The Red Line Cruisers 5th annual Cruise Night and Car Show will be held on Friday and Saturday, April 30 and May 1, in Plainville. The Car Club is excited to provide attendees with another great weekend of fun.

Preliminary estimates released March 26th by the Labor Market Information Services division of the Kansas Department of Labor and the Bureau of Labor Statistics show a significant drop in a seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for Rooks County of 3.1% for February 2021, down from 5% in January 2021 and 3.6% in December 2020.

The Heartland Community Foundation (HCF) raised $410,145 for Rooks, Ellis, and Trego counties during its fifthannual Twice As Nice campaign in February—surpassing its goal and earning all of the matching funds available from the Dane G. Hansen Foundation.

James Humphries was born in New York State 11 August 1836 (although later census records show his birth in England). Details of his early life are unknown.

On Easter Sunday the temperatures reached the 90-degree mark with sunny skies for a beautiful holiday, though the winds came up in the evening from the south, clocked at 20-25 mph. Monday the temperature reached the high 80s with sunny to partly cloudy skies with the winds coming from the south at 15-25 mph. Tuesday the wind blew from the SSE at 20-25 mph with partly sunny skies and the temperature reaching the mid 80s. The temperature took a downward turn on Wednesday with highs in the mid 50s and rain starting in the early morning hours and continuing throughout the day with an inch of accumulation. Thursday the sun was back out and temperatures reached into the mid 70s. Friday the temperature was in the high 60s with partly cloudy skies, a rainy afternoon and winds from the NNW at 20 mph. Saturday was sunny with a high of 73 degrees.

Custodian Zach Brown met with the Rooks County Commissioners on Tuesday, April 6th to present them with a bill from the Glassman Company for the unit they fixed on the fourth floor of the courthouse. The commissioners asked Brown to check on the yearly service agreement the County has with Glassman about the discounted hourly rate. After Brown had checked the agreement, the commissioners approved to pay the bill in the amount of $944.67.

Rooks County currently has no active cases of COVID-19 in the county. This week the absenteeism rate is at 0.0% above the baseline from 2019-2020. The positive testing rate is at 2.2% this week. If you are interested in getting on the list to receive the COVID- 19 vaccine, please call the Rooks County Health Department or your primary care physician.

The Stockton High School seniors enjoyed a class trip to Grand Lake, Colorado during the middle of March. They headed out very early in the morning at 2:00 a.m., on Thursday, March 18th with their first stop at a Trampoline Park in Denver. They spent the late morning hours at the facility before enjoying a lunch on their own. Snow sledding at Fraser was the choice of entertainment during the afternoon before they arrived to John Struckhoff’s cabin in Grand Lake. The cabin had been built in memory of John and Bobbi Basart’s son, Ryan, thus the name “Ryan’s Retreat.”

The 2021 annual Solomon Valley Pheasants Forever Banquet was held on Saturday, April 10th at the St. Thomas Parish Center in Stockton. To say the banquet was a success is putting it mildly since the event recorded a record crowd of 280 RSVPs with 345 people in attendance!