n The Hillsboro City Council approved having a fireworks display as part of the city-wide celebration of the completion of the Main Street renovation project. Fireworks are otherwise limited by ordinance to the Fourth of July and New Year’s holidays.
n After two years of reconstruction, Kansas Highway 150 from U.S. 56 at Marion to U.S. Highway 50 at Elmdale will reopen Friday just in time for the Labor Day weekend. The cost of the new 17-mile roadway is around $25 million.
n Mike Gardner, assistant football coach and defensive coordinator at Tabor College, was selected as an AFLAC National Assistant Coach of the Year. He was one of 500 assistant coaches chosen among 300,000 candidates nationwide.
n Volleyball coaches in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference have picked Tabor College to “three-peat” as conference champions this season in a preseason poll. The Bluejays received seven of 10 first-place votes.
n The presence of miniature buffalo statues around downtown Canton is proving to be an effective way to announce and promote the nearby Maxwell Wildlife Refuge. The concrete herd, developed by the Friends of Canton, initially included six statues, each of which stand 34 inches tall.
n Marion County Sheriff Lee Becker met with the county commission to voice frustration about staff shortages while dealing with public questions about cuts in his department’s budget that could have funded a deputy and a car.
n Calling the situation “a mess,” members of the Florence City Council expressed concern about the new four-way stop at the intersection of U.S. highways 50 and 77 on the city’s edge. Some council members said they have seen semi trucks running the stop signs.
