Local Columns

Opinion: Better environmental policies for state

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 ...

Opinion: Kansas needs safer, more fun roads

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’ ...

Opinion: The issue with outsourcing public good

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 ...

Opinion: How municipal primaries are changing

In Wichita, Topeka and elsewhere across Kansas, the municipal election cycle is underway. Candidates for city council and school board seats and mayor will be selected in the primary elections that will conclude on Tuesday. For those few Kansans involved in these races, whether as candidates or ...

Opinion: Traffic merging provides policy lessons

Do we need to re-learn how we merge on the freeway? The Kansas Department of Transportation says yes. But are we open to re-thinking something we have done the same way for years? Since 2016, KDOT has been promoting the “zipper merge” for the construction zones along U.S. Highway 69 in ...

Opinion: The politics of investment incentives

Gov. Laura Kelly recently touted her administration’s economic track record in a press release from the Office of the Governor. Specifically, Kelly cited over $16 billion in private-sector investments and the creation of over 60,000 jobs in Kansas since she took office as governor. To grow ...