The heart of Lt. Gov. Lynn Rogers’ rural development initiative is the search for a basket of remedies to quality of life challenges eroding communities outside the state’s urban centers. The administration’s new Office of Rural Prosperity intends to grapple with housing shortages, financially struggling hospitals and shuttered businesses on main street. Priorities include boosting […]

Cognizant is a technology company with offices in big cities all over the world. That’s not a coincidence. When it comes to generating jobs in the digital economy, “urban revitalization” ranks right up there with a strong educational system, Cognizant President Malcolm Frank told governors attending the annual meeting of the National Governors Association in […]

WATHENA, Kansas — A Kansas leader is on a tour to assure constituents and businesses that he won’t approach their needs with a “Let them eat cake” attitude. Visiting Marie Antoinette’s Gluten Free Bake Shoppe and the Dairy Barn family restaurant on Thursday afternoon in Wathena, Lt. Gov. Lynn Rogers emphasized how the Democratic-led administration […]

Mary Clarkin Tuesday Jun 18, 2019 at 1:01 AM NICKERSON — About 120 people came to the Monday night kickoff of Kansas Lt. Gov. Lynn Rogers’ 12-city Rural Prosperity Tour listening stops, exceeding organizers’ expectations. The event coincided with meetings of the Nickerson City Council and the Nickerson-South Hutchinson USD 309 Board of Education, but in addition to local residents, the […]

SABETHA, Kan. (KSNT) – Lieutenant Governor Lynn Rogers is traveling across the state to try and make sure rural voices are heard in Topeka. The lieutenant governor has made 11 of the 12 stops on the Rural Prosperity Listening Tour. On Monday he toured the town of Sabetha. Rogers toured the local hospital and talked […]

GREG LOWER [email protected] Rural health officials are pushing to expand KanCare, the state’s Medicaid program, to cover nearly 150,000 additional people. Dennis Franks, Neosho Memorial Regional Medical Center Chief Executive Officer, said rural health care in Kansas is facing a crisis, and expanding the program would not only help hospitals but also mental health, substance […]

COURTLAND, Kansas — Rural Kansas has a storied past, but decades of population decline stand poised to turn many once-vibrant places into ghost towns. The struggle for survival reveals itself in emptied Main Streets, shuttered factories and tired-looking neighborhoods dominated by houses built before World War II. An exodus that started more than 100 years […]

ANTHONY, Kansas — Few things signal a rural community’s decline more powerfully than the closure of its hospital. Like shuttered schools and empty Main Streets, an abandoned hospital serves as a tangible reminder of the erosive power of decades of population loss and unrelenting economic trends. “Our rural communities are challenged and, because of that, […]