western Kansas

GARDEN CITY, Kansas — A legal dispute between two business partners has stalled the construction of a sports complex partially funded by $25.4 million in sales tax money.

That fight over finances, and the pending lawsuit it spawned, could jeopardize the completion of Sports of the World. The project is financed by Kansas Sales Tax Revenue Bonds, or STAR bonds, and championed as a regional tourist draw for western Kansas.

GARDEN CITY, Kansas — The continuing spread of COVID-19 among workers who slaughter livestock and package meat poses a growing threat to keeping the industry’s plants in operation.

Already, the coronavirus temporarily shut down a pork-processing plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and a beefpacking facility in Greeley, Colorado. 

Now in the cattle slaughterhouses of southwest Kansas, both National Beef Packing Co. and Cargill Inc. have confirmed cases of the coronavirus among workers at their plants in Dodge City and Liberal. 

GARDEN CITY, Kansas — All of Western Kansas has just one shelter for children who are in protective custody or are victims of sex trafficking. The new shelter isn’t taking kids yet, because it’s waiting on its license, but local officials say those 14 beds are needed.

GARDEN CITY, Kansas — The census determines more than the number of congressional districts in a state. The number of responses impacts child care, too. 

Eighteen of Kansas’ 105 counties don’t have infant or toddler child care available, according to Child Care Aware Kansas. It uses census data to calculate the state’s child care needs, and every year, the demand grows. 

“Each year it just continues to really become a little bleaker — especially in rural areas,” said Leadell Ediger, executive director of Child Care Aware Kansas. 

GARDEN CITY, Kansas — In 2017, an estimated 38,000 kids in Kansas didn’t have health insurance. That’s according to data recently released by the Kansas Health Institute.

The highest rates of uninsured kids live in the western and southwestern quadrants of the state, but large numbers of uninsured children also reside in the state’s more populous counties. The lack of Medicaid expansion could be contributing to the issue, but experts say it’s likely not the only reason.

GARDEN CITY, Kansas — A welding torch caused August’s fire at a Tyson meatpacking plant in western Kansas.

The Garden City Fire Department investigated the fire at the Holcomb plant and completed a report on Oct. 13, saying the fire was unintentional and likely started because a welding torch produced a “spark, ember or flame.”

GARDEN CITY, Kansas — Tens of millions of years ago, an inland sea covered parts of western Kansas. Today, chalk columns measuring 70 to 100 feet high tower above the arid terrain in Kansas’ newest state park.

A former southwest Kansan’s play is Broadway-bound.

As The Hutch News reports, 31-year-old Shane Howard grew up on the dry high plains of western Kansas, where he tapped a reservoir of inspiration for his play, “In Pursuit of Peace,” for the upcoming Broadway Bound Theater Festival in New York City.

Howard told The Hutch News the play has a western Kansas theme.

“This is a love story between a father and son, and how they deal with their relationship,” he said.

Garden City’s Big Pool is featured in a time-lapse video by the Wichita Eagle, showcasing its recent transformation.

Garden City artist Justin Brown recently gave the Big Pool’s bathhouse a facelift of sorts, spending day and night spray-painting a multi-colored mural on the exterior of the building that includes an abstract lion and elephant, a bird that appears to be emerging from blue and purple ocean waves, as well as a brightly-colored beach ball.

The western Kansas horse that ran in Saturday’s Kentucky Derby finished in eighth place.

As The Wichita Eagle reports, McCraken, owned by Leoti’s Janis Whitham, finished eighth after going off at 6-1 – the third best odds of the 20 horses that ran in the coveted race. 

After starting in the 15th gate, the three-year-old broke to the middle of the pack but never had a spurt to get to the front.

Some of Kansas’s lesser known wonders are being featured on the Smithsonian Channel's 'Aerial America.’

One of those wonders is the chalk towers in western Kansas, featured in a four-minute video on the Smithsonian Channel's website, which describes how they were formed.

According to the video, the badlands, located in Gove County, were under a vast, inland sea where billions of creatures lived, died and left their bodies on the ocean floor in ancient layers of chalk.

A Microsoft data center’s electricity will be powered by a wind farm being constructed in western Kansas.

A Texas financial institution is moving to purchase a bank with several branches in eastern Colorado and western Kansas. Triumph Bancorp, Inc. of Dallas is set to acquire Colorado East Bank & Trust, reports The Greeley Tribune.

A Texas financial institution is moving to purchase a bank with several branches in eastern Colorado and western Kansas. Triumph Bancorp, Inc. of Dallas is set to acquire Colorado East Bank & Trust, reports The Greeley Tribune.

From ruralhousewives.com:

There’s something different about this place and I enjoy it very much. The atmosphere, the people, the way of life…it’s just nice. Maybe I like it so much because I’m not from here? Maybe because I’ve lived in the city so I have that point of view as well. Either way, I want to share why I love Western Kansas so much!

Chuck Bonner and Barbara Shelton have been collecting fossils in Western Kansas for years. They run a small gallery in a tiny limestone church 18 miles north of Scott City on US 83. But the number of people who have a chance to see their collection is about to grow—by about 52 million people.