Kansas Reflector

The state treasurer for Kansas said the bipartisan settlement of multistate litigation against Delaware regarding unclaimed property from a money-transfer company would result in $1.5 million being forwarded to Kansas for distribution to consumers.

Settlement of Delaware lawsuit transfers $1.5 million in unclaimed property to Kansas • Kansas Reflector Settlement of an unusual lawsuit against Delaware regarding unclaimed property tied to MoneyGram results in transfer of $1.5 million to Kansas.

When pirates attacked Leah Delamarter and her U.S. Naval crewmates at sea, somewhere between the east African countries of Djibouti and Somalia in 2009, she suffered injuries to her central nervous system that caused lifelong damage to the right side of her body.

Kansas Legal Services helped Navy veteran, attacked by pirates, secure disability benefits • Kansas Reflector

Opinion editor Clay Wirestone writes: We will not see justice in the law enforcement raid on the Marion County Record newspaper until officials take an entirely different approach.

Inquiry into Marion raid has been hopelessly compromised. Kansans deserve an independent review. • Kansas Reflector We will not see justice in the case of local law enforcement raid on the Marion County Record newspaper until officials take a new approach.

Opinion from Robert Forrant: Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and Republican nominee Donald Trump are in a tight race for the White House. Every voting bloc will count — including members of labor unions and other people in their households.

Trump and Harris, with starkly different records on labor issues, are both courting union voters • Kansas Reflector Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and Republican nominee Donald Trump are in a tight race for the White House. Every voting bloc will count — including members of labor unions and other people in their households.

In their ongoing quest to lower prescription drug prices, Kansas and other states are forcing drugmakers to continue to sell cheaper medications to thousands of pharmacies through a federal drug-discount program.

States force drugmakers to keep selling cheaper meds under federal program • Kansas Reflector

Opinion from Max McCoy: The July 2024 study, conducted by a team that includes two researchers at the University of Kansas, used financial transactions from a large population of U.S. consumers to provide a comprehensive picture of activity on online gambling sites. The team sought to answer three questions: Does access to legalized sports betting encourage other forms of financial risk-taking, are there measurable impacts to household financial health, and do the effects vary across households with different financial or demographic characteristics.

Two years ago, sports betting became legal in Kansas. It wasn't worth the risk to some. • Kansas Reflector Outrage is my beat. Somebody asked me the other day what exactly my beat was in writing a regular opinion column. The query came during a phone call with a producer for a television documentary while she was doing a pre-interview to decide if anything I had to say was compelling enough to appear on....

As few as 13% of large government IT projects succeed, a field guide by the U.S. General Services Administration’s 18F team said. The group of designers, software engineers, strategists and product managers work within the GSA to help government agencies buy and build tech products.

Governments often struggle with massive new IT projects • Kansas Reflector Government culture, bureaucracy and serving a broad patchwork of agencies can make a comprehensive technology update a challenge, experts say

Opinion editor Clay Wirestone writes: Let’s be clear about what Kansas Republican legislative leaders are doing with their planned overhaul of budgeting: They are launching a personal and political power grab against Gov. Laura Kelly.

Lawmakers plan brazen power grab, pushing aside Kansas voters and Gov. Laura Kelly • Kansas Reflector Kansas Republican legislative leaders are launching a personal and political power grab against Gov. Laura Kelly

State agricultural officials were investigating Friday whether a feed shipment is responsible for the death of dozens of horses at one of the nation’s top rodeo stock providers.

Oklahoma agricultural officials investigating whether feed shipment killed dozens of rodeo horses • Kansas Reflector Oklahoma agricultural officials are investigating whether a feed shipment from Kansas is responsible for the death of dozens of horses at one of the nation’s top rodeo stock providers.

As the Kansas and Missouri medical communities prepare for respiratory illness season, health officials grapple with an early COVID-19 infection spike and higher-than-normal tuberculosis infections in Wyandotte County.

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Northwest Kansas hog farmer Terry Nelson’s campaign to convince the judicial system he had a legal right to install a livestock sewage pipeline along a public road in the right-of-way on neighbors’ property without government or landowner permission has come to an end in state courts.

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Opinion from Eric Thomas: As I watched her in the seat next to me on the plane, I could tell that she was a pro. Her finger darted across the screen from right to left at a pace both impressive and frantic. Clearly, she had been on the app for years.

Everyone agrees: This addictive computer game drains your soul • Kansas Reflector For many, email is equal parts obligation and round-the-clock computer game. It demands our full attention, making us resent it even more.

Gov. Laura Kelly and Mayor Tyrone Garner joined federal officials Thursday to celebrate a $62.6 million infrastructure appropriation to replace the 18th Street bridge over the Kansas River near some of the oldest neighborhood and business sites in Kansas City, Kansas.

Kansas secures $62.6 million to replace 18th Street bridge in Kansas City, Kansas • Kansas Reflector A federal infrastructure law delivers $62 million to replace the 18th Street Bridge in KCK that daily carries 33,000 vehicles over the Kansas River.

The Kansas Department of Commerce issued a blanket statement Thursday describing as “categorically false” the allegation attributed to a recently deceased former agency employee that Lt. Gov. David Toland influenced distribution of state infrastructure grants based on political factors.

Commerce secretary, Senate president deflect claims tied to deceased former state worker • Kansas Reflector Kansas Department of Commerce and Senate President Ty Masterson reject claims political factors influenced $150 million in infrastructure grant awards.

Food experts in Kansas say food waste is a growing problem in the state and solutions to food insecurity may lie within local connections.

Kansas food experts outline problems of waste and access at inaugural summit • Kansas Reflector Food experts in Kansas say food waste is a growing problem in the state and solutions to food insecurity may lie within local connections

A vast majority of Americans feel negatively about artificial intelligence and how it will impact their futures, though they also report they don’t fully understand how and why the technology is currently being used.

Americans’ perception of AI is generally negative, though they see ‘beneficial applications’ • Kansas Reflector A vast majority of Americans feel negatively about artificial intelligence and how it will impact their futures, though they also report they don’t fully understand how and why the technology is currently being used

Kansas Republicans pressing to reform the Legislature’s annual budget-writing process want to displace governors from the lead role in proposing state spending changes, alter a Statehouse culture that embraced the three-day workweek, and make it difficult for lobbyists to slip special-interest earmarks into bills.

Kansas GOP leaders drafting new roadmap for Legislature's annual budgeting process • Kansas Reflector Republican-led Kansas Legislature is drafting a new approach to formation of the annual state budget that may rankle lobbists, legislators and governor.

Opinion from Mark McCormick: A “Pyrrhic Victory,” the final entry in the P section of “Words On Words” by the late University of Kansas journalism professor John Bremner, references “a victory that comes at too great a price.” The reference explains the late state Rep. Marvin Robinson’s complicated time in the Kansas Legislature.

Kansas Rep. Marvin Robinson fought for Quindaro, costing his constituents along the way • Kansas Reflector Rep. Marvin Robinson, who died recently at age 67, sadly conflated devotion, which he had, and vision, which he seemed to lack.

Adjusting for the U.S. Supreme Court’s sweeping presidential immunity decision last month, U.S. Special Counsel Jack Smith on Tuesday filed a fresh federal indictment alleging former President Donald Trump attempted to overturn the 2020 election in his favor.

Special Counsel Smith files new indictment in Trump’s Jan. 6 case • Kansas Reflector

A libertarian organization requested the Kansas Attorney General investigate the state Department of Commerce for failing to respond to an open records request and demanded the records be turned over within 10 days.

Kansas AG asked to investigate commerce department handling of records request • Kansas Reflector A libertarian organization requested the Kansas Attorney General investigate the state Department of Commerce for failing to respond to an open records request, and demanded the records be turned over within 10 days.

More than 100,000 Kansans have lost health care coverage through the state’s Medicaid program since April 2023 after the rocky “unwinding” of pandemic-era protections, but the agency in charge of the review has seen progress recently based on incremental changes.

114k Kansans lost Medicaid coverage in post-pandemic ‘unwinding’ review • Kansas Reflector

Opinion editor Clay Wirestone writes: Where is the outrage? That was one of the questions posed to Kansas Reflector staff at our Council Grove town hall event Monday night, and it’s a question I found myself thinking about throughout my drive back home that evening and all of Tuesday.

Where is the outrage? Politically engaged Kansans might vent fury, but anger has limits. • Kansas Reflector How have we managed to select a state government so openly contemptuous of the people it supposedly serves? Where is the outrage?

Kansas Reflector and other news outlets have asked a district judge to reject former Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody’s attempt to banish cameras from court proceedings in his criminal case.

Kansas news outlets ask judge to allow cameras in court for former Marion police chief • Kansas Reflector Kansas Reflector and other news outlets have asked a district judge to reject former Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody's attempt to banish cameras from court proceedings in his criminal case.

A former Kansas Department of Commerce employee apparently found dead inside a wrecked vehicle purportedly wrote a statement to coincide with his death that accused state officials of awarding grants based on political considerations and asserted he was improperly accused of financial impropriety in handling of grants.

Kansas traffic fatality adds intrigue to allegations of financial misconduct with COVID-19 grants • Kansas Reflector A traffic fatality in rural Kansas turned bizarre with an email accusing Kansas politicians of misconduct in awarding of COVID-19 grant funding.

A Texas federal judge late Monday sided with 16-Republican led states to temporarily block a Biden administration program that grants deportation protections for undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens and a potential pathway to citizenship.

Federal judge pauses program that grants protections for undocumented spouses • Kansas Reflector

Opinion from Kasey Dalke: In an ideal world, my job wouldn’t exist. Children’s Advocacy Centers would be superfluous. Crime would never touch our communities. The reality is very different.

Looking ahead: What the loss of crucial funding will mean for child crime victims in Kansas • Kansas Reflector CACs are instrumental in helping victims navigate the harrowing journey toward recovery and justice. But now, their services are in jeopardy.

Fourteen-year-old Iian Ellis gravitated to sights and sounds of punk music while growing up in a middle-class town outside London.

British transplant to Kansas argues punk the most influential political music of all time • Kansas Reflector A University of Kansas lecturer who grew up near London argues in a new book the outsider ethic of punk music spread like a virus into national politics.

One of the special prosecutors tasked with reviewing the actions of law enforcement officers who raided the Marion County Record says more details will become public as criminal and civil cases proceed.

Special prosecutor in Marion raid: More details will surface, no other charges without new evidence • Kansas Reflector Riley County Attorney Barry Wilkerson answers questions about the special prosecutors' report on the Marion raid, and the case against Gideon Cody.

Opinion editor Clay Wirestone writes: Former president Donald Trump and his presidential campaign have disavowed Project 2025, saying it doesn’t represent his views. But the document was prepared by former members of his administration and overlaps with much of what the candidate has advocated (270 proposals and counting, according to CBS News). If you want to know what a second Trump administration would bring, there’s no better guide. And Kansans have gotten the message.

Project 2025 would pillage our rights and institutions. Kansans want to fight back. • Kansas Reflector If you want to know what a second Trump administration would bring, there’s no better guide than Project 2025. Kansans have noticed.

In a March rally in Dayton, Ohio, Trump said some undocumented immigrants were not people. “I don’t know if you call them people,” Trump said. “In some cases they’re not people, in my opinion, but I’m not allowed to say that because the radical left says that’s a terrible thing to say.”

Trump promises mass deportations of undocumented people. How would that work? • Kansas Reflector “Mass deportation now!” is a catchphrase for the Trump presidential campaign, as the Republican nominee proposes a crackdown on immigration that would oust thousands of undocumented people.