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.

John Wilson, president of Kansas Action for Children, said the latest Annie E. Casey Foundation's national assessment of child well-being offers good news and warnings for Kansas. (Screen capture/Kansas Reflector)

Kansas ranks 18th nationally in annual report measuring well-being of children

By: Tim Carpenter - June 21, 2021

Report says Kansas holds 18th place in terms of well-being of children — better than Missouri and Oklahoma but worse than Nebraska and Colorado.

Lee Norman, the state's health officer and secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, issued an order requiring COVID-19 testing of residents and staff of adult daycare homes. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)

KDHE orders COVID-19 testing at state-licensed adult care homes

By: Tim Carpenter - June 19, 2021

KDHE orders testing for COVID-19 to continue among staff and residents at Kansas adult care homes licensed by the state.

Jacqie Spradling, left, arrives with her legal team for a 2020 disciplinary hearing into alleged misconduct by Spradling as a prosecutor in Shawnee and Jackson counties. The panel recommended disbarment of Spradling and she has since resigned from jobs in Allen and Bourbon counties. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)

Kansas prosecutor mired in ethical misconduct quits to avoid Bourbon County backlash

By: Tim Carpenter - June 18, 2021

Kansas attorney facing disbarment for misconduct in two high-profile cases quit as Bourbon County prosecutor as backlash escalated.

University of Kansas chancellor Doug Girod, left, said KU was no longer contemplating use of a temporary Kansas Board of Regents policy easing the path to dismissal of tenured faculty to cut costs. Here he chats in Lawrence with Gov. Laura Kelly. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)

KU reverses course, no longer contemplating use of faculty-dismissal policy to fix budget

By: Tim Carpenter - June 17, 2021

University of Kansas drops plan to consider use of policy easing removal of tenured faculty to alleviate budget problems.

Gov. Laura Kelly appointed, from left, Wint Winter, Cynthia Lane and Carl Ice to the Kansas Board of Regents to replace three appointees of former Gov. Sam Brownback. (Submitted)

Kansas’ Democratic governor appoints three to state’s higher education board

By: Tim Carpenter - June 16, 2021

Democratic Gov. Kelly's three appointments to the Kansas Board of Regents gives her a majority on the higher education panel.

The federal government allocated $836 million in the latest round of COVID-19 aid to Kansas public education for use to help student rebound from the pandemic. Here, the Shawnee Heights school board near Topeka voted in December for a hybrid of in-person and online instruction. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)

Kansas public schools calculating how to spend $830 million in federal pandemic aid

By: Tim Carpenter - June 15, 2021

TOPEKA — The Kansas Department of Education plans to use a slice of $830 million in new federal funding for public education to address COVID-19 learning deficits by training K-3 teachers to help students absorb more from their reading. Half of the 10% set aside for the state agency must be dedicated to rebounding students […]

Kelly rescinding handful of executive orders, seeks extension of disaster declaration

By: Tim Carpenter and Sherman Smith - June 14, 2021

Gov. Kelly requests Kansas legislative leaders endorse gradual removal of executive orders as need for COVID-19 disaster declaration wanes.

Panel urges disbarment of Kansas attorney for deliberate misconduct in two high-profile trials

By: Tim Carpenter - June 4, 2021

Kansas attorney's prosecutorial misconduct in high-profile double-murder trial and sex-crime case leads disciplinary panel to recommend disbarment.

The Kansas Supreme Court is being asked to resolve a case in which southwest Kansas irrigators accused the Texas-Kansas-Oklahoma Gas of using an inappropriate method of calculating natural gas bills for customers. The Kansas Corporation Commission sided with TKO Gas, but the Kansas Court of Appeals found for complainants. (Screen capture/Kansas Reflector)

State Supreme Court drills into natural gas billing dispute in southwest Kansas

By: Tim Carpenter - June 3, 2021

Southwest Kansas natural gas billing dispute percolates from KCC to district court, Court and Appeals to reach Kansas Supreme Court.

A pair of nonprofit organizations supportive of advance mail voting filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday challenging Kansas' new restrictions on the process of acquiring an advance ballot. (Screen capture/Kansas Reflector)

Federal lawsuit challenges Kansas’ new advance mail balloting process

By: Tim Carpenter - June 2, 2021

Advocacy groups file federal lawsuit challenging Kansas' ban on out-of-state entities sending advance ballot applications to voters.

The 2022 Kansas governor's race will feature, from left, Republican Attorney General Derek Schmidt, Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly and former GOP Gov. Jeff Colyer. On Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Tracey Mann endorsed Colyer. (Screen capture/Kansas Reflector)

Mann returns campaign favor, endorses Colyer in Kansas GOP governor’s race

By: Tim Carpenter - June 2, 2021

U.S. Rep. Mann endorses Colyer's second run for the Kansas Republican nomination for governor ahead of 2022 primary election.

Four Kansas organizations filed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging constitutionality of two sweeping election reform bills placed into law by the 2021 Legislature after deflecting vetoes by Gov. Laura Kelly. Here, voters cast ballots at United Methodist Church in Topeka. (Noah Taborda/Kansas Reflector)

Coalition of Kansas organizations challenge constitutionality of Kansas election reforms

By: Tim Carpenter - June 1, 2021

Four Kansas organizations file lawsuit challenging constitutionality of two sweeping election reforms adopted by 2021 Legislature.

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