Chad Frey

Newton Meals on Wheels has changed and grown over the past 50 years.

Thirteen counties in Kansas ceased to offer obstetric care services from 2013 to 2023 — a statistic that points to a shrinking availability of maternal care in Kansas, the lack of which can cause poor outcomes in pregnancy and delivery, overburdened hospitals and long drives for women seeking adequate care.Jennifer Cunningham drove more than six hours for care at the University of Kansas Health System for two of her four, high-risk pregnancies because she didn’t feel the limited obstetrics department in her home area of Garden City could take care of her.Garden City, with a population of about 27,000, serves as a local hub for shopping and other services in southwest Kansas.

EmberHope Connections has increased its staff and initiated partnerships with local agencies to fill its role as the new foster care contractor in Sedgwick County.The faith-based nonprofit, which took over the state contact previously held by Saint Francis Ministries on July 1, believes these measures will help improve historically below-average foster care metrics in the region.Brenda Watkins, the president of EmberHope Connections in Wichita, said she has had a busy past couple of months, digging through paper files from the previous contractor and figuring out how to bring the region into compliance.“We’re very pleased with how things have transitioned,” Watkins said, despite the company only having four months to prepare.EmberHope held the Sedgwick County contract from 1997, when Kansas first privatized its foster care program, until 2013, when Saint Francis Ministries outbid the Newton-based company.“We did the work,” Watkins said.

It would be easy to look at raw numbers and believe that every student who applied during the new legislatively mandate open enrollment process in June could easily get into Newton USD 373 for the fall 2024 term.After all, according to district staff there were about a dozen applications made during the June application window, with the district announcing room for 319 out of district students in the district this fall.But the devil is in the details.At least one of those applications there was not room in the individual classroom at the school requested.“We had to communicate with them by July 15 on their application status, with that, we said even if there is not cap space at this school and this grade level requested we have space at another school,” said Carly Stavola, district spokesperson.