Author

Tim Carpenter

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.

Lee Norman, secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, said the spread of COVID-19 provided extra incentive for people to get an influenza vaccination. He expects Kansas hospital resources to be stretched this fall and winter from exposure to the flu and coronavirus. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)

New Kansas privacy law crimps contact tracing for COVID-19
By: - July 28, 2020

TOPEKA — The Shawnee County Health Department took the extraordinary step of issuing a public health advisory July 7 warning travelers COVID-19 cases had been linked to the restrooms and food court at an Interstate 70 service area. Given the steady flow of humanity through the rest stop east of Topeka from July 2 to […]

Gov. Laura Kelly said Monday she supported allocation of $60 million in federal funding for expansion of broadband services in Kansas and would endorse additional spending to help with education, business and health care services tied to the internet. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)

Gov. Laura Kelly sounds COVID-19 alarm — again — as number of cases mounts
By: - July 27, 2020

Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly warned Kansans on Monday indifference about wearing masks and social distancing may lead to new restrictions to battle COVID-19.

Gov. Laura Kelly says passage by Missouri voters of Medicaid expansion leaves Kansas in a five-state group with Colorado, Nebraska and Oklahoma still resisting a federal program extending health care to low- and moderate-income people. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)

Gov. Laura Kelly urges railroads in Kansas to maintain two-person crews
By: - July 27, 2020

The Kansas Department of Transportation, with Gov. Laura Kelly's blessing, calls for maintaining two-person crews in railroad locomotive engines.

Former Secretary of State Kris Kobach received endorsements from 10 county sheriffs in his quest for the GOP nomination for attorney general. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)

Kris Kobach not banking on Trump endorsement in U.S. Senate race
By: - July 27, 2020

U.S. Senate candidate Kris Kobach says he can't count on a last-minute endorsement from President Trump to carry him to victory in the GOP primary.

The bronze statute of the University of Kansas' first law dean, James Woods Green, with a student, stands on Jayhawk Boulevard on the Lawrence campus. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)

Kansas attorneys, students anxious about taking bar exam during pandemic
By: - July 24, 2020

Law school graduates and practicing attorneys raise questions about propriety of hosting a bar exam for more than 100 people at the University of Kansas.

House Majority Leader Dan Hawkins, center, R-Wichita, challenged the legality of Gov. Laura Kelly's opinion that county commissions couldn't reject her executive order mandating that all students, employees and visitors to public and private schools wear a mask to reduce potential of spreading COVID-19. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)

Conflict persists about Gov. Laura Kelly’s power to impose school health orders
By: - July 24, 2020

House Minority Leader Dan Hawkins says Gov. Laura Kelly is wrong to believe county commissions can't block her order for all in K-12 schools wear a mask.

Health secretary Lee Norman outlines the growing number of COVID-19 infections in Kansas during a news conference last week in which Gov. Laura Kelly announced her order to keep schools closed until after Labor Day. On Wednesday, Norman told board members that schools can't be safe islands in unsafe communities. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)

Medical experts dispute claims by Kansas Board of Education member
By: and - July 23, 2020

TOPEKA — Kansas State Board of Education member Michelle Dombrosky confronted health secretary Lee Norman during Wednesday’s meeting to ask why his advice — to delay the start of school for three weeks — conflicts with the opinion of other medical experts in the state. The board member from Olathe identified Children’s Mercy Hospital, the […]

Officials at University of Kansas, which fell silent this spring due to COVID-19, reported losses of $35 million in the last fiscal year and Thursday projected a revenue shortfall in the current fiscal year of $120 million with an additional $30 million spent on health and safety programs. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)

KU anticipates $120M revenue shortfall, $30M in direct COVID-19 expenses
By: - July 23, 2020

University of Kansas says COVID-19 will cause a $120 million revenue shortfall this fiscal year and trigger $30 million in health and safety expenditures.

The administration of Gov. Laura Kelly said an inquiry had been launched into allegations of a state employee and "concerned taxpayer" about potential misuse of aircraft by the Kansas Highway Patrol's aviation unit. The allegations center on pilots obtaining flight credentials of little use to the KHP and of using a helicopter for trips to Kansas City restaurants. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)

Inquiries clear Kansas Highway Patrol superintendent of wrongdoing
By: - July 23, 2020

TOPEKA — Gov. Laura Kelly on Thursday expressed unqualified support for the superintendent of the Kansas Highway Patrol following completion of internal and external reviews of allegations he engaged in sexual harassment, gender discrimination and misuse of state aircraft. KHP Superintendent Herman Jones, who assumed the law enforcement agency’s top job in 2019, was the […]

Nancy Jensen, center, a former resident of a Newton home for mentally ill adults led by Arlan Kaufman, objected to Kaufman's request to be released from federal prison due to poor health after serving 15 years of a 30-year sentence. A federal judge denied the request for compassionate release. (Submitted/Kansas Reflector)

Victims: 15 years in prison not enough for architect of Kaufman House terror
By: - July 23, 2020

Victims of former Kansas social worker Arlan Kaufman's abuse of mentally ill adults persuaded a judge to deny him early release from prison.

Belinda Sturm, a University of Kansas engineering professor, says a research project involving KU and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment shows testing of wastewater can offer a one-week advance warning of COVID-19 community surges or declines. (Submitted/Kansas Reflector)

Wastewater testing by KU, KDHE offers advance warning of COVID-19 surge
By: - July 22, 2020

A project involving KU and KDHE shows promise in tracking genetic evidence of COVID-19 in wastewater and offer an early warning to a community.

Rep. Troy Waymaster, left, a Republican from Bunker Hill, says the COVID-19 pandemic will erode casino and lottery revenue relied on by the state government to invest in economic development programs. (Nick Krug for Kansas Reflector)

State Finance Council complicit in cloaking financial terms of lawsuit settlements
By: - July 22, 2020

State Finance Council, comprised of the Kansas governor and eight legislators, test transparency limits by avoiding public discussion of lawsuit settlements.

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