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. 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.

Transgender woman appalled by sports bill asks legislators: ‘I’m tired of burying trans kids. Why aren’t you?’
By: - March 1, 2021

Personal perspectives weigh heavily in debate on Senate bill limiting participation in sports for girls and women to gender designated at birth.

U.S. Rep. Jake LaTurner, the 2nd District Republican, said businesses in Kansas were having difficulty filling job vacancies because the COVID-19 federal unemployment benefit of $300 weekly was a disincentive for people to return to work. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)

GOP lawmakers offer advice to Kansas governor on jobless claims
By: - February 28, 2021

Republicans serving Kansas in Topeka and Washington, D.C., complain about Gov. Laura Kelly's handling of unemployment claims in the pandemic.

The administration of Gov. Laura Kelly recommended renovation of the partially used Docking state office building in Topeka and incorporation of a laboratory for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment into the project. This is an old photo of Docking. (Screen capture/Kansas Reflector)

Officials suggest $152M renovation of Docking building in Topeka
By: - February 26, 2021

Kelly administration suggests $152 million overhaul of Docking state office building next to Capitol can include a new KDHE laboratory.

The Kansas Supreme Court issued an order suspending District Court Judge William Cullins from work as a judge for one year for making racist and sexist remarks in the courthouse that created a hostile working environment. He will be given an opportunity to reduce the sanction by engaging in professional counseling and training. (Screen capture/Kansas Reflector)

Kansas Supreme Court issues 1-year suspension to judge for racist, sexist remarks in courthouse
By: - February 26, 2021

Kansas Supreme Court suspends for one year a district court judge guilty of sexist and racist remarks and behavior damaging to the justice system.

KU faculty straw poll finds weak support for no-confidence vote on key administrators
By: - February 26, 2021

LAWRENCE — Frustration simmered among University of Kansas’ members of Faculty Senate who characterized the way top campus administrators were maneuvering through the COVID-19 budget crisis as an attack on academic freedom, shared governance and transparency. The Faculty Senate’s discussion, however, didn’t lead to consensus that now was the time to consider a no-confidence vote […]

Rep. Fred Patton, a Topeka Republican, pleaded with House colleagues to support a bill suspending for three years the state law defining a speedy criminal trial because the district courts were overwhelmed by COVID-19 issues. The bill passed 117-17. (Pool photo by Evert Nelson/Topeka Capital-Journal)

Kansas House bill suspends speedy-trial law to avoid freeing accused murderers, rapists
By: - February 25, 2021

Kansas House passes bill suspending state law defining a speedy trial to keep judges from releasing accused murderers and rapists.

Gov. Laura Kelly signed Senate Bill 15 during a bipartisan news conference Thursday in the Capitol to create a maximum $60 million loan program for businesses with less than 200 employees struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)

Democratic governor, GOP lawmakers unify to dedicate $60M for low-cost loan program
By: - February 25, 2021

Gov. Laura Kelly signs bipartisan bill creating $60 million low-interest loan program for small businesses struggling with the pandemic.

Sen. Kellie Warren, R-Leawood, opened work Wednesday in the Senate Judiciary Committee on a bill overhauling the state's disaster management law to restrain Gov. Laura Kelly and influence how counties, cities, schools respond to disasters such as the COVID-19 pandemic. (Noah Taborda/Kansas Reflector)

GOP senators eager to answer COVID-19 with explicit Kansas emergency management law
By: - February 24, 2021

Kansas Senate committee takes carving knife to state emergency management law to more specifically limit a governor's authority in disasters.

Gov. Laura Kelly said the Kansas Department of Labor paid out an estimated $290 million in fraudulent unemployment claims in the COVID-19 pandemic year of 2020, including $140 million from the state's trust fund and $150 million in temporary federal assistance. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)

Governor: Kansas pays out $290M in fraudulent jobless claims
By: - February 23, 2021

Kansas officials estimate $290 million in fraudulent state and federal unemployment benefits were issued in 2020 as COVID-19 raged.

Family Policy Alliance lobbyist Brittany Jones, former Yale University basketball player Jessica Steffen and former University of Kansas pole vaulter Callie Hicks, left to right, testified in favor of a Kansas Senate bill assigning transgender athletes to sports programs at public schools and colleges based on gender at birth. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)

Kansas transgender sports bill: Epitome of fair play? Or, brazenly unconstitutional?
By: - February 23, 2021

TOPEKA — Former University of Kansas pole vaulter Callie Hicks offered assurances Tuesday that failure to impose a state law restricting transgender athletes to competitions based on biological gender at birth would destroy girls and women’s sports programs. She was among two dozen people drawn to the Senate Education Committee’s hearing on a bill requiring […]

Sen. Caryn Tyson, the Parker Republican who chairs the Senate Assessment and Taxation Committee, extended to another day the combative confirmation hearing for Robert Marx, a nominee to the Kansas Board of Tax Appeals, who is opposed by the Kansas Chamber. (Screen capture/Kansas Reflector)

Kansas Chamber leads charge to torpedo state Board of Tax Appeals nominee
By: - February 23, 2021

Allegations of conflict of interest flashed during the Kansas Senate confirmation hearing for a nominee to the state Board of Tax Appeals.

Amber Shultz, secretary of the Kansas Department of Labor, acknowledged huge challenges in delivering unemployment aid during the COVID-19 pandemic, but was convinced the state was in a better position in 2022. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)

Kelly seeks state, federal funding to restore Kansas unemployment trust fund, fix IT system
By: - February 22, 2021

Kansas officials seek $37 million from the state and additional federal funding to upgrade and maintain the unemployment benefit computer system.

RETURN TO HOME