Several protest rallies scheduled for return of Kansas Legislature / LJWorld.com

Topeka — At least three protest rallies will be held this week at the Statehouse related to controversial issues before the Legislature, which returns to session Wednesday.

Advocates for Kansans with developmental disabilities will rally at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, demanding that Gov. Sam Brownback exclude long-term care services for those with developmental disabilities from his proposal to privatize Medicaid. Organizers said they expect more than 1,000 people at the “Don’t Gamble with Our Lives!” rally.

Brownback has asserted that the change will improve services and lower costs, but those delivering those services dispute that.

“The Administration continues to tout the financial savings they foresee but fails to articulate how those savings will be achieved without reducing services,” said Tom Laing, executive director of InterHab, a statewide association of developmental disability service providers.

Individuals through Facebook are organizing a protest at 11:30 a.m. Thursday against legislation called the Kansas Preservation of Religious Freedom Act.

Several groups have said the proposal would allow Kansans to cite religious beliefs to discriminate against gays, and trump a Lawrence ordinance that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation. The proposal has been approved by the House and is now before the Senate.

On Saturday, there will be a “We Are Women” march as part of a national protest in what organizers are calling a “war on women.” The march will start at 11 a.m. at the Brown v. Board of Education National Historical Site and end up at the Capitol. Sponsors for this event include the Kansas chapter of the National Organization for Women, Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas and Western Missouri, The Group, Kansans United in Voice & Spirit, Great Plains Chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church & State, MoveOn.org, League of Women Voters of Kansas, Mainstream Coalition and Occupy Wichita.

oldbaldguy 1 year, 12 months ago

My son is at the statehouse today, He is one of those folks you are all talking about. There are some services the State can best do, one is providing services for the disabled. I am able to take care of my son. There are lot of families who cannot. My son would die if no one watched out for him.

The argument that the private sector can provide this service is pure dreck. Without Federal or State funding it would not happen. The yearning to go back to another time is fantasy.

BABBOY 1 year, 12 months ago

Vote Brownback out of office. I do not even care if a democrat replaces him. I would take moderate republican that just wants to make things better for everyone -- not just those who got him elected.....

emilybarajas 1 year, 12 months ago

Companies will be barred from instituting caps on coverage when your costs for treatments goes up due to sickness, you can now get insurance with out caps on coverage at "Penny Health" search them online.

pace 1 year, 12 months ago

Brownback cuts to services and destruction of infrastructure will kill people. All to serve Koch. His plans deserve protests. Most Kansans don't want his false economies. His plan to put KNI kids, so disabled that they do require institutional care, to send them to community placements, will drain the community services of the ability to serve those they can help. He see's his "get a job" as a righteous remark to one boy I know who is blind, deaf and crippled.
He is cutting the staff to people handling the child predators and rapists. Once the facility can't handle their population, does he propose to put them to work at youth shelters. Brownback deserves a lot of protest. He is a kocholite. He doesn't smell good. He is covered with dirty oil.

its_just_math 1 year, 12 months ago

Still batting 1000....guessing who wrote trash pc. before clicking on it. Pathetic doesn't even begin to describe this situation at LJW. How come we can not have an impartial reporter covering Topkea? Why is that so out of the question. Put Rothschild in the lifestyle section or maybe just give him an editorial column, so at least we could just......not read it.