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Greeson: Bonuses fall within grant guidelines

ROBERT PIERCE • Leader & Times A large portion of the discussion around the 13-mill increase over the Revenue Neutral Rate for Seward Coun...

United Ways of Kansas announces Dorsey as new state director...

United Ways of Kansas The United Ways of Kansas Board of Directors are pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Jessica Dorsey as the new State ...

City looking to help with local food needs

ELLY GRIMM • Leader & Times Many individuals and families are facing some degree of food insecurity in recent times, and the City of Liber...

Benefits in line? County chair says benefits are similar

EARL WATT • Leader & Times At the recent Seward County Commission meeting, Chairman Scott Carr reviewed several items that have been share...

Commissioners sign documents without approval

EARL WATT • Leader & Times Documents that committed Seward County financially to grant applications have been discovered with no action fr...

Lizarraga becomes first female sergeant for sheriff’s office...

ROBERT PIERCE • Leader & Times After graduating from high school in 2012, Arline Lizarraga went on to get her associate’s degree in crimin...

Citizens continue to show frustration on massive tax increas...

ROBERT PIERCE • Leader & Times Community members continue to question the recent double digit hike in Seward County’s Fiscal Year 2026 budg...

City to review terminal expansion

ELLY GRIMM • Leader & Times The Liberal City Commission will be taking on a variety of topics at its next meeting this evening starting at...

Ramirez found not guilty

ROBERT PIERCE • Leader & Times Jurors in the trial of a man accused of killing two individuals in April 2019 in Seward County began delibe...

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Testimony continues in double homicide trial

ROBERT PIERCE

• Leader & Times

Thursday’s portion of testimony in the case against Pablo Roman Ramirez was primarily focused on a man convicted in connection with the alleged murders of Timothy Martin and Erick Salas April 2, 2019.

After being much of the focus of previous testimony, Ralph Salas Jr. took the stand Thursday. He was arrested in 2022 for two counts each of first degree murder, aggravated kidnapping, conspiracy to commit murder, aggravated robbery and aggravated burglary, as well as other charges.

Officials with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation said Martin’s and Erick’s bodies were found in separate locations in April 2019, with Martin’s body discovered by a farmer on his property near U.S. Highway 54 and the Kansas/Oklahoma state line in Texas County, Okla.

Change coming for 2026 Pancake Day Race

ELLY GRIMM

• Leader & Times

The 2026 International Pancake Day Race will be here before everyone knows it, and there will be a big change coming.

As Pancake day Board President Mike Brack tells it, there had been some discussion about the change before.

“Between Liberal and Olney, we've always tried to maintain the same rules when it comes to the International Pancake Day Race so everything's fair – there has been some minor flexibility in some areas, but for the most part, all of the rules are the same here as they are in Olney,” Brack said. “With how we have everything in Liberal, we have to set a deadline roughly 30 days before the race in order to make sure we have women signed up to run in the International race, while in Olney, women had the opportunity to sign up for the race the day of, and they always have more than 15 racers. With Olney being a small community, they've allowed women from the surrounding areas, if they're employed in Olney, to run in the race – and in Liberal, we have people driving in from Hugoton and the Oklahoma Panhandle for work. So starting with the 2026 race, ladies who don't reside in Liberal but work here are eligible to participate in the race, and they still have to follow all the other race rules and everything else. In years past, it's been a bit disappointing to not have a full slate of racers in the International Race, so we're hoping this change will help motivate not only Liberal ladies to run in the race and sign up earlier, but also women from other communities in the area.”

County sales tax proposal suffers major defeat

EARL WATT

• Leader & Times

Seward County voters soundly rejected a proposed half-cent sales tax to help fund county road improvements in Tuesday’s election.

The vote tally was 1,230 votes against the measure with only 427 in support.

The proposed tax needed the permission of the Kansas Legislature to be placed on the ballot, but the issue was a compounded tax increase when paired with the increased valuation for city property owners as well as a massive 14.8 mill increase approved by three of the five Seward County Commissioners.