Takeaways The 2022 gubernatorial election in Kansas was close. Gov. Laura Kelly and Republican challenger Derek Schmidt rarely found common ground. But they agreed on at least one thing: ditching the sales tax on diapers and period products — like tampons and menstrual cups. They both liked the idea because it helped young women, families […]
Blaise Mesa
Blaise Mesa is The Beacon’s former Kansas Statehouse reporter. He covered the Kansas Statehouse for The Beacon from 2023 to 2026 after reporting on social services for the Kansas News Service and crime and local government for the Topeka Capital-Journal. He has a bachelor’s degree in multimedia journalism with a concentration in radio from Columbia College Chicago.
Posted inHealth, Kansas State Government
The proposals to whittle down a 10-year waitlist for Kansans with intellectual disabilities
Kansas has money to help such families with overnight respite care, wellness monitoring and other in-home services. But families wait an average of 10 years to qualify. That’s so long that kids have aged out of support before ever getting it.
Posted inKansas State Government
Missouri legalized weed last year, yet Kansas saw little increase in drug arrests
Takeaways: More than 1 million Kansans live within an hour’s drive of Missouri and its dispensaries selling legal cannabis at seemingly every strip mall. Yet even with that new, easy access to legal weed, fewer people face arrest in Kansas on marijuana charges. Prosecutors and police remain obliged to enforce the state’s prohibition on cannabis […]
Posted inKansas State Government
What is the state of tax cuts in Kansas?
Takeaways: – Kansas lawmakers are in a deadlock over tax cuts, primarily centered around Republicans advocating for a flat income tax.– Republicans are making a second attempt at a flat tax through an amended bill. The second attempt has fewer Social Security tax cuts.– The fate of sweeping tax cuts in Kansas remains unclear but […]
Posted inState Government
What is the state of tax cuts in Kansas?
Takeaways: – Kansas lawmakers are in a deadlock over tax cuts, primarily centered around Republicans advocating for a flat income tax.– Republicans are making a second attempt at a flat tax through an amended bill. The second attempt has fewer Social Security tax cuts.– The fate of sweeping tax cuts in Kansas remains unclear but […]
Posted inKansas State Government
A new specialized court aims to help Kansas families dealing with substance abuse to get kids out of foster care
Takeaways: Drug addiction can rip families apart. Nearly one in 10 Kansas kids who landed in foster care last year were there because they or their parents had an addiction, according to state foster care data. Another 4% were taken from a family because an infant was affected by drugs. Nationwide, about 8.7 million kids […]
Posted inLocal Government, State Government
Some Kansas Citians look for gun control after the Super Bowl parade, but state law limits get in the way
It’s possible to imagine Kansas City — anguished by chronic gun violence and freshly angered by Wednesday’s nightmarish Super Bowl rally — clamping down on guns.
If only it could.
State lawmakers and the governor of Missouri see guns more as a tool of self-defense than as the source of carnage. They put laws in place that bar Kansas City, Jackson County or anywhere else in the state from imposing local gun control.
Posted inKansas State Government, Local Government
After witnessing a deadly mass shooting, lawmakers want to take action on gun control
Takeaways: Update (Feb. 16, 2024): In response to Wednesday’s shooting, Missouri House Republican Majority Leader Jon Patterson told The Kansas City Star, House Republicans abandoned two gun-related bills. One would allow guns to be carried inside churches and on buses and another would eliminate sales taxes on firearms and ammunition. “While I do think both […]
Posted inElections, Kansas State Government
Kansas GOP eyeing election changes, targeting drop boxes and mail votes
Takeaways: Some bills moving through the Kansas Legislature could overhaul the way the state runs elections, including some slammed by opponents as “pure voter suppression.” They target drop boxes and mail ballots, and some were killed in recent legislative sessions. But past lawmaking defeats won’t stop the Republicans who dominate the Statehouse and say confidence […]
Posted inKansas State Government
How much can the tax money Kansas might spend on child care help?
Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly wants to spend another $30 million on grants for day care operators to expand. But the $55 million the state has already spent added only 5,500 child care openings.