Distribution will start Thursday of the spring Iola Reads selection, “Our Boys,” about the Smith Center, Kan., High School football team.  Jeff Kluever, Allen County Historical Society director, will give a tutorial on the sport,…

Charlotte Hope joined her sister, Emmaline Rose, 2, and her parents, John and Kara Cunningham, Wichita, on Dec. 26, 2011. She weighed 5 pounds, 14 ounces and was 18 1/2 inches long Maternal grandparents are…

Ruth Adella Schulze Sellman, 97, died Friday, Dec. 30, 2011, at Simi Valley Hospital, Simi Valley, Calif. She had been living in Simi Valley with her daughter, Gloria, for several years.  She was born March…

Gary Dean Brown, age 69, of Independence, Mo., went to be with the Lord on Sunday, Dec. 25, 2011, at 7:20 p.m. He was a born-again Christian baptized at Ridgeview Baptist Church Sept. 7 in…

Dennis Clair and Mary Lynn Beaman, Spring Hill, celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary on New Year’s Day. Dennis Beaman and Mary Leedy were married Jan. 1, 1952, in Tonganoxie. Dennis grew up in Elsmore and…

Donald and Judy Helman, Iola, will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary at a reception from 2 to 4 p.m. Jan. 15 at 501 E. Rock in Iola. Donald Helman and Judy Butler were married Jan.…

Gary and Judy Manbeck will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary at an open house hosted by their children and grandchildren from 2 to 4 p.m. Jan. 15 at the First United Methodist Church in Chanute.…

Kansas Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger asked federal regulators to give Kansas a waiver from regulations requiring health insurance companies to spend at least 80 percent of premium income on health care. She wanted the waiver,…

Ben Womelsdorf, a Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism agent, has opportunities to see first hand more wild critters than most folks. Even so, he was enthralled a few days ago when duck hunting…

For stay-at-home moms, raising children can sometimes be a lonely time. “You forget there’s life outside your walls,” said Jennifer Coltrane, a young mother of three. “And how important social connections are,” said Casiee Wolfe,…