County commissioners voiced interest in recycling at their meeting Tuesday.  Of tires and electronics. That’s certainly a blow to local volunteers who for the last year have been pleading with city and county officials to…

Fresh from Monday’s ceremonial bill signing by Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly establishing the Lehigh Portland State Park, John Leahy told the Iola Kiwanis Club at its Tuesday meeting about the area’s history, the process that…

As Allen Countians continue to clear up damage from Friday’s storm, David Fontaine has set his sights on the Southwind Rail Trail. The hiking and biking trail that connects Iola and Humboldt has been closed…

Paul Showalter looked like a kid who had wandered into a candy store for the first time. Showalter, who hails from Shawnee, was paying his first-ever visit to the Lehigh Portland Trails in Iola, along…

Carter Warden, a fourth-grader at Iola Elementary School, admitted he was a little nervous to walk on the Lehigh Portland Trails on Monday morning. He’d never been on the trails before. “I don’t like snakes…

TOPEKA — Iola is officially home to Kansas’s 29th state park. Gov. Laura Kelly announced Wednesday morning she signed legislation creating the Lehigh Portland State Park on 360 acres of land at the south edge…

TOPEKA — Lehigh Portland is set to become Kansas’s 28th state park, fulfilling a dream 45 years in the making for local business representatives. The final legislative hurdles were cleared in short order Thursday when…

TOPEKA — A proposal to create a new state park in Iola took another big step forward Thursday when Kansas senators voted overwhelmingly in favor of what would become Lehigh Portland State Park. The Senate’s…

While it’s yet to be known whether legislators will designate Lehigh Portland State Park as Kansas’ 29th state park, the information gathering process has been a fruitful history lesson.  Many locals were unaware the lake,…

The Kansas House of Representatives is currently debating the merits of creating Lehigh Portland State Park.  To be honest, it’s a little unnerving to realize the park’s fate lies in the hands of our legislators,…