The Range

When we last talked with Lynn Hutchinson, a nurse working the COVID-19 intensive care unit at Ascension Via Christi St. Francis, it was July, and Sedgwick County was in the middle of its first big coronavirus wave.

"I think the last time I talked to you, I remember saying I wish I could get on my roof and yell, 'Wear your mask!'" Hutchinson recalled.

"Well, I apparently didn't yell loud enough."

If you’ve driven west on I-70, you’ve probably seen two church towers off in the distance, about 10 miles east of Hays in the tiny town of Victoria, Kansas.

If you haven’t been curious enough to stop and check it out, you should.

For more than 130 years, the Mahaney Group has helped build Wichita.

The company — better known as Mahaney Roofing until a name change in 2019 — has worked on many local landmarks, like Wichita High School (now called Wichita East) in 1923, and the original University of Wichita roundhouse in 1955.

These days, the company is earning a reputation for its work in helping to build people as well.

Over the last decade, the Mahaney Group has pursued a philosophy to assist employees who want to create a better life for themselves and their families.

Black Friday normally acts as the unofficial start to the holiday shopping season.

But 2020 upended that tradition ... like so many others.

When Hutton decided to build its new headquarters in the Delano District, it made a conscious decision to make it more than just a place to house its 50 or so Wichita employees.

"We thought if we're going to have a new office building, it should really be a showcase of not only our design skills, but our construction skills and all of the materials that we get to work with all over the place," said Ben Hutton, the company’s CEO.

People say that western Kansas is empty and flat — and maybe it seems that way when you’re racing along on I-70. But if you venture off the interstate there are some surprising places that defy the Kansas stereotype.

One such place is Little Jerusalem Badlands State Park, Kansas' newest state park.