Civil Rights
U.S. House panel looks into disinformation targeted at communities of color
WASHINGTON — Experts tracking disinformation efforts online detailed to lawmakers on a U.S. House Administration panel Thursday how communities of color are targets for those disinformation campaigns. Democrats on the Subcommittee on Elections expressed their concern about how communities of color are the subject of election and COVID-19 misinformation through various social media platforms such […]
Kansas Democrat threatens to recruit parents to sue schools for lack of honest history lessons
TOPEKA — Rep. Valdenia Winn offered a proposal to House Republicans: If they were to override the governor’s veto of legislation installing a parental bill of rights, she would recruit parents to file lawsuits over the lack of honest history lessons in public schools. After all, Winn said, the parental bill of rights “essentially” gives […]
Kansas bill banning transgender athletes in school sports falls short of veto override in House
TOPEKA — An effort to ban transgender athletes from school sports failed Thursday after the House fell short on an attempt to override Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of the bill. The bill, a subject of significant debate the past two sessions, garnered 81 votes in favor, falling short of the 84 required a two-thirds majority […]
Kansas representative’s hateful email unmasks the anti-trans bias poisoning legislation
Rep. Cheryl Helmer gave the game away Monday. As the Kansas Legislature wrangled over Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of an anti-trans sports bill, the Reflector revealed Helmer’s hateful email to a University of Kansas graduate student. All at once, any pretensions that supporters had about the legislation “protecting girls” were thrown out the window. The […]
Taking representation into our own hands: Asian American group begins community engagement effort
Kansas Reflector welcomes opinion pieces from writers who share our goal of widening the conversation about how public policies affect the day-to-day lives of people throughout our state. Anthony Mai is a local advocate raised in Wichita with a strong background in mental health and social work. The Asian and Asian American population in Wichita […]
Congress expands Brown v. Board of Education historic site beyond Kansas
The U.S. House cleared a bill Tuesday that would expand the Kansas site honoring the U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning school segregation, adding National Park Service sites in other states to commemorate their roles in the decision as well. The bill would designate sites related to school desegregation cases in Virginia, Delaware, South Carolina and […]
Legislature delays negotiations of $4 billion Kansas Medicaid contracts until 2023
TOPEKA — Kansas Republican legislators moved Tuesday to delay negotiations of the nearly $4 billion contracts for insurance companies managing the state’s Medicaid system until 2023. The bill blocks all requests for proposals for managed care organizations administering KanCare until at least Jan. 1, 2023. The GOP-controlled Legislature was eager to push the process of […]
Equality Kansas asks House leadership to discipline representative over hateful email
TOPEKA — Equality Kansas on Tuesday asked House leadership to take disciplinary action against Rep. Cheryl Helmer for “incendiary” comments about a transgender House member. Helmer, a Republican from Mulvane, said in an April 23 email from her legislator account to a transgender college graduate student that she didn’t appreciate sharing a restroom at the […]
Kansas Republican complains about sharing Statehouse restroom with ‘transgender female’
TOPEKA — Rep. Cheryl Helmer told a transgender college student she doesn’t appreciate sharing a restroom at the Statehouse with a “huge transgender female” and falsely claims transgender people are assaulting “wee little girls” in school restrooms. Helmer’s hate-filled remarks were made in an April 23 email from her legislator address to Brenan Riffel, a […]
Congressional map drawn by Kansas Republicans is unconstitutional, Wyandotte County judge rules
TOPEKA — Wyandotte County District Judge Bill Klapper ruled Monday that Kansas Republicans violated the state constitution by targeting residents on the basis of politics and race when drawing new congressional districts. Klapper’s order, which Attorney General Derek Schmidt immediately appealed to the Kansas Supreme Court, blocks the state from preparing for the congressional election […]
Anti-trans legislation in Kansas hurts LGBTQ+ youths. But we can all do something about it.
Kansas Reflector welcomes opinion pieces from writers who share our goal of widening the conversation about how public policies affect the day-to-day lives of people throughout our state. Erica Treto is a student at Wichita State University, where she is majoring in psychology with minors in political science and sociology. Kansas is one of a […]
Horde of Lincolns celebrate Kansas’ anti-slavery roots in trip to Lecompton
LECOMPTON — Abraham Lincoln(s) paid a visit to Lecompton’s Historical Society on Saturday — roughly 30 of them. The visitors were members of the Association of Lincoln Presenters, a group of men and women across the United States who enjoy portraying Abraham or Mary Todd Lincoln. “We are living historians, you might call us, or […]