KANSAS NEWS SERVICE

TOPEKA – Lt. Gov. Lynn Rogers will spend 12 days this summer in 12 far-flung towns in what is clearly an effort to show the governor’s office cares about rural challenges.

Rogers will be in Colby June 24 and Phillipsburg June 25.

He’ll hear about pains that can seem counterintuitive: Housing shortages on the wide-open prairie, for one. Or the fact that growing communities with plenty of work-age folks can struggle to train up local health workers, even while thousands toil there at lower-paying jobs.

Rural towns are used to politicians promising help or taking piecemeal stabs at fixing things. With a fresh rural revitalization effort in the Legislature and Rogers’ upcoming tour, could bigger solutions materialize? Read about the tour.