News

Take a drive through Hamilton County, Kansas, population 2,500, and you know you are in the heart of rural America. Hamilton County has an abundance of many things — wheat, sorghum and dairy, for starters — but broadband isn’t one of them. And that’s a scary prospect when participation in the modern economy simply demands good internet service.

The Church Point Town Council approved paying about $20,000 of employee comp time at its regular meeting on May 6.
Church Point Mayor Ryan “Spanky” Meche said, “This is a business nightmare.”
Meche said past town administrations used a comp time system instead of paying town employees overtime.
Meche urged the council to pay the employees what they are owed, some as much as 300 hours of comp time.

A Senate committee rejected a bill on Tuesday that would reduce auto insurance premiums by curbing civil lawsuits. The panel also advanced a proposal to raise Louisiana’s minimum age for marriage to 18.
The insurance bill was sponsored by Rep. Kirk Talbot, R-River Ridge, and was intended to shield insurance companies from lawsuits and reduce the number of suits against drivers over time.
Talbot’s bill, called the “Omnibus Premium Reduction Act of 2019,” had passed the House 69-30 last week but failed 4-1 Tuesday in the Senate committee, Judiciary A.