Rural development

The eight-state highway's origins started in Springfield, Missouri, a century ago on April 30, 1926. The route helped keep some Missouri and Kansas towns afloat during the Great Depression and after World War II.

It’s getting more difficult to find an attorney in rural Kansas as people retire, so the state is offering incentives to attract a new generation of lawyers. Still, filling the civic leadership roles left by veteran lawyers will not be easy.

Residents of a rural Johnson County community are confronting a new data center proposal from San Francisco-based Beale Infrastructure, just weeks after they blocked a similar proposal.

Residents of Gardner, Kansas, are confronting a new data center proposal from Beale Infrastructure just weeks after a similar proposal was withdrawn. Members of the community are concerned about the impact on their environment, utilities, and noise levels.

Rural communities have been turning to nonprofits and other strategies to keep grocery stores open. But one of those new stores is closing in Kansas, which shows how challenging it can be to provide food in small towns.

Sedalia's newest effort to help its most vulnerable residents appears to be a win: a building with the area’s most crucial social service providers all under one roof, available throughout the week on a walk-in basis. It's part of a Missouri pilot program to better serve rural communities.

Western Kansas has the potential to capitalize on our region’s growing energy demands even as rural populations shrink. There’s plenty of land, wind and sun to be a center for renewable energy production. But skepticism is bringing these projects to a halt.

The hyperscale data center would go in eastern Independence, near schools and an ammunition plant. A growing number of residents are trying to stop city officials from providing any tax incentives to the company to keep it from being built.

Rider demand is up in many communities, but there’s a gap between what the Nebraska Department of Transportation can fund and the growing needs of transit agencies around the state.

Efforts in Barton County may offer a blueprint for solving a housing shortage across Kansas. The county commission has tapped economic development funds and other resources to help housing developments in three communities.

The one-room schoolhouse was moved from a property north of Merna in Custer County to its new home east of Broken Bow to become part of a historic exhibit.

In late July, the Postal Service cut back on services in 540 of Missouri’s ZIP codes by reducing mail collection from morning and evening to morning-only collection. And residents have already noticed the shift.