Topeka ? Author, columnist and FOX News contributor Michelle Malkin will be the featured speaker at a fund-raiser for Kris Kobach, who is running for the Republican Party nomination for secretary of state.

The event will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Terradyne County Club in Andover.

The invitation states that the price of admission is $50 per person.

Malkin’s latest book is entitled “Culture of Corruption: Obama and His Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks and Cronies.”

11:55 a.m.

Gov. Mark Parkinson is pushing back against Republican legislators who say his administration is not being aggressive enough in trying to lure Cerner Corp. from Missouri to Kansas City, Kan.

Parkinson, a Democrat, and the Kansas Department of Commerce have offered Cerner $230 million in incentives.

Cerner has proposed building an office complex for 4,500 employees, earning an average of $65,000 per year. The project also includes construction of a soccer stadium for the Kansas City Wizards.

Parkinson said the state’s offer, which includes $85 million in upfront cash, money for training, sales tax exemptions and job and capital investment tax credits, and $144.5 million in STAR bonds, is the maximum amount “that makes sense.”

He said self-proclaimed fiscal conservatives, who have no trouble cutting public schools and higher education, need to be able to say “no” when businesses ask for more tax breaks.

Cerner has not responded yet to the state’s offer.

11:15 a.m.

One year before 2010 election, CQPolitics.com says that the U.S. Senate post being vacated by Sam Brownback, R-Kan., will be held by Republicans.

CQ Politics has changed its ratings on that race from “likely Republican” to “safe Republican.”

The two Republicans vying to replace Browback are U.S. Reps. Jerry Moran of Hays and Todd Tiahrt of Goddard. The only Democrat in the race so far is Charles Schollenberg, a former journalist and communications executive.

Brownback is leaving the Senate to run for governor.

10:05 a.m.

With the prospect of more budget cuts to education becoming more likely, State Board of Education Chairwoman Janet Waugh argues that the reductions would be short-sighted.

“Bottom line, it’s still a pay now or pay later because if they don’t educate our kids properly, they’re probably going to end up on welfare or they’re going to end up in our prison system,” Waugh said in a recent interview.

9:12 a.m.

U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., is planning to run for re-election in 2014, The Hutchinson News reports.

If he won, Roberts, 73, would be 84 at the conclusion of a 6-year term won in 2014, and he would rank 2nd among Kansas senators in longevity in the Senate behind Bob Dole.

Roberts served 16 years in the House before entering the Senate in 1997. He won re-election in 2002 and 2008.

Roberts for Senate Inc. reported $82,256 in cash on hand at the end of September, the newspaper reported.