in January 2010.
Barton County Commissioners accepted a bid from a local contracting firm to take on a project to remodel the Barton County Treasurer's Office in order to make room for state-mandated computer equipment changes.
Barton Community College's Cohen Center for Kansas History now has two resources that give the public the ability to study and preserve historical documents and other papers, making them available to future generations when otherwise those pieces of history would eventually be lost.
University of Kansas basketball players will meet the public and play a game with local all stars at the annual KU Barnstorming Tour, Sunday, April 17 in the gym of the Barton Community College Kirkman Center. Diann Henderson, executive director of the Great Bend Recreation Commission, discussed the upcoming fundraiser at Monday's GBRC Board of Directors meeting. Tickets for a suggested donation of $8 will go on sale soon, with proceeds ...
Local officials have signed off on a statewide program that is aimed at getting more people to be able to afford air transportation out of Wichita. The Great Bend City Council voted to support the Affordable Air Fares for Kansans program, that is aimed at encouraging use of the Mid-Continent Airport in Wichita. City Administrator Howard Partington noted the Wichita flights are already important to local businesses and will presumably become more so in the ...
Three people were seriously injured in a head-on collision Friday night in Barton County. According to the Kansas Highway Patrol Online Crash Logs, Michael S. Grauer, 38, Great Bend, was driving east on K-156, 14 miles northeast of Great Bend, at 9:22 p.m. His Chevy Impala went across the center line for an unknown reason and hit an approaching Jeep head-on. Grauer was flown to Via Christi's St. Francis Hospital ...
Allen County spelling champion Clara Wicoff correctly spelled "geriatrician" Saturday to win the Great Bend Tribune's 2011 Sunflower Spelling Bee. Wicoff, a seventh grader from Iola, won the spell-down in 2009, and this year she outlasted 2010 winner Matthew Wegner from Parsons and 79 other contestants. Wegner and Barton County's Allison Regehr made it to the final nine, but by Round 7 there were only four remaining contestants: Wicoff, ...
Great Bend and Barton County voters will have the opportunity to hear the views of local candidates prior to the April 5 general election during a forum sponsored by the Great Bend League of Women Voters Tuesday night.
Postal Presort, Inc. will be sending out about 18,000 pieces of county mail soon as the Wichita firm sends property valuations to county residents.
Crime Stoppers is seeking information about an altercation that occurred Feb. 28 at 1305 MacArthur Road. Although they arrested Travis Myers, the adult son of Great Bend City Councilman Randy Myers, on suspicion of domestic battery of his brother Nathan, authorities said Thursday that they'd like to hear from anyone who may have seen people entering the house early that morning. In a Crime Stoppers announcement released this week, Police Chief ...
The vendor for Meals on Wheels in Great Bend, Hoisington and Ellinwood will change on Monday, but coordinators said the recipients can still count on the same home-delivered service. Central Kansas Medical Center has been the only vendor since the program started locally in February 1972. But because CKMC will change to St. Rose Ambulatory and Surgery Center May 1, it will no longer staff a complete kitchen, which is necessary ...
Saturday's Sunflower Spelling Bee will be a battle of champions, with the winners receiving medals, scholarships and other prizes, including the grand prize of a trip to the week-long national bee in Washington, D.C. Two former champions of the Great Bend Tribune's Sunflower Spelling Bee will be back - 2010 winner Matthew Wegner from Parsons and 2009 winner Clara Wicoff from Iola - but all 80 of the contestants registered for ...
Fire departments from Ellinwood and Great Bend responded to two separate vehicle fires on Tuesday and early Wednesday. Both caused major damage but no serious injuries. A hazardous materials crew was called to U.S. 56 at SE 150 Ave. after a 2006 Newmar truck caught on fire around 1 a.m. Wednesday. The Barton County Sheriff's Office reports Hazmat cleared burnt vehicle parts from the road. Driver David Craddock of Great ...
This year, severe weather testing had to be postponed - due to severe weather. It's not the first time. But this year, the severe weather was of the winter variety, not spring, so you just don't know what to expect in the Great Plains. That's part of the reason for Severe Weather Awareness Week, March 7 through March 11, to get people used to being ready to respond to weather threats. So today, at 1:30 ...
The Great Bend Tribune may be delayed reaching subscribers' homes this morning due to electricity issues. This morning's power outage began during the printing of today's edition. If you have not received your Tribune by 9 am this morning, please follow up with our office at 620-792-1211.
For the City of Great Bend and its Convention Center, it's back to square one – sort of.
People looking for full- or part-time work will have an opportunity to meet employers during Job Fest 2013, taking place from 4-7 p.m. Thursday at the Best Western Courtyard, 2920 10th St.
Saturday morning, leashes will be rattling and tails will be wagging all over the Great Bend area. Pooches will bound out the door and into the car as their owners make their way to Veterans Memorial Dog Park for the first ever Bark for Life Festival from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event, sponsored by local Relay for Life teams, precedes the annual event coming up on June 7.
This week marks the fourth-annual Senior Corps Week, an opportunity to thank Senior Corps volunteers for their service, said Donna Baugh, Volunteers in Action director. One way folks can become involved is by purchasing their Memorial Day flowers from the Retired Senior Volunteer Program this year. The flowers are on display at the RSVP office, 1025 Main, room D114 in Great Bend, and at the RSVP Thrift Store at 158 S. Main in Hoisington.
After an often heated exchange between Great Bend City Council Member Randy Myers and several fellow council members over his alleged ethics violations, Myers stood up and walked out of the governing body's Monday night meeting.
An investigator from the Kansas State Fire Marshal's office was in Great Bend Monday to determine the cause of a fire Sunday afternoon at 2011 Jackson St. It was one of several fire calls over the weekend, Great Bend Fire Chief Mike Napolitano said. Firefighters received the report of a basement fire at 4:37 p.m., at the house owned by James and Krissy Jackson. The first truck arrived to find heavy smoke and fire coming ...
It is fitting that Barton County celebrate Kansas Tourism Week this week, Great Bend Convention and Visitors Bureau Director Cris Collier told the County Commission Monday morning.
Three weeks ago, a fertilizer storage facility in West, Texas, not all that different from plants in many, small, rural communities, exploded. It killed 14 people, leveled much of the tiny town and rocked the nation.
The weather did not exactly cooperate, but Joe Hernandez and his friends didn't let it interrupt their celebration.
Gardeners may finally catch a break after unexpectedly cool weather last week. It's finally time to start digging and planting, and that means its the perfect time to think about soil health. For gardeners in Great Bend, the city provides plenty of rich dark compost free for the taking.
Gardeners may finally catch a break after unexpectedly cool weather last week. It's finally time to start digging and planting, and that means its the perfect time to think about soil health. For gardeners in Great Bend, the city provides plenty of rich dark compost free for the taking.
Students from 13 schools demonstrated their life skills and vocational abilities Friday during the Job Olympics at Great Bend High School's Panther Activity Center. This competition, open to any special education student in Kansas, is sponsored by the Barton County Transition Council and the Special Services Cooperative. Events at tables throughout the arena mimicked real job situations and life skills, such as food preparation, office work or automotive checking. There was event a contest for ...