Opinion
The latest fear for Kansas schools: CRT is turning our children gay
Critical race theory is turning our precious children gay. No matter how loony it sounds, that was the terror coursing underneath the words of parents, advocates and legislators at a hearing last week by the 2021 Special Committee on Education. Remember, CRT is an academic theory taught by precisely zero K-12 schools in Kansas. Somehow, […]
Remembering Kansas’ own Bob Dole: Will we see his like again?
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. Ron Smith is a fifth-generation Kansan, a native of Manhattan, an attorney practicing in Larned, a grandfather several times over, a Vietnam veteran and a civil […]
One weird trick for backsliding democracy: Read banned books
We’ve been buried by a blizzard of news lately. So much has happened — special anti-mandate legislative session, Supreme Court poised to reverse Roe v. Wade, omicron variant popping up across the United States — it’s difficult to choose just one target in the shooting gallery of opinion. But let’s step back for a moment […]
In book form, ‘The 1619 Project’ unrolls bracing historical corrective
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. Holly McCall is the editor of the Tennessee Lookout, which first published this commentary. You’d have to be completely out of the political loop — and I […]
Audio Astra: A Kansas native and his messy road map for compromise on guns
Audio Astra reviews recent audio reporting on Kansas news, including podcasts and radio stories. Eric Thomas directs the Kansas Scholastic Press Association and teaches visual journalism and photojournalism at the University of Kansas. Former Gun Industry Insider On His Battle Against the NRA Fresh Air, Nov. 22, 2021 Gunfight: My Battle against the Industry that Radicalized America […]
Incomplete climate science has pushed us toward the wrong solutions
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. Margy Stewart and husband Ron Young are the proprietors of a native-prairie preserve on McDowell Creek and are restoring 70 acres of former crop ground to […]
Nine alarming developments from the Kansas Legislature’s anti-mandate special session
The special session of the Kansas Legislature came and went the Monday of Thanksgiving week, a swirl of turbocharged politicking and messaging bills. You could be forgiven for overlooking the session, what with the need to defrost that 70-pound turkey and prepare gluten-free stuffing for Aunt Delores. Yet both you and Delores deserve to know […]
Kansans will benefit from health provisions in Build Back Better legislation
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. Suzanne Wikle, a resident of Shawnee and native Kansan, is a senior policy analyst at the Center for Law and Social Policy. The past two years […]
The new white flight: banning books that reveal uncomfortable truths
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. Gretchen Eick is an author, educator and publisher in Wichita. Once again, Texas is throwing its weight around like an overgrown and intimidating bully. As the […]
In 1923, a Kansan saw a fireball overhead. He helped popularize a new science.
Look up. The Kansas sky on a clear winter’s night is a picture window to the universe. Seek out a place where, as the astronomers say, the seeing is good — my local favorite is the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve near Strong City — and you can peer into a star-spangled slice of the Milky […]
Removing sales tax on food creates a mess — why not add tax holidays instead?
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. Ron Smith is a fifth-generation Kansan, a native of Manhattan, an attorney practicing in Larned, a grandfather several times over, a Vietnam veteran and a civil […]
Audio Astra: A morbid playlist of otherwise unrelated audio stories
Audio Astra reviews recent audio reporting on Kansas news, including podcasts and radio stories. Eric Thomas directs the Kansas Scholastic Press Association and teaches visual journalism and photojournalism at the University of Kansas. This week, three podcasts tackle a single topic in very different ways. The theme? How to investigate the cause of death. Some of these […]