Opinion
Full transcript of Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson’s response to the State of the State speech
Good evening and welcome back to the Senate Chamber here in the Kansas State Capitol, where I am proud to serve as President and where I am honored to deliver the Republican Response. First, I want you all to be aware this “response” had to be prerecorded, so my remarks are clearly not in response […]
Full transcript of Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly’s 2023 State of the State speech
Mr. Speaker… Mr. President… Madam Chief Justice and the entire Kansas Supreme Court… members of my Cabinet …leaders of the Kansas tribes… and all the constitutional officers and legislators assembled here tonight. It is my honor to welcome Lieutenant Governor David Toland, his wife Beth Toland, and their children Caroline and William. As we all […]
Anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and laws harm your Kansas neighbors. We can build a more welcoming state.
Even as data shows a majority of the country supports LGBTQ+ people and their rights, hostility and violence against the community is on the rise. The past two years have been the deadliest for transgender people in recent history, in large part due to the rapidly increasing number of legislative attacks against trans peoples’ rights […]
Kansas sex abuse law obstructs justice for young victims. Lawmakers can fix it now.
Kansas law demands an impossibility of young people: If they suffered childhood sexual abuse, they must file a civil case before their 21st birthday. This is the same state where GOP leaders currently advocate a bill criminalizing gender-affirming care for those under 21. That is, they appear to believe that Kansas youths can’t possibly be […]
Buried in a leaked membership list of Oath Keepers from Kansas, a chilling set of skills
Few things surprise me anymore. Journalists look into all kinds of assorted (and sorted and sordid) data, and it’s our job to tease meaningful stories out of the information, whether it’s a stack of boxes from a cold case murder to a spreadsheet on what the local city council spends on travel. But when I […]
Why do right-wing voices dominate the AM dial? Decades of change cemented shift.
Say something on social media and it’s out there for eternity. No matter where, it can be traced. So you are ultimately accountable, for better or worse. Say something on AM talk radio, however, and it vanishes into the ether. If asked about it later, you can just shrug your shoulders and turn away. Imagine, […]
Statehouse scraps: Transparency fail, LaTurner threat trial, KanCare expansion prospects
The second week of the Kansas Legislature has barreled through Topeka like a steam locomotive fueled with plutonium. Along with the usual committee hearings and backroom dealmaking, political news across Kansas kept the pace with GOP organizational hijinks and the bizarre trial of a man who threatened U.S. Rep. Jake LaTurner. At the Statehouse, lawmakers […]
New college semester brings new questions about how to fill empty seats
Visit a faculty break room on a college campus these days. Or gather a group of university professors together for a Friday afternoon cocktail. Or call one on the phone to ask how classes are going. Attendance arises first in almost any such conversation. Three semesters past the time when most universities proclaimed that classes […]
Invasion of the body snatchers: Kansas GOP leaders crave control of residents
Republican leaders in the Kansas Legislature want to control your body and the bodies of your children. This new invasion of the body snatchers has played out across the last year or more in state politics, as those who claim to lead a party once dedicated to individual rights abandoned its rich history. GOP bigwigs […]
If Kansas legislators choose, a sensible and moderate path out of chaos awaits them
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. Rabbi Moti Rieber is executive director of Kansas Interfaith Action, a statewide, multifaith issue-advocacy organization that works on a variety of social, economic and climate justice […]
Food tax reduction an important step, but Kansas families can’t wait for full cut
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. David Jordan is the president of the Hutchinson-based United Methodist Health Ministry Fund. Food prices have risen an astronomical 12% over the past year. Many Kansans are […]
Kansas Statehouse spews news: Defining ‘woke agenda,’ Kelly’s COVID luck, meditation room blues
Week one of the Kansas legislative session came and went, and so did the stories. If you followed along with Kansas Reflector, you glimpsed dozens speeding by, with all the latest about Gov. Laura Kelly, GOP legislators and advocacy groups gearing up for a grueling gauntlet. Covering the Statehouse can be like drinking from a […]