News
USD 101 teams place high in state chess
Two of USD 101’s chess teams came home from the Kansas State Chess Championship with high placings in multiple divisions. The teams are from Erie High School and Galesburg Middle School. They practiced for Saturday’s competition for about seven months. The coaches for the teams are April Semrad, a teacher at Erie Elementary, and her husband, David. “These chess kids have a long season of seven months preparing for State and have worked very...
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Art Gallery dedicates wing to founder
Jimmy Potts Tribune Reporter The Chanute Art Gallery named its north wing after founder and former chairperson Elly McCoy during its grand reopening Sunday. The dedication comes at the heels of the gallery’s 40th anniversary and attracted numerous Chanute and Neosho County residents including Chanute Mayor Jim Chappell, who shared his experience working with McCoy. “We are honoring a young lady that has done a lot of work, spent lots of hours ...
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Bideau speaks on legislative issues
Joshua Vail Tribune Reporter Ed Bideau, Kansas Representative for the 9th district, spoke at the New Chicago Room on Saturday to give citizens of Chanute an update on Topeka and the Legislature. Bideau said one of the main reasons to hold the event Saturday is that the Legislature is in turnaround: all bills that started in the House must pass out of the House or lay dormant until the next session, and the House must deal with bills that sta...
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Humboldt wins Regional Journalism competition, Chanute places second
Humboldt High School journalism students earned first place in the Kansas Scholastic Press Association’s 3A/4A Regional competition Feb. 20 at Pittsburg State University. Humboldt earned a total of 84 sweepstakes team points. Coming in second was Chanute with 55 points while Pittsburg and Girard tied for third with 42 points each. Aubrey Maxton earned two firsts, in Advertising Design and Yearbook Layout. Sheri Middleton took firsts in Sports...
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Humboldt team takes Michelle’s Angels dodgeball tournament
Jimmy Potts Tribune Reporter After coming up short two years in a row, the Bonnie’s Angels Dodgeball team has the right to wear the coveted Michelle’s Angels tournament champion T-shirts. Although reeling from the state tournament loss by its high school basketball team, the city of Humboldt can salvage a bit of pride with Bonnie’s Angels, named for a Humboldt woman who died of breast cancer, bringing home a championship with a narrow victory...
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Federal judge blocks injunction of water restrictions
Jimmy Potts Tribune Reporter The City of Chanute’s restriction on water usage remains in effect after a district court judge rejected a petition for injunction filed by representatives of the South Town Car Wash. U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten denied a motion by Attorney Molly M. Gordon, who represents the car wash owner Cody Mummert, for an injunction to allow the car wash to operate during normal business hours while Mummert and the C...
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Mr. Morse goes to Topeka: County Road and Bridge Director questions governor
Jimmy Potts Tribune Reporter ERIE — Neosho County Road and Bridge Director Charlie Morse got his chance to finally discuss his displeasure of recently proposed legislation directly to Gov. Sam Brownback. Morse approached Brownback to voice his opinion of House Bill 2285, which seeks to redefine what constitutes real and personal property. “I cornered him about the machinery and equipment bill,” Morse said. “He played really stupid and acted l...
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City to vote on pseudoephedrine ban
Jimmy Potts Tribune Reporter Chanute City Commissioners will vote Monday on an ordinance that would force residents to obtain a prescription for common cold medicines. Commissioners will hear a presentation by Parsons Police Department officials Monday regarding a similar ordinance passed by the Parsons City Commission and the effects Chanute’s unregulated pseudoephedrine has on Parsons. Commissioners planned to vote on the ordinance during t...
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Insurance, state legislation on minds of historic committee members
Jimmy Potts Tribune Reporter Establishment of an historical district in downtown Chanute hit another snag with area businesses worried whether creating the district would increase insurance costs. The Historic Downtown Revitalization Committee sought to discover if that would be the case, but found themselves with more questions than answers after Ross T. Hendrickson and Dave Robinson of MRH Insurance Group could not attend a question-and-ans...
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Chanute man sentenced 30 months for selling meth
Charles Garber, 57, Chanute, who was convicted in December 2012 of the sale of methamphetamine, was sentenced Wednesday to 30 months in prison. Garber’s court appointed defense attorney, Steven Staker, unsuccessfully presented motions for acquittal and a new trial on the grounds of insufficient evidence. The charge of sale of methamphetamine arose from a controlled buy that was made by a confidential informant, Danny Fox, on Nov. 22, 2010. Th...
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Sequestration impacts loom over mass transit
Jimmy Potts Tribune Reporter Neosho County residents reliant on mass transit may have trouble ahead with possible cuts to Southeast Kansas Community Action Program (SEK-CAP) due to federal sequestration. For disabled residents such as Bob Erickson of Chanute, whose diagnosis of diabetic neuropathy left him wheelchair-bound and unable to drive due to weakened nerves in his back and hands, SEK-CAP’s transportation program enables him to attend ...
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Erie High School hosts famous play about Holocaust rescuer
Joshua Vail Tribune Reporter Erie High School’s personalized learning program will be hosting a famous performance next week. Life in a Jar, a play based on the life of Irena Sendler, a catholic polish woman who rescued Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto in 1942-43, will be performed 7 p.m. March 14 at the Erie High School auditorium. According to the project’s website, the title comes from the fact that Sendler rescued children from the ...
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SkyWatch Weather Tour stops in Chanute
The first stop of the KOAM-TV and FOX 14 SkyWatch Weather Tour is Tuesday, March 12 at NCCC Gymnasium on the campus of Neosho County Community College. The tour is hosted by the stations’ chief meteorologist, Doug Heady, and features severe weather video and safety precautions. A weather expo featuring services, vendors and products to help keep people safe during severe weather begins at 5 p.m. The weather show begins at 7 p.m. with repre...
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During Red Cross Month, honor everday heroes who help communities
During Red Cross Month, the American Red Cross recognizes the nation’s Everyday Heroes who give of themselves and in some way help their community. Mindy Kimrey and Aaron Phillips are Service Center Managers of the American Red Cross Service Centers in southeast Kansas. “We thank our heroes during Red Cross Month – our volunteers, blood donors, financial supporters, and the news media that helps us to get the word out. When they answer a call...
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Applications roll in as Recreation Commission discusses new superintendent
Jimmy Potts Tribune Reporter The Chanute Recreation Commission (CRC) found itself inundated with resumes for its vacant superintendent position with more than 24 applicants. During Wednesday’s CRC work session, the commission spent most of the meeting in executive session to narrow down the number of applicants to fill the position left vacant after the CRC did not renew the contract of former Superintendent Mark Schoelmehl in January. “We go...
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CHS students to perform 1940s classic 
Connie Woodard USD 413 public relations The oddities among the characters in the classic Arsenic and Old Lace are giving students at Chanute High School a chance to test the range of their talents and have fun with this dark drama to be performed Friday and Saturday nights in the CHS auditorium. The play, written by Joseph Kesselring and opened in New York in 1941, and was later made into a film starring Cary Grant. It has been described as a...
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Search continues for suspect Shields Investigators are still looking for Brian Shields, wanted on charges of first degree (felony) murder and aggravated burglary
Search continues for suspect Shields Investigators are still looking for Brian Shields, wanted on charges of first degree (felony) murder and aggravated burglary. Please forward any information to the Chanute Police Department at (620) 431-5768 Michelle Voorhees, facing identical charges, was arrested Feb. 14. She had her first appearance in court and a status hearing is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. March 26 in Chanute. Bideau to hold Town Hall...
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NCCC production opens Friday
Joshua Vail Tribune Reporter “The Triumph of Love,” a Neosho County Community College theatre production and the third in the season, opens Friday at the Memorial Auditorium. The play runs Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are $5 for general admission, free for current NCCC students, faculty and staff. Emily Kasprzak, NCCC theatre instructor and director, said “The Triumph of Love” is a French Restoration comedy o...
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Four Seasons tribute band at Iola Bowlus
IOLA — For the last four years, The Unexpected Boys have amazed audiences and garnered international acclaim as the top Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons tribute act in the world. On Saturday at 7:30 p.m. the group will take the stage at Bowlus Fine Arts Center. The quartet has headlined in such cities and venues as The Atlantis Hotel and Resort in Dubai, Formula One Singapore, The Pentagon, Yankee Stadium. They have also opened for Diana ...
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Ewen Motor receives help to relocate to Parsons
PARSONS — An Erie used vehicle dealership will get $5,000 from the city of Parsons to relocate to the east side of Flynn Industrial Park near North 16th Street. The Parsons City Commission approved an economic development incentive package for Ewen Motor Co. on a 4-1 vote during its Monday evening meeting. Ewen will move its dealership from 306 S. Grant in Erie to land near Kansas Tire and Wheel Co. Ewen Motor owners Scott and Gloria Ewen req...
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