Takeaways: If Kansas City had its way, the local minimum wage would run $17 per hour, grocery stores would only use paper bags and you’d need to pass a background check to buy a gun in town. But politicians and businesses that see these policy ideas as threats to their authority or their bottom lines, […]
The Missouri legislature is cutting local governments’ power to pass their own laws
Posted inKansas State Government
Calls for state aid grow as homelessness worsens across Kansas
Takeaways: Homelessness is rising across Kansas. It’s booming in Lawrence, where it increased 51% from 2020 to 2023. Misty Bosch-Hastings, director of the Homeless Solutions Division for Lawrence, said that rise comes partly from people dropping off homeless people at camps in the city. Nearby hospitals, correctional facilities or mental health centers will pull up […]
Posted inKansas State Government, Uncategorized
Kansas lawmakers and Kelly couldn’t agree on tax cuts — so governor calls for another try
Takeaways: Kansas lawmakers failed to pass tax cuts that the governor would sign before adjourning for the year, setting up a heated tax fight during an election year. The Legislature adjourned early Wednesday morning, but Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly has the power to bring lawmakers back for a special session. She promised to do it, […]
Posted inEducation
Why Kansas City students are joining nationwide protests supporting Palestine
Protests, kindled by livestreamed images from Palestine and set ablaze by university crackdowns on demonstrators, rage at colleges and universities across the country. Students have pitched encampments and occupied campus buildings while calling for an end to violence in Gaza — and demanding their institutions divest of companies they believe support the war there. “We […]
Posted inEconomics, Health, Housing
Kansas is injecting $205 million into a biomedical campus. How it changes downtown Wichita
It is closing in on a weekday lunch hour with few signs of life on an April morning at the southeast corner of Broadway Avenue and East William Street. On the corner, a parking lot. To the west, the distinctive Depression-era Petroleum Building sits empty. To the south and east, toward the Intrust Bank Arena, […]
Posted inEconomics, Health
Wichita’s biomedical campus aims to build tech and variety into health care training
A $300 million project about to be built downtown will give Wichita State University a unique opportunity to give students the most modern training possible in a health care world that is undergoing “tectonic” changes, says Gregory Hand, WSU dean of the College of Health Professions. As health care becomes more about teamwork among doctors, […]
Posted inEducation
‘We cannot continue down this path’: KCKPS special education can’t shake issues with staffing, trust
A team of researchers found heavy staff turnover and poor retention. That leaves more work for those who stay and makes it harder for them to give students the services they’re legally entitled to.
Posted inEconomics, Labor, Local Government, State Government
Missouri won’t let Kansas City become a sanctuary city, but the mayor wants more immigrant workers
Takeaways: Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas has essentially invited immigrants to come and fill the local labor pool. He’s offering officials in New York and Denver help from the crush of immigrants in those cities and welcoming foreign workers to Kansas City. That quickly sparked accusations that Lucas appeared bent on making Kansas City a […]
Posted inHealth
‘It’s a community problem’: How harm reduction cushions Wichita’s fentanyl crisis
With armfuls of pamphlets, fentanyl test strips and naloxone, Morgan Jennings shows up around Wichita on a mission: trying to stop opioid overdoses. For Jennings, every opportunity to distribute naloxone, a medication that reverses opioid overdoses, is a chance to honor the people in her life affected by substance use disorder. She lost her father […]
Posted inEducation, Kansas State Government
Kansas colleges aren’t sweating new law threatening $10,000 fines for certain DEI policies
Takeaways: Requiring job candidates to talk about diversity, equity and inclusion during the hiring process could subject public universities in Kansas to $10,000 fines. A new law bans colleges from requiring statements of support or opposition to political ideologies or movements during admission, hiring or promotion processes. In practice, that means colleges can’t require staff […]