Author

Rachel Mipro

Rachel Mipro

A graduate of Louisiana State University, Rachel Mipro has covered state government in Baton Rouge and New Orleans. She and her fellow team of journalists were 2022 Goldsmith Prize Semi-Finalists for their work featuring the rise of the KKK in northern Louisiana, following racially-motivated shootings in 1960. With her move to the Midwest, Rachel is now turning her focus toward issues within Kansas public policies.

Marion County Record office

KBI director on Marion County newspaper raid: Media is not ‘above the law’

By: - August 13, 2023

TOPEKA —  The top law enforcement officer in Kansas appeared to justify a Marion County search warrant that led to an unprecedented raid on a local newspaper and potentially contributed to the death of the paper’s co-owner.  Kansas Bureau of Investigation Director Tony Mattivi released a statement Sunday following widespread outrage of Friday’s raid, in […]

Eric Meyer, publisher of the Marion County Record, answers questions in his newspaper office Friday after police seized computers, servers, cellphones and other items.

Police stage ‘chilling’ raid on Marion County newspaper, seizing computers, records and cellphones

By: , , and - August 11, 2023

MARION — In an unprecedented raid Friday, local law enforcement seized computers, cellphones and reporting materials from the Marion County Record office, the newspaper’s reporters, and the publisher’s home. Eric Meyer, owner and publisher of the newspaper, said police were motivated by a confidential source who leaked sensitive documents to the newspaper, and the message […]

Federal budget cuts could damage poorest Kansans’ access to legal representation

By: - August 10, 2023

TOPEKA — With the federal legal support system potentially millions of dollars short due to budget cuts, Kansas’ federal public defender pleaded with U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran to intervene before vulnerable Kansans needing representation begin to suffer. The U.S. federal public defender system provides legal representation for criminal defendants who cannot afford legal fees. That […]

Speaker of the House Dan Hawkins reads a rules book during the last scheduled day of the legislative session, April 6, 2023. (Rachel Mipro/Kansas Reflector)

Kansas lawmakers ask for increase in newsletter funding

By: - August 9, 2023

TOPEKA — Legislators are asking to more than double state funding for their newsletters, in an attempt to keep voters aware of their Statehouse actions without tapping into campaign funds. During a Wednesday meeting, the Republican-controlled Legislative Coordinating Council advocated raising allotments for postage and printing costs, following increases in post office prices.  The U.S. […]

Alice Wang, staff attorney for Center for Reproductive Rights, says abortion restrictions in state law are unconstitutional. (John Hanna/Associated Press)

Johnson County judge hears objections to Kansas abortion restrictions

By: - August 8, 2023

OLATHE — The state has put a “thumb on the scale against abortion,” attorney Alice Wang said Tuesday in arguments for a temporary injunction to block long-standing abortion restrictions in Kansas. Over the span of an hour and a half hearing in Johnson County District Court, Wang, an attorney from the Center for Reproductive Rights, […]

Faced with overwhelming need, disability services providers urge more funding from Kansas lawmakers

By: - August 7, 2023

TOPEKA — When her son’s father died earlier this year, Rachel Neumann had to choose between taking time off to comfort her son or using her PTO to support her mother in law, who was diagnosed the same week with terminal cancer.   As the chief operating officer of COF Training Services, a company that serves […]

Nurses draw vaccine doses from a vial as Maryland residents receive their second dose of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine March 25, 2021, at the Cameron Grove Community Center in Bowie, Maryland. The vaccinations were provided by Prince George's County's Mobile Units as vaccinations in Maryland are now over the 20% threshold. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Hospitalizations in Kansas and nationwide signal ‘summer surge’ of COVID-19

By: - August 4, 2023

TOPEKA — A national summer uptick in COVID-19 cases has arrived, but Kansas physicians are still waiting to see if cases in the state follow national trends. Across the U.S., hospitalizations have been on the rise since the beginning of July, the first increase seen this year, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention […]

Michelle Niedens, LSCSW at University of Kansas Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, discusses dementia needs during a Aug. 2, 2023 KanCare Oversight committee meeting. (Sam Bailey/Kansas Reflector)

Calls for better health care grow louder as Kansas population ages

By: - August 3, 2023

TOPEKA — Health care providers urged lawmakers to look at solutions before dementia becomes a crisis for the state’s aging population during a Medicaid meeting Wednesday. Rep. Brenda Landwehr, R-Wichita, punted the challenge back to providers, saying she wanted medical providers to come up with fixes to the state’s health care problems, such as the […]

Women across the U.S. face a heightened risk of dying from pregnancy or pregnancy-related complications in recent years. (Getty Images)

Kansas birth rate hits all-time low as women contemplate health and finances

By: - August 3, 2023

TOPEKA —  Kansas documented the state’s lowest-ever recorded birth rate for the 2022 year, according to a preliminary report. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment’s annual report shows the number of births in the state dropped slightly from 2021. Last year’s report documented 34,697 births in 2021, with a birth rate of 11.8 per […]

Facade of the Wilson High School gymnasium

Rural Kansas school district spared in lopsided vote

By: - August 2, 2023

TOPEKA — Residents of a rural central Kansas school district overwhelmingly voted to keep their district intact, defeating an attempt to dissolve the district in anger over a school closure. Unofficial election results from the Aug. 1 primary show 587 people voted in favor of disorganization and 1,179 voters in Central Plains Unified School District […]

Kerrice Mapes discusses Topeka's homelessness crisis during a July 27, 2023, podcast interview

‘A seat at the table’: Topeka business leaders ask for more input on unsheltered crisis

By: and - July 31, 2023

TOPEKA — As Topeka city officials float solutions to the growing homelessness crisis, local community leaders want a voice in the conversation. Kerrice Mapes, owner and founder of the Topeka-based 785 Magazine, says Topeka business owners and community leaders should be given more input. During an interview for the Kansas Reflector podcast, Mapes discussed how […]

Critics of diversity, equity and inclusion training protest May 10, 2023, outside the Shawnee Mission North school.

Kansas school district fights ‘indoctrination’ rumors, continues DEI training

By: - July 27, 2023

OVERLAND PARK — Sitting on the curb outside of the Shawnee Mission North High School in May, surrounded by American flags, Debbie Detmer said she was inspired by the example of a district teacher to fight against the evils of DEI training. “Diversity — it’s all about division,” Detmer said. “They divide, they hate, they […]