Author

Tim Carpenter

Tim Carpenter has reported on Kansas for 35 years. He covered the Capitol for 16 years at the Topeka Capital-Journal and previously worked for the Lawrence Journal-World and United Press International. He has been recognized for investigative reporting on Kansas government and politics. He won the Kansas Press Association's Victor Murdock Award six times. The William Allen White Foundation honored him four times with its Burton Marvin News Enterprise Award. The Kansas City Press Club twice presented him its Journalist of the Year Award and more recently its Lifetime Achievement Award. He earned an agriculture degree at Kansas State University and grew up on a small dairy and beef cattle farm in Missouri. He is an amateur woodworker and drives Studebaker cars.

Three champions of Build Back Better make pitch for federal economic development bill

By: Tim Carpenter - December 6, 2021

A trio of Kansas activists laud the Build Back Better bill pending in Congress because it greatly enhances Medicaid, child care and preschool services.

Former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole, a former U.S. senator from Kansas, is preparing to undergo treatment Monday for lung cancer. (Pool photo by Olivier Douliery/Getty Images)

Bob Dole, Kansas political icon, dies at 98 after battle with lung cancer

By: Sherman Smith and Tim Carpenter - December 5, 2021

TOPEKA — Kansas political icon Bob Dole, who represented the state for decades in Washington, D.C., and was the Republican nominee for president in 1996, died Sunday morning at age 98. The Elizabeth Dole Foundation announced his death. He said in February he had been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. “It is with heavy […]

The new economic development plan crafted by Kansas State University emphasizes agriculture and biosecurity initiatives is expected to foster 3,000 jobs and $3 billion in investments into the state in the next decade. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)

K-State’s economic development plan focuses on agriculture, biosecurity innovation

By: Tim Carpenter - December 4, 2021

Kansas State University wants new 10-year economic development plan to add 3,000 jobs, investment of $3 billion by focusing in ag and biosecurity issues.

Kansas Supreme Court Justice K.J. Wall, second from right in the middle row, authored the unanimous opinion allowing Kansas prosecutors to count DUI convictions from Missouri when deciding whether to charge someone in Kansas as a repeat felony offender. (Screen capture/Kansas Reflector)

Kansas Supreme Court reverses lower courts, allows broad use of out-of-state DUI convictions

By: Tim Carpenter - December 3, 2021

TOPEKA — The Kansas Supreme Court sought to bring clarity to prosecution of driving-under-the-influence offenses Friday by unanimously granting district courts authority to view prior DUI convictions in Missouri as comparable to the Kansas law. The court examined the Kansas Legislature’s modification of state law in 2018 aimed at accounting for DUIs from other states. […]

U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican, voted to approve a stopgap federal spending bill in a break from the four other Republicans from Kansas in Congress. (C-SPAN screenshot/Kansas Reflector)

Kansas congressional delegation splits on latest federal stopgap spending bill

By: Tim Carpenter - December 3, 2021

Kansas delegation splits on stop-gap federal spending bill after Sen. Marshall tried to attach an amendment blocking COVID-19 vaccination mandates.

Richard Linton, the agriculture dean at North Carolina State University, was selected Thursday to be the 15th president of Kansas State University in Manhattan. (Screen capture/Kansas Reflector)

Board of Regents selects N.C. State dean as next president of Kansas State University

By: Tim Carpenter - December 2, 2021

The Kansas Board of Regents selects the agriculture dean at North Carolina State University as the next president of Kansas State University.

A group of abortion rights picketers stand along an Overland Park street Wednesday to mark oral argument by the U.S. Supreme Court on a case that could prompt overturning of the Roe v. Wade decision legalization abortion nationwide. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)

Supreme Court’s abortion case draws political commentary, protesters to streets

By: Tim Carpenter - December 1, 2021

Pro-choice protesters mark the U.S. Supreme Court's oral argument in a pivotal abortion case viewed as highly significant by Kansas political leaders.

U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, a Democrat from Kansas City, Kansas, up for re-election in 2022, pressed Wednesday for passage by Congress of election reforms to tamp down temptation of state legislatures to gerrymander congressional district maps. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

U.S. Rep. Davids denounces gerrymandering of congressional district boundaries

By: Tim Carpenter - December 1, 2021

U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids pressing for federal election reform to tamp down temptation of state legislatures to gerrymander congressional district maps.

Rep. Kristey Williams, a Republican from Augusta and chair of the House Education Committee, said the Kansas State Board of Education should make student academic success an explicit factor in school district accreditation reviews. (Noah Taborda/Kansas Reflector)

Kansas legislators drill into state Board of Education’s tweak to district accreditation rules

By: Tim Carpenter - December 1, 2021

Kansas GOP legislators quiz state Board of Education's president about lack of precise student achievement metrics in system of evaluating school districts.