Author Archives: Chuck Samples
FLOODS: List of Lyon County road openings continues to grow Tuesday
Lyon County's road network is getting closer to being fully reopened. That's largely thanks to the Lyon County Highway Department which has been hard at work removing barricades from various county ro...
Jun 08, 2025 Row crops remain flooded in pockets south of Emporia after heavy rainfall last week. Chuck Samples/KVOE News.
FLOODS: Kansas Department of Transportation reopens Kansas Highway 99 South of Emporia Saturday afternoon
Kansas Highway 99 south of Emporia is back open to traffic. The Kansas Department of Transportation reopened the roadway for the first time since midweek after torrential rainfall led to major floodin...
Jun 07, 2025
EMPORIA DRUG BUST: Benitez dismissed as defendant in federal meth distribution case
At least one of the six defendants in a federal methamphetamine distribution case with a hub in Emporia has been dismissed from the case. Elizabeth Benitez had been charged with one count of distribut...
Jun 07, 2025 US Department of Justice logo.
Sewer line repair project underway near Emporia's Bunge plant; planned water outage affects Prairie between 15th and 18th
Part of a residential street near Emporia's Bunge crush facility is closed to thru traffic as part of a sanitary sewer repair. The city shut down East between Sixth and the Burlington Northern Santa F...
Jun 06, 2025 City of Emporia logo.
CareArc's WIC department ends Friday hours due to federal budget cuts
Unspecified federal funding cuts are leading to adjusted hours at CareArc's Women, infants and Children program. WIC Director Diana Moore says there will be no services available on Fridays until furt...
Jun 06, 2025 Kansas WIC logo.
FLOOD: Warning for Neosho River extended through Monday
While river levels are dropping, the length of one flood warning is extending. The National Weather Service has extended a flood warning for the Neosho River at Neosho Rapids until late Monday morning...
Jun 06, 2025 Drivers are reminded it is illegal to drive around barricades on roads and are asked not to drive through flooded roadways if they come across them. KVOE News file photo.
Drought ends areawide
It took a foot or more of rainfall over nearly three weeks, but drought has ended across the entire KVOE listening area. The US Drought Monitor shows no drought of any level for Lyon and surrounding c...
Jun 05, 2025 US Drought Monitor map.
12th and Prairie open, 18th and Prairie closed as waterline project nears finish line
One intersection is now open as Emporia's 24th and Prairie waterline replacement project nears the end. Another one, however, is closed. As City Engineer Jim Ubert mentioned on KVOE's Morning Show thi...
Jun 05, 2025 Chuck Samples/KVOE News.
Olpe man arrested on suspicion of burglarizing cell phone tower in Chase County during May incident
Formal charges are pending against an Olpe man for allegedly burglarizing a cell phone tower in Chase County last month. The Chase County Sheriff's Office says the alleged incident happened near 50th ...
Jun 05, 2025 Jeremy Cox. Lyon County Jail photo.
Preliminary hearings scheduled after Saturday's alleged law enforcement pursuit ending in Emporia
Preliminary hearings are now on the Lyon County docket for two Emporians accused of leading a law enforcement pursuit that led to one Lyon County deputy being hurt this past weekend. Kaitlynn Mundell ...
Jun 05, 2025 Kaitlynn Mundell (left), Preston Ashburn. Lyon County Jail photos.
