Local Columns

Opinion: Politics is a full-time profession

Last week, a bipartisan commission of former state lawmakers finished working on and recommended a solution to a long-standing problem: Kansas’s terrible legislative pay scale. Currently, our state Legislature — which is officially supposed to meet for only about 90 days, but which ...

Opinion: Foreign leases and purchases in Kansas

The issue of foreign investment and land purchases in Kansas is once again in the news. Last week, Attorney General Kris Kobach called on the Kansas Legislature to restrict the ability of foreign individuals and corporations to purchase or lease large parcels of land in Kansas. Kobach warned ...

Opinion: Zoning codes and pollinator gardens

A few years after relocating to Kansas from Pennsylvania, a friend of mine dove into home ownership. Being extremely knowledgeable and passionate about birding and gardening, she decided to convert part of her front yard into a native plant pollinator garden. She had no problem with the ...

Opinion: Our gerontocracy impedes fresh ideas

Our political leaders are old, and many are elderly. Dianne Feinstein is currently the oldest sitting senator at age 90. She has experienced a string of serious health issues but remains committed to serving out her term. At 88, Sen. Chuck Grassley recently won an eighth term that will end when ...

Opinion: Climate change concerns in Kansas

Last month a state district court judge in Montana ruled in favor of young environmental activists — ranging in age from 5 to 22 — and their claim that the state of Montana was violating their constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment by allowing fossil fuel ...

Opinion: Defining and defeating polarization

What is polarization, and what can Kansans do about it? More than you might think. “Polarization” is the tendency for people to identify strongly with their own ideological groups, rejecting anything they associate with their perceived enemies. This makes compromise (and thus governing) ...