Local Columns

Opinion: Public education under attack

Another chapter in the long-running controversy between the Kansas Legislature and Kansas public education concluded on Sunday night when the Legislature approved a bill earmarking an additional $129 million to K-12 in response to an earlier order by the Kansas Supreme Court. Getting the bill ...

Opinion: Exulting in Mardi Gras excess

Some irresistible need must make members of our species attempt to escape from the prison of their skins. I was standing at the corner of Frenchman and Royal streets in New Orleans, and towards me flowed a stream of human beings magically transformed: A penguin, baboon, zebra, sea horse, ...

Saturday Column: Why do Koch contributions trigger such scorn?

Earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a decision that changes the law on how much money an individual can give to political candidates. The decision maintains the previous $123,000 limit to a single candidate but allows an individual to give the same amount to any number of ...

Saturday Column: Player unions would vastly change college athletics

The ruling earlier this week by a National Labor Relations Board official that Northwestern University football players are employees of the university and have the right to unionize and bargain for salaries is sure to have a huge impact on so-called amateur collegiate sports.University and ...

Saturday Column: Politicians, like athletes, should play by the rules

Millions of Americans currently are engaged one way or another with the NCAA basketball tournament. Some are participating in office pools or filling out brackets predicting how far the 64 teams will advance, and thousands upon thousands of fans will fill arenas around the country to watch ...

Opinion: Kansans should reclaim power

It was reported this week that during a hearing on a proposed bill to ban judicial lobbying, Craig Gabel, from Kansans for Liberty, said that he was testifying on behalf of the “common citizens” of Kansas. When I read this, I immediately began to wonder about how the “common citizen” of ...