The newly created Office of Rural Prosperity will conduct a listening tour across the state, looking at ways to assist and revitalize rural communities in Kansas.  The office is the creation of Governor Laura Kelly, Lt. Governor Lynn Rogers, and Commerce Secretary David Toland. The 2020 fiscal budget allocated $2 million to create the office. […]

Jonathan [email protected] Monday Apr 29, 2019 at 4:36 PM PITTSBURG — Earlier this month, Gov. Laura Kelly doubled down on her previous calls to expand KanCare, the state’s Medicaid program, citing rural hospital closures. In interviews last week when they visited Pittsburg, however, supporters of Kelly’s plan to expand Medicaid in the state acknowledged that […]

The key to passing Medicaid expansion may not necessarily be our polarized Legislature, but voters themselves, especially in small town and rural Kansas. But how much do average Kansans honestly care about expansion, and how much do they prioritize what their communities might gain from it? Maybe less than you think, which might help explain […]

CONWAY SPRINGS, Kan. (KAKE) – Rural Kansas residents are angered by bad cellphone connection in Conway Springs due to only one service provider working in the area. “It’s kind of a monopoly as far as the cellphone service goes,” said Clay Murphy, superintendent of Conway Springs schools. A map released by Gov. Laura Kelly showed […]

The Kansas Senate gave initial approval Tuesday to a pair of bills relating to expansion of the state’s Rural Opportunity Zone program. The program provides student loan forgiveness and income tax waivers to those who relocate to rural areas. About 80 counties already fall under the program. Proposed legislation would add eight counties to the […]

The Kansas Legislature has appointed a new, bipartisan Rural Revitalization Committee, with Rep. Don Hineman as its chairman and Lt. Gov. Lynn Rogers a strong supporter. Here is a hint for them: There is only one way to bring economic growth to rural Kansas. Bring in the workers that businesses want to hire. That means […]

“What would Emporia look like without a hospital?” That’s the question Lieutenant Governor Lynn Rogers asked administrators and health care providers at Newman Regional Health during a stop on his statewide rural health care tour Friday afternoon. Three Kansas hospitals have closed in the last eight years, including the Central Kansas Medical Center in Great […]

Tim Carpenter TimVCarpenter Thursday Feb 21, 2019 at 4:47 PM Feb 21, 2019 at 7:55 PM City manager Cherise Tieben’s firm belief that housing construction was a market-driven segment of the economy didn’t survive a 2007 meeting with exasperated Dodge City bankers, developers, Realtors and employers. She learned from the group that the southwest Kansas community’s housing stock was profoundly […]

Tim Carpenter Sunday Feb 17, 2019 at 5:00 PM Feb 18, 2019 at 10:41 AM 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 […]

This story was updated to add the comments of Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly. Oswego Community Hospital, a 12-bed critical access hospital in southeast Kansas, abruptly closed down on Thursday, citing insufficient revenue to cover its operating expenses. The hospital’s board released a statement saying the hospital had “weathered low patient volumes; high number of uninsured […]