News

ELLY GRIMM

    • Leader & Times

Liberal Memorial Library has been in the midst of some changes, and recently, a new face joined the staff as the children’s librarian.

Sara Munn began in the role earlier this summer after working as the library director at the Plains Community Library. So far, Munn said, the job has started off really well.

“Summer Reading has kicked off with a bang and I am enjoying getting to meet all the new faces.  We have been having so much fun with our summer reading programs, and we have a lot going on for the rest of this month,” Munn said. “Getting to know the kids through Story Time and with our summer programs has been absolutely awesome.”

ROBERT PIERCE

    • Leader & Times

In 2022, the Kansas Legislature passed a bill to allow agencies that provide help to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities to be more competitive when it comes to employee pay.

Shortly after the passage of Senate Bill 267, in an effort to hire more workers to make its agency run more efficiently, Mosaic in Southwest Kansas began having weekly job fairs.

ELLY GRIMM

    • Leader & Times

Liberal’s sports tourism industry has been steadily growing the past few years, and soon, it will see a big boost with the Sunflower State Games.

The Sunflower State Games is the largest amateur multi-sport festival in Kansas conducted annually three weekends in July. The Sunflower State Games are recognized by the U.S. Olympic Committee and is governed by the National Congress of State Games, and Liberal’s events will be taking place July 20 and 21. Sports Tourism Director Orlando Padilla said there is a lot of excitement surrounding the coming festivities.

Kansas Department of Transportation

According to the Kansas Department of Transportation, the four-lane expansion project along U.S. Highway 50/U.S. Highway 400 in Gray County and Ford County has switched traffic onto the newly constructed westbound lanes to reconstruct the eastbound lanes.

During the eastbound lane reconstruction, traffic will be carried on the newly constructed westbound lanes. This change will affect county roads that intersect with U.S. 50/400 at times.