Local Columns

Opinion: The choice is indeed between normal and crazy

The world has turned upside down. Fox News is now Russian State TV in the U.S. It backs Vladimir Putin, a war criminal, in his invasion of Ukraine. Joining Fox is the Putin wing of the Republican party, the party that once claimed to be the bulwark against Russian communism and aggression. ...

Opinion: 2 steps foward, 1 step back for GOP

Mike Brown is a former Johnson County commissioner, a failed primary candidate for GOP Secretary of State Scott Schwab’s job, and someone who has expressed sympathy for former President Donald Trump’s lies regarding the 2020 election results. And as of last weekend, he is also the new ...

Opinion: Strong leadership needed on water

Gov. Laura Kelly mentioned Kansas’ water crisis in her 2023 State of the State Address, but so far she has proposed few specific policies to alleviate the problem. Will this be the year that Kansas policymakers step up? Some 90 years ago, the state endured the catastrophic Dust Bowl from ...

Opinion: Parents should think deeply about proposed bills

Next week, the diversity in school debate returns to neighboring state Missouri via House Bill 952, its anti-1619 Project bill, joining the earlier proposed Parent’s Bill of Rights, SB 776. Missouri, a bellwether for policymaking in Kansas, points to the likely resuscitation of this political ...

Opinion: Home rule and popular sovereignty

One of the simplest ways to define politics is as a struggle for power. This power struggle has flared up again. The Legislature began its 2023 session by introducing a bill that would further disrupt the current power division between state and local entities and also undermine Kansas ...

Opinion: ESAs diminish ideal of public schools

Consistent with conservative wishes when it comes to K-12 education, the 2023 “A better way” legislative agenda Kansas Republicans released a few days ago leans toward support for school choice Education Savings Accounts (ESAs). Any significant upside in this is that the legislative ...