WRITER: Chad Lawhorn

City's sales tax collections still falling well short of 5% goal, but rest of state struggling too

The halfway mark is in sight. What’s not is a realistic path for the city to meet one of its key budgetary goals. The city of Lawrence this year budgeted for a 5% increase in sales tax revenues over 2023 totals, but through May it has seen revenues grow by less than half of 1%. That said, Lawrence’s sales tax collections are doing better than many of the large retail markets in the state. Of the nine ...

Republican strategist says he is the legitimate chair of Kansas' No Labels party; he says national party failed to complete necessary paperwork to retain control

A Republican strategist who filed paperwork nominating a Lawrence lawmaker as a candidate of the No Labels party against her will has acknowledged that the party’s nominating convention was hardly a convention at all. Instead, Kris Van Meteren said in an email on Friday that he simply “elected myself as Chairman,” at a convention that he called himself, and then proceeded to nominate two candidates for ...

Secretary of State's office providing information to attorney general about possible election crime regarding contested nominations

Story updated at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, June 6: The Kansas Secretary of State’s office has confirmed it is providing information to the Kansas Attorney General about a possible election crime involving a Republican strategist who claims to be the chair of Kansas’ No Labels party. As the Journal-World reported Wednesday, the Kansas Secretary of State’s office invalidated two No Labels party nominations for ...

Sen. Francisco calling for Kobach investigation after questions emerge about Republican strategist and his role in third-party politics

Updated at 6:15 p.m. Wednesday, June 5: Sen. Marci Francisco is calling for Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach to investigate a prominent Republican strategist after questions have emerged regarding whether the strategist misrepresented himself as the chairman of the No Labels Kansas party. The Kansas Secretary of State’s office on Wednesday provided a document to the Journal-World listing Kris Van Meteren ...

Regents committee recommends 10 low-volume KU degree programs should continue; all to be placed on improvement plans

Look to current events in the Middle East for evidence of whether a degree in Jewish Studies might be useful in today’s world. But on Tuesday, its place in the world wasn’t in question. Its place at the University of Kansas was. A key committee of the Kansas Board of Regents on Tuesday recommended that Jewish Studies and nine other programs that suffer from some combination of low enrollment, low pay or ...

Sen. Marci Francisco trying to get to the bottom of how someone filed for her to run as a No Labels candidate, against her wishes

Since 2005, Lawrence lawmaker Marci Francisco has been serving in the Kansas Legislature — always as a Democrat. So, it was a surprise when on Monday — the last day for candidates to file for upcoming November elections — the Kansas Secretary of State’s website showed that Francisco had filed to run for her Kansas Senate seat as a member of the No Labels Party. Among those most surprised was ...