Kansas Diesel Sets Record as Drilling Slows

Remains Found in Missing Leawood Man’s Car

Cowley County Weighs Joining Evergy Route Case

Drought Leaves Dryland Corn for Cattle Grazing

Kansas Supreme Court Takes Arguments to Liberal

Kansas Diesel Sets Record as Drilling Slows

HAYS, Kan. — Kansas diesel averaged a record $5.91 a gallon while the national average reached $6.23 on Sept. 14, according to the Sept. 15 “News from the Oil Patch” report published by Great Bend Post and Hays Post. National diesel prices set records on all but one day of the preceding week. Independent Oil and Gas Service’s Kansas rig count was unchanged from the previous week but down 5% from a month earlier and 33% from a year earlier. Baker Hughes reported a national total of 591 active rigs, an increase of one oil rig and two gas rigs. Kansas crude production averaged 68,000 barrels a day in June, matching its year-to-date pace, although the weekly and monthly figures remain subject to revision. Higher diesel costs add to expenses for oil operators around Barton, Russell and Ellis counties and farmers harvesting corn and sorghum as Kansas drilling activity remains below last year’s pace.

Great Bend Post · Hays Post

Remains Found in Missing Leawood Man’s Car

LEAWOOD, Kan. — A car recovered from a neighborhood retention pond belonged to Jay Flekier, who was 59 when he disappeared in June 2016, Leawood police said Sept. 14. Echo Divers, a volunteer team that searches for missing people in bodies of water, located the vehicle over the weekend and confirmed the match after the police announcement. Skeletal remains were discovered inside after the car was raised, and the Johnson County Medical Examiner’s Office is working to identify them. Neither the identity of the remains nor a cause of death has been confirmed. Police said investigators had not suspected foul play in Flekier’s disappearance. The recovery provides new physical evidence in a Johnson County missing-persons case that has remained unresolved for more than a decade.

Johnson County Post · KCTV5 · FOX4

Cowley County Weighs Joining Evergy Route Case

WINFIELD, Kan. — Cowley County commissioners directed legal counsel Sept. 15 to research options for intervening in the Kansas Corporation Commission’s review of Evergy’s Buffalo Flats-to-Delaware transmission line, according to a summary of the meeting. Residents raised property-value, health and environmental concerns, and commissioners said limited county finances required finding affordable ways to support landowners and enforce mitigation commitments. Intervention would make the county a formal party, allowing it to present evidence and seek review of decisions affecting the unresolved eastern route. The proposed 345-kilovolt, roughly 133-mile Southwest Power Pool project would connect the Buffalo Flats substation near Garden Plain with the Delaware substation in Oklahoma, crossing western Sedgwick, Sumner, Cowley and Chautauqua counties. In May, regulators approved the route west of U.S. 77 in Cowley County but rejected the eastern segment because the evidence did not establish that route was reasonable. The commission ordered a new eastern routing study with strong consideration of following or paralleling U.S. 166 to reduce effects on the Flint Hills and oil and gas operations.

Cowley County meeting summary · Cowley County · Kansas Reflector · Cowley Post · KWCH

Cowley County Commission Summary

Week of September 16, 2026

citizen journalCronkite

Drought Leaves Dryland Corn for Cattle Grazing

LAKIN, Kan. — Southwest Kansas farmer Gary Millershaski estimates only 5% to 10% of the region’s dryland corn will be harvested for grain after heat and drought damaged the crop, Brownfield Ag News reported Sept. 14. He said much of the corn would become cattle pasture because it was too poor even for silage, the chopped and fermented crop used as livestock feed. Millershaski said repeated days above 110 degrees prevented pollination and left center-pivot irrigation unable to keep pace with evaporation on sandy soils. His estimate of a roughly 40% statewide production loss is not an official forecast; Brownfield cited USDA figures showing 29% of Kansas corn harvested and 42% rated good to excellent. Dryland corn depends on rainfall rather than irrigation, making drought especially consequential for western Kansas growers facing depletion of the Ogallala Aquifer. Turning damaged fields over to grazing can recover some feed value while sacrificing grain revenue, as reduced cattle inventories and elevated cattle prices complicate producers’ decisions.

Brownfield Ag News · Kansas City Fed · U.S. Wheat Associates

Kansas Supreme Court Takes Arguments to Liberal

LIBERAL, Kan. — The Kansas Supreme Court will hold a special evening session Sept. 22 at Liberal High School in Seward County, bringing a free public proceeding to southwest Kansas, KSCB News reported Sept. 15. Doors open at 5:30 p.m., an informational session runs from about 6:15 to 6:30 p.m., and oral arguments are scheduled from 6:30 to about 7:30 p.m. Justices will hear one case, Appeal No. 127,854, State of Kansas v. Douglas Moser, on a petition for review from Harvey County. According to the case summary, a sheriff’s deputy stopped Moser for a seat belt violation after a detective reported an outstanding warrant for his passenger. The appeal includes a challenge to how far officers extended the traffic stop, and the Supreme Court has not yet heard arguments or decided the case. The traveling session is part of the court’s outreach program, giving residents an opportunity to observe appellate arguments outside the Judicial Center in Topeka.

KSCB News

Sources

1. Great Bend Post / Hays Post
2. Johnson County Post / KCTV5 / FOX4
3. Cowley County meeting summary, Sept. 15, 2026 (supplied material) / Cowley County agenda / Kansas Reflector / Cowley Post / KWCH
4. Brownfield Ag News / Brownfield Ag News / Kansas City Fed / U.S. Wheat Associates
5. KSCB News

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