INDEPENDENCE — Commissioner Tony Fowler was reappointed as chairman of the Montgomery County Commission on Monday, even though Fowler indicated reluctance to accept the reappointment.

At the commission’s annual reorganization meeting, commissioner Fred Brown nominated Fowler to serve another one-year term as commission chairman. Commissioner Larry McManus was absent from the meeting, thereby leaving the motion’s approval on the shoulders of Fowler.

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BY ANDY TAYLOR
chronicle@taylornews.org

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — An agreement has been reached in a federal lawsuit filed by a California production company against the Little House on the Prairie, Inc., an Independence-based organization that operates a historical attraction by the same name.

The agreement between Friendly Family Productions, LLC., and the Little House on the Prairie, Inc., was reached in November 2009 but will not be made official until early February when representatives of the two parties sign final settlement papers.
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BY ANDY TAYLOR
chronicle@taylornews.org

When the Downtown Coffeyville association was formed two years ago, among their goals was to create an inviting warmth to the downtown business district.

Goal number one: get rid of the “Do Not Enter” signs that lined Patterson Avenue.
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BY ANDY TAYLOR
chronicle@taylornews.org

A Coffeyville resident appealed to city commissioners Tuesday to allow “extinuating circumastances” to be the reason that a 28-year employee of the city’s electrical department can live a few miles in Labette County.

Cody Mummert of Coffeyville urged commissioners to allow his brother-in-law, Ray Robinson, who serves as a foreman in the city’s electrical department, to continue to be employed by the city as he lives on p Read more

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Television station KSPR has announced that Caney native Bridget Lovelle has been named news director of the Springfield-based station.

Lovelle has been assistant news director at ABC24/CW30 in Memphis, Tenn., for the past seven years.
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BY ANDY TAYLOR
chronicle@taylornews.org

INDEPENDENCE — Ron Denney, executive director of the Four County Mental Health Center, said Monday that he was retiring from his position in April.

But, he also said that his final months of the job may prove to be the most difficult and challenging in his almost 40 years in mental health services.

Denney, along with FCMHC deputy director Greg Hennen, spoke to Montgomery County commissioners about the continued reductions in state funds for mental health services across Kansas. Gov. Mark Parkinson in November announced another round of cutbacks, including a 10 percent reduction in Medicaid payments to all medical care providers, including primary care providers, hospitals, nursing homes and mental health services. The reductions were created as a result of a continued budget crisis that could put the state of Kansas as much as $392 million in the red by the end of the fiscal 2010 year.
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BY ANDY TAYLOR
chronicle@taylornews.org

INDEPENDENCE — An Independence Community College official cleared the air Tuesday regarding comments made at Monday’s ICC trustee meeting about a possible turf war existing between two departments over the recruitment of students.

Peggy Forsberg, dean of instruction, said in a telephone interview Tuesday no policy exists prohibiting the ICC theatre program and the Inge Center for the Arts from recruiting students to each other’s programs. The recruitment issue — and the allegation that Forsberg had directed the college theatre department and Inge center to avoid recruitment of students to each other’s program — was revealed during an inquiry by trustee Tim Emert at Monday’s ICC trustee meeting.

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National Influenza Vaccination Week is being heralded this week (Jan. 10-16) as a reminder for citizens to get an influenza shot.
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CANEY — Noon Tuesday, Jan. 26, is the deadline for Caney residents to file for one of four city council positions that will be decided in the spring 2010 election cycle.
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