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) ...

Kansas today is an increasingly urban state. More precisely, it is mostly suburban. More than half of the state’s population lives in just five counties: Johnson, Sedgwick, Shawnee, Wyandotte and Douglas. In many of these communities, most people choose to live not in the city’s core but ...

In a report published earlier this month by the Kansas Maternal Mortality Review Committee, the state’s maternal outcomes have worsened in recent years. Both pregnancy-related deaths and illnesses increased between 2016 and 2020. According to the report, about two-thirds of ...

Various tensions — urban vs. rural, national vs. local — haunt almost every discussion about environmental policy in the United States. Recent efforts by some Kansas educational institutions reflect a path beyond those tensions, efforts that are long overdue. To start, environmental ...

After decades of decline, fatal traffic crashes increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Today’s traffic deaths are falling harder and harder on bicyclists and pedestrians. In Kansas, pedestrian deaths increased 261%, from 18 in 2019 to 47 in 2021, according to the National Governors’ ...

On Aug. 14, Dolly Parton is coming to Kansas to celebrate the statewide success of her Imagination Library program. Parton’s Imagination Library is an example of how music, art and culture can intersect with social change. Through her deep commitment to education and literacy, Parton has ...