Emergency responders, representing rescue, ambulance service, police and fire department parked their vehicles and fire gear outside of Hillsboro City Hall to commemorate the Sept. 11 attack on New York City, Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001

Hillsboro will be receiving a $600,000 grant to have a bypass lane and turn lane added at the intersection of U.S. Highway 56 and Indus­trial Road a secondary road that leads to two major distributors and Hillsboro Community Hospital. The grant was part of the $15 million package that KDOT divided across 30 projects through its City Connec­ting Link Improvement […]

The Hillsboro City Coun­cil spent a good portion of its Sept. 5 meeting discussing the parameters of a debt-management policy for the city. City Administrator Larry Paine said the discussion would be timely, given the probability of separate bond issues for upcoming street projects and water-line projects. Councilor Brent Driggers had surfaced the debt issue several meetings earlier when the […]

The communities of Hillsboro and Marion are gearing up for their art shows on Saturday. City crews from both towns contribute a lot to their success. HILLSBORO by Don Ratzlaff The Free Press If it takes a village to raise a child, it certainly takes a community to support a successful arts and crafts fair. Saturday’s annual event takes care […]

Angie Zaragoza, right, holds a fan as she watches daughter Analia, 6, and Charlie Major, one of the volunteers, loading items into the Zaragoza’s bus which left for Austin, Texas, Tuesday night. After packing up the vehicle, about 10 children took time to enjoy painting polka dots and biblical references on the sides and top of the bus. One Hillsboro […]

Vandals used spray paint to deface this portion of the Ebenfeld Mennonite Brethren Church facility four miles southeast of Hillsboro on Kanza Road, which was discovered Friday morning. At least four youth, age 15 to 19, will be formally charged for similar incidents in Goessel and Hillsboro, according to Sheriff Robert Craft. Business owners, school officials and a few residents […]

The Hillsboro City Coun­cil during a brief special meeting approved the 2018 budget, which calls for $795,647 in 2017 ad valorem taxes. While the county determines the official mill levy for municipalities based on valuation, the city’s estimated levy for 2018 will be 44.5 mills, an increase of just under 1.8 mills. The budget was essentially approved at the council’s […]

After about a 30-minute budget hearing at its Aug. 21 meeting, Marion County commissioners voted 2-1 to approved a 1.5 mill increase for the 2018 budget. Commission chair Randy Dallke and Commissioner Kent Becker voted in favor, Commissioner Dianne No­vak voted against it. A week earlier, Novak had asked Dallke and Becker if they would review the bud­get one more […]

The Labor Day parade is one of the popular events for the Florence Labor Day celebration. It begins at 11 a.m. Monday with Edmond and Carolyn Spencer serving as grand marshals. The 80th annual Florence Labor Day Celebration is less than a week away, offering people a way to end summer than by attending a family-friendly festival featuring music, games, […]

Fifth-graders (foreground) Jace VanWart (left), Emery Dalke (right) and classmate Luke Isaac (behind VanWart) gaze at the solar eclipse through protective glasses. Students tracked the eclipse by watching the sun for a few minutes at a time. During the break, Ava Case and Cassidy Bernhardt (lower left) and the rest of the group were asked to draw a picture of […]