News

ROBERT PIERCE

    • Leader & Times

Clarissa Carrillo’s pageant history seems to be a story of determination and will, as she fought through the challenges of competing while making her way to the top.

Earlier this month, that persistence paid off when she took home the crown of Miss Ad Astra 2024. Formerly known as Miss SWKS and hosted in the Southwest Kansas area, the pageant got a new name and location for this year.

ROBERT PIERCE

    • Leader & Times

Medicaid continuous enrollment associated with the federal Public Health Emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic ended in March 2023 in a process called “unwinding,” which requires re-review of participant eligibility.

Those no longer deemed eligible or those who fail to meet eligibility deadlines may lose access to the federally funded health coverage program.

“During the pandemic, the federal government incentivized states to keep people on Medicaid so they wouldn’t be at risk of losing their health coverage,” Kansas Health Institute Senior Analyst Sheena Schmidt said. “For a little more than three years, they did not have to complete a renewal process to get their Medicaid eligibility redetermined.”

ELLY GRIMM

    • Leader & Times

The summer reading fun at Liberal Memorial Library will continue next week with a very special presentation.

Storyteller Jefferson Knapp will visit Liberal Memorial Library Monday, July 1 to talk about his journey in creating his stories and book series. The presentation will start at 1 p.m.

As Knapp tells it, his journey to being an author was rather long and winding.

ROBERT PIERCE

    • Leader & Times

A Hugoton woman is dead, and two others, one an Elkhart man and one a Wichita teen, were injured in two separate accidents since Thursday in Seward County.

Around 6:30 p.m. Saturday, the Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2023 Chevy Silverado southbound on Road T and a 2017 Nissan Rogue westbound on U.S. Highway 160.