Takeaways: Tory Marie Blew first got on a waiting list for infant care when she got married. She waited over three years before a spot finally opened. Thankfully for Blew, a Republican state representative from Great Bend, Kansas, she wasn’t pregnant when she first signed up. She is now, and the recently-available opening will come […]
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 inEducation, Kansas State Government
More Kansas teens feel sad or hopeless, but a school program is helping thousands
Takeaways: Anxiety and depression. Eating disorders. Suicide. Among kids. More than one-third of high school students in Kansas reported feeling sad or hopeless for a two-week run or longer in 2021 — slightly below the national average, but at nearly double the rate recorded a dozen years before the pandemic. Kansas spotted the growing youth […]
Posted inState Government
Deaf Kansans struggle getting legal help. The state is trying to change that
Takeaways: A deaf Kansas woman going through a divorce signed a separation agreement thinking she would receive $500 a month in alimony. But that alimony had never been agreed to. “By the time (an attorney) reviewed the matter, it was well past the time to file an appeal,” said Leonard Hall, a lawyer at Hall […]
Posted inKansas State Government
Deaf Kansans struggle getting legal help. The state is trying to change that
Takeaways: A deaf Kansas woman going through a divorce signed a separation agreement thinking she would receive $500 a month in alimony. But that alimony had never been agreed to. “By the time (an attorney) reviewed the matter, it was well past the time to file an appeal,” said Leonard Hall, a lawyer at Hall […]
Posted inHealth, Kansas State Government
Kansas foster kids need mental health care, but trying to add more is expensive
Takeaways: Kansas foster kids get too little behavioral and mental health treatment, audits find, but expanding those services can prove so costly that it slows expansion of those programs. Foster kids got mental and behavioral health treatment just 70% of the time in 2022, a lawsuit settlement found. That’s well below the 85% court-mandated requirement. […]
Posted inKansas State Government
A 15-year-old’s suicide while in Kansas foster care came amid a shortfall in mental health care
Takeaways: A 15-year-old took his own life in October while in the care of a private Kansas foster care agency. That agency, KVC Kansas, fell short of court-mandated benchmarks for getting mental health treatment for children in its care. Yet KVC actually comes closer to hitting the mark than other agencies hired by the state […]
Posted inEconomics, Environment, State Government
Kansas regulators give Evergy a smaller electrical rate hike than it asked for
Takeaways: Kansas regulators dialed back electric rate hikes that Evergy wanted to impose on its customers. Electric rates will now go up slightly for former Westar customers in the central part of Kansas and tick down for customers who used to get their kilowatts from Kansas City Power & Light. Evergy says, on average, its […]
Posted inEconomics, Environment, Kansas State Government
Kansas regulators give Evergy a smaller electrical rate hike than it asked for
Takeaways: Kansas regulators dialed back electric rate hikes that Evergy wanted to impose on its customers. Electric rates will now go up slightly for former Westar customers in the central part of Kansas and tick down for customers who used to get their kilowatts from Kansas City Power & Light. Evergy says, on average, its […]
Posted inEconomics, Kansas State Government
Kansas wants to ease taxes on retirees
Update: This story was from the 2023 Legislative session, but it has been updated for the 2024 Legislative session and is up-to-speed on Statehouse action as of Jan. 31, 2024. Kansas lawmakers failed to cut Social Security taxes in 2023. But lawmakers are trying again — this time with more bipartisan support. Last year, Gov. […]