St. Luke Hospital’s chief executive asked Marion City Council members Monday to use rezoning to discourage outside medical facilities from establishing competing facilities that might siphon off services the hospital depends on that to subsidize other services. Alex Haines said that when more profitable procedures are done elsewhere, the hospital must survive on income from services that make less profit. “I think it’s very important for both the hospital and the city,” Haines said. Source: Marion County RECORD

Several residents of the southwest portion of the county are objecting to a proposed expansion of Sunflower Wind farm. Quentin Guhr, who lives east of Goessel, spoke to county commissioners Monday about his concerns. “Our current decommissioning regulations say enough of the turbine’s base is to be removed so 18 inches of soil can be placed over it and reseeded with native grass,” Guhr said. “As some of you may know, and any farmer will tell you, 18 inches is not enough soil over concrete to grow a crop.” Regulations say that any more than 18 inches is to be negotiated [...]

Christopher King, co-owner of CK Vintage in downtown Peabody, has a long background in performance. He started as an actor, then gravitated to director. He has been working with other Sunflower Repertory organizers for months getting things ready for the magic of a dinner theater in Peabody. The first production will be “I Do! I Do!” The show is a comedic look at the ups and downs of marriage. Source: Marion County RECORD

“Peter and the Wolf” and “Appalachian Spring” will be performed Sunday in the final installment of Sunflower Theatre’s 2023-2024 concert series. The Wichita Symphony performance will be 3 p.m. at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, 213 E Division Ave., Peabody. “Peter and the Wolf” is a musical story for orchestra and narrator that introduces individual instruments in the orchestra while the narrator tells the story. The symphony also will perform "Appalachian Spring," an American ballet by choreographer Martha Graham and composer Aaron Copland. Collaborating for the concert are Sunflower Theatre, Wichita State University, and Barlett Arboretum. Light refreshments will be served after [...]

Hillsboro schools will get infrastructure improvements after a 464-59 vote Tuesday to approve a $13.35 million bond issue. Among items to be funded will be a tornado shelter, heating and air conditioning upgrades, a new stage and auditorium sound system, new plumbing, secured entrances, new gym bleachers and new fire alarms, new roofs, and a greenhouse. Source: Marion County RECORD

County commissioners voted Monday to prohibit noisy data centers for development of cryptocurrency. Although nobody has submitted an application to build a facility, the resolution officially withdraws applications from consideration until the planning and zoning board develops regulations. Operations require great amounts of electricity, and computer cooling fans create noise, commissioner Dave Crofoot said. He said the amount of electricity required could cause shortages for the rest of the county. Source: Marion County RECORD

Evergy wants to buy 19% of Marion Reservoir’s conservation pool water to use for cooling basins at Wolf Creek nuclear power plant near Burlington. “That has never happened before,” Lisa Suderman, vice chairman of the Neosho Regional Advisory Committee, told county commissioners Monday. The state owns the water in the reservoir. That’s why the request was directed to the state, she said.... Suderman suggested that the county, cities, and Marion County residents who have a stake in Marion Reservoir water meet to discuss getting a retention agreement. A retention agreement applies not to drawing water out of the reservoir but to [...]

Hillsboro property owners who want privacy fences along their side yards can now have them, but people who own agricultural land annexed into the city can no longer claim an agricultural exemption to city regulations. Those changes to city ordinance were made Tuesday during Hillsboro’s city commission meeting. Source: Marion County RECORD

Little Tampa might not be a shopping mecca, but it does have items its residents need. That’s why county commissioner David Mueller’s work for his home community, once a stop on the Santa Fe Trail, caught the eye of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University. Muller was subject of a Kansas Profile article by the center last week. Tampa’s Santa Fe Trail Café, operated for the last six years by Pat Dalke and her daughter, Ashley Thornhill, serves lunch every day except Saturday and offers a chicken fried steak meal on Sundays. Source: Marion County [...]

Two Marion City Council members said Monday that they wouldn’t want to see a shipping container home go up next to their own houses. That was in response to a plan by Elite Container Homes to build a home out of two shipping containers at 201 N. Freeborn St. Felix Ramirez, who owns three shipping container homes in Hillsboro that he rents on Airbnb, is one half of Elite Container. His partner, Dustin Burke, joined him at the council meeting. ... A zoning change would be necessary because current regulations don’t allow people to live in shipping containers in Marion, according [...]