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Statehouse scraps: Kansas lawmakers shred transparency, good and bad bills, hated photo
While I spent much of this week fending off the sinus pressure and congestion of a head cold, Kansas legislators spent the week fending off public scrutiny and refusing to acknowledge that folks really, really don’t want to ban abortion. Yes, we’ve come to week three of the session. The bloom is off the rose, […]
Kelly shares optimistic words, but dark undercurrents flow through Kansas Statehouse
Laura Kelly knows what works for the majority of Kansans. She’s down to earth, plainspoken, and a temperamental and political moderate. Two successive tall Republican men have run against the diminutive Democrat, and each has paid a price for underestimating her political savvy. So perhaps we should pay attention to what the governor said Tuesday […]
Kansas sex abuse law obstructs justice for young victims. Lawmakers can fix it now.
Kansas law demands an impossibility of young people: If they suffered childhood sexual abuse, they must file a civil case before their 21st birthday. This is the same state where GOP leaders currently advocate a bill criminalizing gender-affirming care for those under 21. That is, they appear to believe that Kansas youths can’t possibly be […]
Statehouse scraps: Transparency fail, LaTurner threat trial, KanCare expansion prospects
The second week of the Kansas Legislature has barreled through Topeka like a steam locomotive fueled with plutonium. Along with the usual committee hearings and backroom dealmaking, political news across Kansas kept the pace with GOP organizational hijinks and the bizarre trial of a man who threatened U.S. Rep. Jake LaTurner. At the Statehouse, lawmakers […]
Invasion of the body snatchers: Kansas GOP leaders crave control of residents
Republican leaders in the Kansas Legislature want to control your body and the bodies of your children. This new invasion of the body snatchers has played out across the last year or more in state politics, as those who claim to lead a party once dedicated to individual rights abandoned its rich history. GOP bigwigs […]
Kansas Statehouse spews news: Defining ‘woke agenda,’ Kelly’s COVID luck, meditation room blues
Week one of the Kansas legislative session came and went, and so did the stories. If you followed along with Kansas Reflector, you glimpsed dozens speeding by, with all the latest about Gov. Laura Kelly, GOP legislators and advocacy groups gearing up for a grueling gauntlet. Covering the Statehouse can be like drinking from a […]
Kansas Republicans spurn the voters and results they don’t like while reheating tired humbug
The first few days of the 2023 Kansas legislative session have exposed a core contradiction: Elected Republican lawmakers only respect the elections that put them in power. Other elections, such as those on the local level or for statewide constitutional amendments, don’t carry the same weight. Indeed, they might not represent the will of the […]
This Kansas rep wanted to run for House speaker on a transparency platform. The GOP shut him down.
Rep. Dennis “Boog” Highberger, a Lawrence Democrat, won’t be running for Kansas speaker of the House today. Republican leaders who prize obfuscation over open government made sure of that. But if he did run, here’s part what he would say: “Returning members know that I have been working for many years, with little success, to […]
Feeble clergy sex abuse report exposes Schmidt’s sins. He betrayed his office and Kansas kids.
Now we know the true legacy of outgoing Attorney General Derek Schmidt: allowing likely sexual abusers of children to walk free. According to a summary from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, more than 400 children in our state were sexually abused by Catholic clergy since 1950. While the KBI looked into nearly 200 clergy and […]
With $2 billion surplus on books, Kansas politicians drool over tax cuts. They should think twice.
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly and the Legislature both want to make a big mistake. The only question is whose will cost more. The state has $2 billion in the bank, thanks to robust tax collections. That means both the Democratic governor and Republican legislative leaders have decided that Kansans need tax cuts. The governor, to […]
In 2022, Kansas Reflector staffers covered shocking upsets and indispensable public policy
I’m pretty sure that 2022 took the usual 365 days. Yet it felt like several callithumpian years packed into one. We started by fighting a monstrous COVID-19 hangover, with the omicron variant tearing through Kansas and the Statehouse. We endured a nasty legislative session, along with redistricting and a subsequent court battle. But that was […]
These 10 Kansas Reflector columns dazzled the most readers in 2022. Did your favorite make it?
Every morning of 2022, Kansas Reflector published an opinion column. Some of these pieces resonated with thousands upon thousands of readers. Others, um, didn’t. But as we wrap up the year with twine and prepare to store it in the basement along with the rest of recorded history, let’s seize the moment to look back. […]