Opinion
34 Kansas House members — conservative to liberal — support abolishing the death penalty
If you were looking for a group of 34 members of the Kansas House who represented the best hope of bipartisanship — that mythical yet evasive unity some people say they want right now — you could would find it in the list of sponsors for a bill that’s most likely going nowhere this year. […]
It’s time to re-watch Kansas native Gordon Parks’ groundbreaking 1969 movie ‘The Learning Tree’
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. Kirk Sharp is executive director of the Gordon Parks Museum at Fort Scott Community College. The fall of 1969 marked the first time a major motion […]
A veteran of Kansas’ disastrous tax-cutting era says Republicans have taken ‘several steps backwards’
Kansas might be frozen, but it’s not yet a cold enough day in tax-cut hell for some Republicans to repent. Last Tuesday, as temperatures outside fell to cattle-threatening single digits, a majority of Republicans in the Kansas Senate barreled toward sanity-threatening triple digits, passing a package of tax cuts that could cost the state $600 […]
Why Kansans must not allow budget cuts to close the University Press of Kansas
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. Danny Caine is the owner of The Raven Book Store in Lawrence. Here at the Raven Book Store in Lawrence, we felt a sense of deep pride […]
Why Kansas needs to join the 38 states that have expanded Medicaid
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. April Holman is executive director of Alliance for a Healthy Kansas. For more than a decade, Kansas’ conservative legislative leaders have done everything in their power […]
This Valentine’s Day pandemic survival story from Wichita includes infrastructure advice for politicians
I’m sorry to admit that I’ve never been to what sounds like a chocolate utopia in Wichita. That would be the Cocoa Dolce‘s downtown location, where customers can watch the production of candy and pastries for sale in one of the company’s three Wichita locations — or shipped anywhere around the world. Branding itself as […]
This year’s voucher bills are only the latest efforts to privatize education in Kansas
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. Dr. Mary Sinclair is an elected school board member and longtime public education advocate serving on statewide parent organizations and appointed committees. The school voucher battle […]
How one Kansas county fought the pandemic by trusting science, listening to at-risk people and investing in public health
The devastation in Wyandotte County could have been so much worse. When COVID-19 hit, the county suffered one of Kansas’ earliest and worst outbreaks at the Riverbend nursing home, where 36 people were dead and 132 patients and employees had tested positive by the end of May. This followed five deaths and 44 cases by […]
The Legislature could be celebrating Kansas schools, but instead is trying to tear them apart
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. Dr. Liz Meitl works for Kansas City, Kansas, Public School District and her children attend Kansas public schools. Teachers, students and families all across Kansas have […]
Moran should remember these brave Kansans and vote to convict Trump
An open letter to Sen. Jerry Moran: As each generation is called, America’s freedoms and democracy are defended by large actions of heroes and by smaller acts of individual courage. A Senate vote to convict former President Donald Trump for “incitement of insurrection” awaits. You’ve said you will vote against conviction, that “a former president […]
Kansas is once again confronted with the passion of Sam Brownback
There was chill in the air recently when reports surfaced that Sam Brownback had returned to Kansas and, between riding a motorcycle and wielding a chainsaw on his patch of woods outside Topeka, was thinking about how he could promote racial reconciliation. The idea that Citizen Brownback might get anywhere near influencing public policy in […]
The Kansas Legislature’s power imbalance stifles legitimate debate
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 Norlin is a retired Cloud County Community College teacher, where he was department chairman of Communications/English, specializing in media. Our Legislature should be the ultimate debate […]