LIBERAL FIRST
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Economic development efforts are picking up throughout Liberal and recently, one of Liberal’s own was recognized for her efforts.
Earlier this month, Raquel Arellano with the Seward County Development Corporation (SCDC) was named Business Advocate of the Year at the Minority and Women in Business Awards, and she said she was very honored by the recognition.
Levi Williams moved from his hometown in Arizona to Liberal recently to start a truck and trailer business, and after doing that, he saw a lack of a brewery in town.
“It kind of drove me crazy,” he said. “I started looking for buildings and talking to some of the folks at the city, and they showed a lot of support for it, a lot of excitement for it. We looked into it further and decided to go for it.”
Williams’ search led to the building at 103 W. 2nd Street in Liberal, the former home of the Seward County Health Department, and he and his wife, Shelly Williams, made an offer on the building and bought it.
Lab tests have been a part of the Community Health Fair since its inception 15 years ago, and thanks to the City of Liberal and Apex Clean Energy, many of those test will be done free of charge this year.
The city committed $30,000 from the community development portion of the 1-cent sales tax to reduce the lab testing fees for this year’s Health Fair, with Apex contributing $5,000 to the cause.
TOPEKA – Thursday, the U.S. Census Bureau released its latest estimates of health insurance coverage in Kansas and across the United States.
The 2023 American Community Survey 1-year estimates show Kansas’ uninsured rate was 8.4 percent, statistically unchanged from 2022 (8.6 percent).
The Kansas uninsured rate of 8.4 percent represents 240,302 uninsured Kansans. For the third year in a row, the Kansas uninsured rate was higher than the national uninsured rate.
Water conservation and preservation remain a hot topic in Kansas and recently, some legislation was introduced to potentially help with just that.
Wednesday, U.S. Senators Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), alongside U.S. Representatives Brittany Pettersen (CO-07) and Juan Ciscomani (AZ-06), introduced the Water Project Navigators Act.
The bill would establish a new program at the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) to fund navigator positions with states, and Tribes and rural communities to boost capacity for developing, funding and implementing water management and conservation projects, according to a release from Moran’s office.
