Politics + Government
Kansas governor, Legislature wrestling economic and political forces on $4B development project
Kansas Department of Commerce makes pitch to GOP-led Legislature on economic incentives to attract manufacturer making $4 billion investment in state.
Workers wield newfound power in world shaped by COVID-19. Kansas leaders should adapt, and quickly.
Businesses wouldn’t exist without workers. That’s been easy to forget in recent decades, as corporations flexed their muscle, organized labor endured setbacks, and CEOs grew ever richer. Within a year, however, the COVID-19 pandemic metamorphosed the employment landscape in Kansas and across the country. Workers are waking up amid widespread skill and staffing shortages. They […]
Law enforcement officers, legislators resist House bill banning no-knock warrants
Kansas legislators, law enforcement officers want to arrest development of a House bill placing into state law a prohibition on no-knock search warrants.
‘You have awakened a sleeping lion’: Kansas City residents denounce GOP congressional map
TOPEKA — Wyandotte County resident Connie Brown Collins says new congressional boundaries passed by the state Senate appear to “literally cut through backyards” of several diverse communities. Republicans in the Legislature have fast-tracked an effort to redraw congressional districts in a way that would divide the Kansas City metro area along Interstate 70. As a […]
Kansas Senate panel may lower scrutiny of doctors approving off-label use of drugs for COVID-19
Senate committee explores allowing doctors to prescribe drugs for off-label use against COVID-19 without risk of licensing backlash for bad outcomes.
Youth and expertise converge in gathering of Kansas lawmakers, entrepreneurs
TOPEKA — Rep. Tory Arnberger-Blew ran for office in 2016 as a student at Fort Hays State University because her legislator never responded to an email. When he was gone from the Statehouse for three weeks, nobody even noticed. “My thought is, I just want somebody who’s going to answer the phone, who’s going to […]
Kansas Sen. David Haley asks: Why hide our nation’s historical ‘Roots?’
The 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. Mark McCormick is the former executive director of The Kansas African American Museum and a member of the Kansas African American Affairs Commission. Forty-five years ago this […]
With voting rights stalled, some senators mull an update to the Electoral Count Act
WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of senators is exploring legislation to overhaul how Congress counts Electoral College votes, but backers of stalled voting rights legislation are lukewarm on the effort as a substitute. The Electoral Count Act is an obscure law that has come under recent scrutiny, a year after the Jan. 6 attack on […]
Kansas bill would broaden scope of investigation into maternal deaths
TOPEKA — For 41 years, Rita Williams Thompson’s daughter Charmaine battled through health difficulties because of what her mother described as negligent behavior by doctors throughout her pregnancy. On three separate occasions, Williams Thompson told doctors something was wrong. She noted swelling in her feet, legs and hands, but the only response she got was […]
Legislative auditors skeptical Prairiefire development can pay off $64.8M in bond debt
Auditors say Prairiefire in Overland Park in jeopardy of defaulting on $65 million in STAR bond debt given modest tourism draw, weak sales tax growth.
Kansas unemployment rate dips to 3.3% in December, returning to pre-COVID-19 levels
The Kansas unemployment rate dropped to 3.3% in December, marking a return to pre-COVID-19 levels disrupted by a surge to 12.6% in April 2020.
Kyrsten Sinema is gambling that her filibuster vote will help her win again in 2024
The 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. Jim Small is the editor in chief of the Arizona Mirror, an affiliate of States Newsroom that first published this commentary. She may not have single-handedly derailed […]