Voters arrive Nov. 8, 2022, at the Sunrise Optimist Club north of Topeka. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector) This month, Wisconsin joined 27 other states that have banned or restricted local governments’ use of private donations to run cash-strapped election offices, buy voting equipment or hire poll workers for Election Day. All of the state laws came in the past four years, pushed by conservative lawmakers and activists who claim that Democratic voters disproportionately benefited from hundreds of millions of dollars in grants primarily funded by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife ..read more

The cemetery at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence holds the remains of 103 children who died during the early years of the institution's history, which began in 1884 as a federal boarding school for Native American children. The cemetery was fenced in 2018 to prevent vandalism. (Max McCoy/Kansas Reflector) LAWRENCE — There are 103 Native American children buried in the cemetery on the southeast corner of the Haskell Indian Nations University campus. Not all the graves are marked, but those that are carry the child’s name, their tribe and their lifespans. The first burial was that ..read more

Sen. Cindy Holscher, a Democrat, said she was disappointed the Kansas Senate declined to allow a medical marijuana bill to be pulled from committee to the full Senate for debate. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector) TOPEKA — Republican members of the Kansas Senate crushed with a boot heel Friday an attempt to breathe life into legislation creating the state regulatory framework for cultivation, distribution and use of medical cannabis. The Senate has been the stumbling block since the Kansas House approved a medical marijuana bill in 2021 that wasn’t allowed to come to a vote by Senate leadership ..read more

Sen. Kellie Warren, the Republican chairwoman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, lauded a bill sent to Gov. Laura Kelly affirming new mothers could seek court orders for child support for a fetus from the moment of conception. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector) TOPEKA — The Kansas Legislature sent Gov. Laura Kelly a bill directing the judicial system to recognize child-support claims on behalf of fetuses from conception to birth. The legislation introduced on behalf of faith-based Kansas Family Voice and endorsed by anti-abortion lobbying organizations was described by a supporter as “simple an ..read more

A student is arrested during a pro-Palestinian demonstration at the University of Texas at Austin on April 24, 2024. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images) Interrogations of university leaders spearheaded by conservative congressional representatives. Calls from right-wing senators for troops to intervene in campus demonstrations. Hundreds of student and faculty arrests, with nonviolent dissenters thrown to the ground, tear-gassed and tased. We’ve been here before. In my book “Resistance from the Right: Conservatives and the Campus Wars in Modern America,” I detail how, througho ..read more

Proposals from the 14 Wisconsin residents, brought together to come up with consensus solutions on abortion, arrived at proposals designed to address the economic, health, and education disparities that can lead to people choose abortion. (Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner) Can a group of strangers find common ground on one of the most divisive issues in America? Editor’s note: This story is the third in a series about a group of people from Wisconsin trying to come up with policies to address abortion and its root causes that could be applied nationwide. Their larger goal is to find common ..read more

Rep. Adam Smith says he is drawing "a line in the stand" and refusing to back down on plans to reduce tax collections by $520 million per year. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector) TOPEKA — Rep. Adam Smith doesn’t care for five-year financial projections. The Weskan Republican wants big tax cuts — and he wants them now. He’s even willing to “draw a line in the sand” to get them. Financial forecasts are unreliable, he argued Friday before House members voted to override Gov. Laura Kelly’s vetoes of income, property and sales tax cuts that would lower state revenue by about $520 million per year. C ..read more

Wichita Democratic Rep. Ford Carr, right, pointedly questioned the decision by House and Senate budget negotiators to earmark $500,000 to compensate two Butler County homeowners with polluted drinking water and the decision to challenge a request for $3.5 million to test drinking water at 1,700 homes in Wichita suspected of being tainted by chemical spills decades ago. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector) TOPEKA — Jenna Krob and Dan Prohaska are the unfortunate owners of homes on Thunder Road in Butler County with underground water supplies fouled by crude oil leaching from abandoned or malfuncti ..read more

Gov. Laura Kelly visits Trox Gallery during an April 25, 2024, tour of Emporia main street businesses. Kelly made her final pitch for Medicaid expansion ahead of a procedural vote Friday in the Senate. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector) EMPORIA — Kaila Mock says Medicaid expansion would help small business owners like her, the people she employs at Trox Gallery and the 104 artists whose work appears in the store. And she isn’t fond of GOP legislative leaders who claim that Medicaid expansion would serve “able-bodied adults” who don’t want to work. MEDICAID EXPANSION A series of stories by Kans ..read more

Jeff Kahrs, a former staff member to U.S. Rep. Jake LaTurner, R-Kansas, said he would seek the GOP nomination in the 2nd District to replace LaTurner, who chose not to seek reelection. (Kansas Reflector screen capture of image from Kahrs' campaign announcement) TOPEKA — A former staff member for two Kansas congressmen and an appointee in the state and federal government Thursday said he would seek the Republican Party’s nomination to replace outgoing GOP U.S. Rep. Jake LaTurner in the 2nd District. Declared candidate Jeff Kahrs, who was a district director for LaTurner and a chief of staff to ..read more