As policymakers manage the daily reality of Kansas’ prison crisis, let’s understand the core issue and its implications. Kansas has a growing prison population but lags other states on criminal justice reforms that could curb that growth, ease managing prisons and reduce budget strain from ...
The administration continued its assault on the U.S. environment on Aug. 12 when it watered down the regulations on protecting endangered and threatened species. Its actions are a thumb-your-nose response at the United Nations report in May that warned of a million species of plants and animals ...
Former Speaker of the U.S. House Tip O’Neill famously said “All politics is local.” He was referring specifically to congressional races, where responding to local issues from a national perspective — farm subsidy payments, Social Security checks, small business loans, etc. — was ...
I can perceive the increasing anxiety among my students. Today, they come to the office not only to discuss courses, internships and post-graduation plans, but also to apologize for missed classes and changing behavior due to new doses of medication, personal and family drama, and other ...
Last week 3,100 offenders were released from federal prison as a result of bipartisan criminal justice reform that will reduce prison populations, provide social services and cut federal incarceration costs. This restructure, years in coming, was helped by an effort from industrialist and ...
The news that a Kansas legislator is resigning midterm for health reasons presents a good opportunity to think about the process that Kansas uses to fill legislative vacancies. This is probably not an enthralling topic to most, but it matters because that process is a rotten anachronism that ...
Most Kansans are aware of former Gov. Sam Brownback’s failed tax experiment, but fewer know of his equally flawed experimentation with the lives of Kansas children and families in poverty. Beginning in 2011, Brownback initiated restrictions on federal aid through “temporary assistance ...
Pop quiz: 1. Who was the last elected Republican incumbent senator to lose in the general election? 2. Who was the last elected Senate incumbent of either party to lose in the general election? 3. Since 1969, how many open U. S. Senate seats has Kansas had? 4. When was the last senator ...
Apparently Sen. Jerry Moran is the only Kansas Republican willing to stand up to Saudi Arabia. Recently, Moran joined six other Senate Republicans in backing a resolution against President Donald Trump’s use of emergency powers to sell arms to the Saudis. Afterward, Moran stated his ...
Only a few months ago the court battle over school funding was a central issue of legislative concern and media reports. Now triumphant, school districts are deciding ways to implement the approximately $500 million of new funding that will flow to schools over five years with an additional $90 ...
Sometimes I wonder how long we will be talking about fixing the problems that former Gov. Sam Brownback left Kansas. Our latest Brownback heartburn is prisons. The news that Kansas officials are considering sending inmates to a private prison in Arizona has generated understandable ...
Kansas voters who threw far-right Republicans out of office in 2016 and elected Laura Kelly as governor in 2018 should be pleased that state finance is on the mend after facing bankruptcy three short years ago. In assessing the condition of state finance at the close of the 2019 legislative ...
With last Wednesday’s sine die end to the 2019 legislative session, we can make an early assessment of Kansas politics, the Legislature and especially Gov. Laura Kelly. If a governor’s term consists of four legislative sessions, this is roughly the end of the first quarter. We can’t ...
While Georgia, Alabama and Missouri just passed strict abortion bans, the Kansas Supreme Court has taken a completely different tack. In Hodes & Nauser v. Schmidt, the court ruled that the Kansas Constitution protects a woman’s right to have an abortion, except in cases of a narrowly ...
Using technology in student learning is a new and huge responsibility for teachers and administrators. Mainly popular with university students, there appears to be no stopping online growth. This past year more than 2.5 million U.S. students were enrolled exclusively in online courses. Now ...
The Kansas Supreme Court ruled recently that the state constitution protects a woman’s right to an abortion. Conservative politicians in Topeka may back putting a constitutional amendment on the 2020 ballot to counter that ruling. If a lengthy abortion campaign is looming, then let’s start ...
The Kansas Supreme Court cannot be accused of ducking tough issues. Last week the court ruled that the Bill of Rights in the Kansas Constitution protects Kansans’ “right of personal autonomy,” including a woman’s right to terminate a pregnancy. Then, on Monday, the Court hears the ...
Politics and poker, politics and poker Shuffle up the cards and find the joker Neither game’s for children; either game is rough Decisions, decisions, like Who to pick, how to play, what to bet, when to call a bluff. — From “Fiorello!” Sixty years ago, “Fiorello!” — the ...
The connection between faith and politics is unavoidable. From the freethinking Deists that made up a good portion of our nation’s Constitutional Founders, to America’s periodic evangelical revivals, to the roles of Judaism, Catholicism and other faiths among the waves of immigrants that ...
Last week more than 100 people watched Gov. Laura Kelly sign a K-12 school finance bill that will increase school funding by approximately $90 million dollars in each of the next four years. Some Republicans joined Democrats to vote for the bill and Kelly called the support an example of ...