Kansas Gov. John Carlin reaffirmed that he was totally committed to working for enactment of an oil and gas severance tax. He branded as “an inadequate approach” Sam Hardage’s call for a 4-cent motor fuel tax hike to meet a state money shortage. “Without a doubt this (a severance tax) is my No. 1 priority to get the necessary revenue to get us moving,” Carlin told members of the League of Kansas Municipalities at a Topeka gathering.

If a second round of state-mandated budget cuts should become necessary, it would have a “profound effect” on Kansas University, Chancellor Gene Budig said. KU already had cut spending 4 percent due to a probable state funding shortfall. Budig said “there really is no room for any further cuts.”