News

ROBERT PIERCE

   • Leader & Times

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first in a series of three stories regarding a special meeting hosted by the Seward County Commission to finalize a plan for money the county received from the American Rescue Plan Act.  This story talks about items planned for, but not approved for funding. Future stories will talk about spending the remaining ARPA balance, as well as other plans for the money.

Seward County officials have finalized a plan for spending more than $4.16 million in money the county received from the federal American Rescue Plan Act.

County leaders had until Dec. 31, 2024, to earmark the funds for projects, and commissioners met with Administrator April Warden and other department heads in a special meeting Dec. 30 to come up with a plan for the money.

Southwest Medical Center

Southwest Medical Center (SWMC) announced the arrival of the 2025 New Year’s Baby, Luna Maria Mendoza de La Cruz.

Born Jan. 1 at 4:48 p.m., Luna entered the world to Marta de La Cruz and Miguel Mendoza. This addition to their family weighed 8 pounds, 12 ounces, and measured 19.5 inches long.

ROBERT PIERCE

   • Leader & Times

A 25-year-old male was taken into custody Sunday afternoon after local law enforcement responded to a report of a gunshot victim in rural Seward County.

In a press release, Sheriff Gene Ward said the call came in around 3 p.m. Sunday, and along with the sheriff’s office, Seward County Rural Fire, Seward County EMS and the Liberal Police Department also responded to the report at 15143 Denoon Road.

ELLY GRIMM

   • Leader & Times

There are many stray animals wandering throughout Liberal and the City of Liberal recently began an effort to help with just that.

Starting at the beginning of the month, the city’s new pet registration ordinance went into effect, and city officials say the work has been a long time coming.

“I remember it coming before the Liberal City Commission in the summer of 2024, and that's when it all started being formulated and discussed in a public setting,” Interim City Manager Scarlette Diseker said. “The Animal Control Ordinance was passed at the commission's April 23, 2024 meeting and discussed again at the commission's May 14, 2024 meeting, with the overall consensus being the commission wishing to keep moving forward with the pet licensing project. We'd had several people attending meetings and expressing concern over stray dogs, which has been a problem in Liberal for quite some time now, and the commission wanted to do something to combat the problem while helping the Liberal Animal Shelter staff, who had also expressed some concern about the issue.”