News

Southwest Medical Center

Southwest Medical Center is proud to announce the arrival of its 2026 New Year’s Baby, Jill Hannah Duran, born Jan. 2, at 11:47 a.m.

Jill was joyfully welcomed by her parents, Hannah and Roman Duran.

Baby Jill weighed 8 pounds, 11 ounces and measured 21 inches long at birth. She was delivered by OB/GYN physician Dr. Dennis Knudsen, and her arrival has brought great happiness to her family and the SWMC team.

ELLY GRIMM

   • Leader & Times

Agriculture programs at Liberal High School have been seeing growth and recently, USD 480 made a purchase to help with that.

During a quick special meeting that took place Dec. 22, the USD 480 school board voted 5-0 to approve the purchase of the former Pantera Energy building at 1707 W. 2nd St. Superintendent Dane Richardson said the purchase was necessary for planning needs.

“The Board of Education is always trying to look at needs that are immediate, but also trying to be proactive in planning for needs of the distant future,” Richardson said. “Safety is very important to our administration and board. This location provides the safest access for students because of its proximity to the high school. We have needed space for our Agriculture and FFA students since the program started two years ago and have been keeping our eye out for anything close to the high school that would facilitate the needs of this growing program. With our new Agriculture and FFA programs growing at the rate they are, we have been looking to add a space for them that would facilitate the large footprint that is required for these types of programs. This property was unique in the fact that the outside buildings and shop can already accommodate much of the needs needed for our programs. We were fortunate enough to come across this opportunity and look forward to making it work for our staff and students moving forward.”

Kansas Legal Services

Kansas Legal Services (KLS) will host a Free Expungement and Driver’s License Clinic on Thursday, Feb. 12, at Liberal Memorial Library, located at 519 N. Kansas Ave.

Community members with criminal convictions or arrests may qualify for legal assistance that could help them clear their records and open the door to better employment and housing opportunities.

This clinic is part of KLS’s Workforce Development Initiative, which aims to remove barriers preventing Kansans from fully participating in the workforce.

ELLY GRIMM

   • Leader & Times

Those interested in learning more about Seward County history will soon have just that chance thanks to the Seward County Historical Society.

The Seward County Historical Society (SCHS) will be hosting a free two-part course on Seward County history Jan. 10 and 17, with each session starting at 10:30 a.m.

“Our event is sort of a crash course in Seward County history, because we are, of course, the Seward County Historical Society, but we also know not everyone local who loves history knows where to start with it,” Coronado Museum Director Nathan Dowell said. “We wanted to provide a sort of an impromptu seminar that will go over some of the bigger topics in Seward County history so people have a chance to learn and really understand what we’re working from with everything that we do here. I will be talking about prehistoric Kansas, prehistoric Seward County, and the very early recorded history of people in this area. We then have a lot of other topics such as Native American presence in the area and Coronado’s journey and other major events. We will be talking about county seat wars, the railroads, the Dust Bowl and the Liberal Army Airfield, among other topics.”