LATEST NEWS

KINGMAN, Kan. – Work will start soon on two related pavement patching and pavement marking projects on U.S. 54 in Kingman County. The Kansas Department of Transportation projects will be on the same portion of U.S. 54: from the Pratt County line east to the west Ninnescah River bridge. The length is about 5.4 miles.

Strong winds with gusts over 40 miles per hour pushed a grass fire in Kingman County Monday. Kingman County Dispatch confirmed around 10 p.m. that the fire has been put out.

PRESTON, Kan. (WIBW) - Three people, including a minor, were pronounced dead following a head-on collision on a southern Kansas highway. The Kansas Highway Patrol Crash Log indicates that around 2:50 p.m. on Friday, March 17, emergency crews were called to the area of mile marker 15.5 on northbound K-61 highway - about 2 miles north of Preston - with reports of a 2-vehicle collision.

Strong wind is to blame for causing a couple of large grass fires, in Kingman County and in Riley County. The Kingman County fire started near Highway 54 and 110th Road and spread north. Thee fire was three miles long and three miles wide and burned about 1,500 acres. The...

The Beaver wrestling program wrapped up a historic season earlier this month by finishing national runner-up at the NJCAA Men’s Wrestling Championships. The team came back to Pratt not only national runner-up, but with five All-Americans and two national qualifiers. Both Jason Henschel and Easton Taylor were national qualifiers and finished runner-up in their respective weight classes. Along with them Cayleb Atkin, Christian Robinson and Devon Dawson were all awarded NJCAA All-Americans for the 2023 season. Atkins finished third, Robinson finished in fifth place, and Dawson finished second.

Nonprofit receives Helping Hand after stepping up for seniors in need of housing. A Wichita nonprofit, Empowered Senior, stepped up to help residents and their families through the process of finding new homes. Half-century-old building in Ellis County getting new life as bar. Updated: 4 hours ago. Ryan and Brianne...

Monday’s strong winds sparked several wildfires across Kansas Monday afternoon. Crews battled a 3 mile long and 3 mile wide grass fire that began in northern Kingman County and spread into southern Reno County. Officials said the blaze broke out near US-54 and 110th Ave. The Kingman County Emergency...

No worries. Golden Belt Beef's close on Monday and Tuesday, March 20-21, is just a temporary one. In the long run, the closure will benefit the company and customers as a new, bigger store is constructed at the current location of 1105 N. U.S. Highway 281 in St. John. Tessa Lickiss with Golden Belt Beef said the store will otherwise remain open during construction.

Grass fires on both ends of Pratt County kept firefighters busy on Monday, March 20, as high winds whipped small sparks into a frenzy. Crews from Township 12, Preston and Iuka fought a large grassfire one half mile north and approximately three miles east of Iuka along the Iuka/Preston blacktop.

PRESTON, Kan. (KAKE) - A head-on crash on K61 in Pratt County has killed two adults and a child on Friday afternoon. The Kansas Highway Patrol says that shortly before 3 p.m. two cars hit each other head-on on K61. Authorities say that 32-year-old William Stevens was heading south when he crossed the center line and hit 30-year-old Joshua Townsell. Stevens, Townsell and a juvenile traveling with Townsell were all pronounced dead at the scene.

USD 243 Lebo-Waverly has a new superintendent beginning next week. Duane Ford, principal at Lebo, will be the acting superintendent after Corey Reese was named the new superintendent at Stafford on Monday. Reese says the opportunity to become the next superintendent at Stafford came quickly. Ford moves into the superintendent...

The Pratt High School boys’ golf team has recently begun their 2023 season. While they lost several players with varsity experience, the team is determined to succeed through utilizing Greenback grit. This year, there are 15 kids out for golf. These are split among 2 freshmen, 6 sophomores, 4...

The Beaver tennis team left campus on Saturday, March 11 with the ultimate destination of Phoenix, AZ. The first stop was in Liberal, KS for the team’s first conference matchup of the season against Seward County. The Beaver men’s team knocked off the defending national champions 6-3. On the women’s side the team fought hard but were defeated 9-0.

Hamm Auction of Pratt has been known to sell everything from collectible glassware, to furniture, Corvette cars, homes and farm land. On Saturday, March 25, John Hamm and company will head east of Pratt a few miles to conduct a long-time traditional farm machinery consignment auction. With more than 87...

The unsafe structure at 720 South Jackson was once again at the center of discussion at Pratt’s city meeting on March 6. Previously, Ray Gould had requested and received an extension from the original December 29 deadline to a new deadline of March 20 to have the building torn down. The extension had been necessary because he was working with John Hamm to get valuables out of the structure so they could be auctioned off.

The Pratt Faith Partnership continues to sponsor community lenten luncheons. All meals will be at Pratt First UMC, Main and First Streets, beginning at 11:45 a.m. Different churches are responsible for the message each week. All proceeds from the free-will offering go to benefit the Hope Center. Learn about drip...

Julia Needham of Macksville, Kansas is planning a Project Linus Make a Blanket Day for April 8 in Pratt. Needham is callling all blanteteers to the Pratt Community Center, 619 Main Street from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. to join together to make blankets for kids. “Please bring any blanket...

Member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was about 127 B.C. and king Benjamin was speaking to the descendants of a group of Jews who had been led out of and far from the doomed Jerusalem of 600 B.C. They had grown into a large and prosperous people, and king Benjamin, knowing that he would soon die, had called them together to teach them the ways of righteousness and to appoint a new king.

From the looks of things, Thursday auctions at Pratt Livestock are going on as usual with truckloads coming in, cattle of various sizes and ages crossing the scales, buyers on cell phones, auctioneers singing out prices and catching bids, gates clanging, whips snapping, and all the smells wafting through the sale barn that go with success. But underneath it all lies an anxiety that no one can deny.

March 18 – On Saturday, March 18, the Faith-Based Security Network is putting on a violence awareness event in Pratt. The topic will focus on being preparing for violence, when and where it is least expected. See details and registration to this event at the Pratt Free Methodist Church on http:/events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event.