News

New CDC report shows suicide risk tied to local economic and social conditions

ELLY GRIMM

• Leader & Times

Suicide is the 11th leading cause of death in the U.S. and in 2022 alone, 49,476 Americans died by suicide in an estimated 1.6 million attempts, according to statistics from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP).

“In 2022, rates were highest for adults ages 85+ years (23.02 per 100,000) and next highest for those 75 to 84 years (20.26 per 100,000). Compared with rates in 2021, the suicide rates increased for those age 35 and older and decreased for those age 34 and below,” the AFSP noted. “Youth below age 25 have had consistently lower suicide rates than middle-aged and older adults. In 2022, adolescents and young adults aged 15 to 24 rates declined from 15.15 per 100,000 to a suicide rate of 13.62 per 100,000. In 2022, the highest U.S. age-adjusted suicide rate was among American Indians and Alaskan Natives (16.11 per 100,000) and the second highest rate was among Whites (15.83 per 100,000). Much lower rates were found among Black or African Americans (8.60 per 100,000) and Asians and Pacific Islanders (6.93 per 100,000).”

Smoky Hills helping exposed children to ‘Cool Careers’ in Kansas

ELLY GRIMM

• Leader & Times

Introducing children to potential career paths has become extremely important and thanks to a big collaboration, they will get to learn about just that.

Smoky Hills PBS recently announced a new educational series, ‘Cool Careers,’ which premiered Sept. 15. The series will introduce children and their families to multiple career opportunities available in Kansas. In the show, a crew of real Kansas children will explore various high-demand careers across the state.

LHS planning 2024 Homecoming festivities

ELLY GRIMM

• Leader & Times

Fall is in the air, meaning it is time for Homecoming festivities.

Liberal High School’s Homecoming fun will be happening next week, and LHS Student Council Sponsor Cindy Orrantia said there will be plenty going on.

“This year's LHS fall Homecoming will be Sept. 23 through 27, that's when all of our activities and spirit days will be taking place. Our spirit days will be: Adam Sandler Day (Monday), Students as Teachers, Teachers as Students Day (Tuesday), Fraternity vs. Sorority Day (Wednesday), College/Jersey Day (Thursday) and then Redskin Pride Day (Friday),” Orrantia said. “We'll also have an inter-grade competition for homeroom competition for local charity for TikTok, which must be uploaded to our Google form Sep. 26, and we're really excited to see what the students come up with for that. We'll also have a staff competition for the best Redskin Pride socks, and judging for that will be at the Homecoming pep rally. We’re just really excited for everything that will be happening for this year.”

Fish fry at Bibleway Church of God in Christ Saturday

L&T staff report

Liberal’s Bibleway Church of God in Christ will host a fish fry fundraiser starting at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the church at 410 E. 8th Street.

The menu will consist of catfish fillets, pinto beans, potato salad, cornbread, dessert, water, soda and Louisiana hot sauce. The price is $15, and pre-ordering is available with payment. Delivery is also available.

For more information, contact Sister Tracy Smith at 620-339-2825.

County courthouse to get $859k remodel

ROBERT PIERCE

• Leader & Times

For a number of months, remodeling the Seward County Courthouse and Detention Center has been in process with the development of scope documents, meetings with stakeholders, development of bid documents, contracts and the bidding process.

The project took a step forward Monday when county commissioners voted unanimously to accept a bid for the remodel. The bid was from OC Quality Custom Homes of Liberal for $859,749.53, and Administrator April Warden said that bid as well as one from Liberal’s French Construction came in for less than an anticipated.