Kansas Reflector Podcast

In June of 2020, in the wake of the murder of George Floyd and outcry for social and racial progress, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly established the Commission on Racial Equity and Justice. The first year of work was spent focusing on law enforcement and policing with more than 60 recommendations for different levels of government submitted in a final report. Now, the commission has released an interim r...

Since July 5, more than 500 workers on strike have been posted across from a Frito-Lay plant in Topeka demanding higher wages and more limited hours. Union members rejected a contract offer from Frito-Lay with an annual 2% wage increase because for many workers that would be less than 50 cents per hour. Additionally, many employees are subjected to forced overtime and work up to 84-hour weeks beca...

In 2018, Republican Jeff Colyer fell 172 votes short of beating Kris Kobach in the closest statewide GOP primary election in Kansas history. He is confident he would have beaten Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat seeking re-election in 2022. Now Colyer is competing against Attorney General Derek Schmidt in the Republican gubernatorial primary for the opportunity to finally go toe-to-toe with her. He sit...

The Kansas River, or the Kaw, as some say, is a little-known treasure to most Kansans. Riverkeeper Dawn Buehler — advocate, scientist, educator and investigator — speaks to the environmental importance and recreational opportunities offered by this waterway.

In 2010, the Capitol in Topeka was abuzz with 125 representatives and 40 senators eager to take on the state's political challenges. This 165-person group included Sen. Laura Kelly, now the governor, and Sen. Jeff Colyer, who made it to the governor's office a step ahead of her. Another half-dozen or so individuals moved on by climbing the political ladder, but they were the tip of the iceberg in...

Advocates worry a decade of progress improving the lives of Kansas children could be undermined by COVID-19 if policymakers can't sustain recovery from the pandemic. Even before COVID-19 infected the world, Kansas trailed more than 20 states in terms of child well-being based on a series of metrics tracked annually by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The newly released 2021 Kids Count report by the...

A new report by the Kansas Appleseed Center for Law and Justice is re-examining barriers to food access faced by many southwest Kansans. For example, SNAP food assistance participation has decreased even though the need has increased in Stevens, Seward, Grant, Ford and Finney counties. Jami Reever, executive director of the Kansas Appleseed Center for Law and Justice and Martha Terhaar, Thriving C...

Most years, the Kansas Capitol would attract more than 6,500 visitors to see the state history contained there. But with a pandemic raging last year, activity grinded to a halt. Now, the Kansas Historical Society plans to reopen the Statehouse for tours on June 14. Joe Brentano, the Capitol Visitor’s Center coordinator, has given these tours for the past 14 years. He provides a tour for Kansas Ref...

Scattered across Kansas are an assortment of private colleges ranging in size from 300 to 3,600 students. That list includes Baker and Friends universities, Benedictine and Bethany colleges, MidAmerica Nazarene, McPherson College, University of St. Mary and others. What do they all have in common? They're part of the Kansas Independent College Association. Joining the Kansas Reflector podcast and...

Kansas voters thought they gained some distance between politicians and all those ads, mailers and speeches during the 2020 election cycle. Not so fast! The 2022 campaign season upon us and fans of the electoral process can expect competitive races for governor, attorney general, the U.S. House and state treasurer. Senior reporter Tim Carpenter is joined on this week's Kansas reflector podcast by...

On Saturday, March 7, 2020, at the Capitol, Lee Norman confirmed the unsettling but inevitable news that Kansas had its first case of the novel coronavirus. Since then, more than 311,000 Kansans have been infected. Overall, more than 5000 infected Kansans have died. Norman, secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, has been at the center of this public health storm. He sat down...

After four months of the legislative session, the Kansas Legislature reached bedrock and key areas of public policy. The evidence emerges in the most simplistic forms in the snappy yes or no votes of bills and amendment resolutions, and also in poignant and sometimes lengthy speeches on the House and Senate floors. Senior reporter Tim Carpenter is joined by opinion editor C.J. Janovy, editor in ch...

The Republican-dominated Kansas Legislature covered Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly's desk with a pile of bills that turned out to include an unusual amount of veto bait. In all, she vetoed eight bills and line-item vetoed more than a dozen provisions of a massive budget bill. House and Senate Republicans are licking their chops. They say they can't wait to return to Topeka on Monday for the tradition...

The House and Senate frequently begin their work on behalf of Kansans standing side-by-side with heads bowed in prayer. In these moments, religious leaders and sometimes legislators urge all 165 members to follow the Good Word and to go about their political objectives as instruments of peace. The elected are directed repeatedly to sow love where there is hatred, pardon those who injure others, br...

A bill overwhelmingly passed by the Kansas Legislature and signed by Gov. Laura Kelly allows investor-owned utility companies to issue ratepayer-backed bonds to retire expensive power plants and transition to alternatives, such as wind or solar power. The bonds also enable utility companies to deal with price shocks on natural gas from February's cold snap. Paul Johnson, a public interest advocate...

A seemingly innocuous bill approving a series of new distinctive license plates sparked debate last week in the Kansas Legislature. That’s because one plate included would be based on the Gadsden flag — a design critics say has ties to slavery. Cristopher Gadsden designed the yellow Revolutionary War symbol bearing a hissing snake and the words “Don’t Tread on Me.” He was a merchant and slave owne...

Political scientists Bob Beatty, of Washburn University, and Michael Smith, of Emporia State University, consider the work of the House and Senate this legislative session, as well as the performance of Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly during the COVID-19 pandemic and the Republicans who want to take her job in 2022.

It has been about four months since Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab expressed confidence in state elections. Still, some legislators are considering significant changes to the election system. Voting rights activists say these measures under review by Republican-led committees could cut thousands of ballots in future elections or make access to voting harder. Republican legislators argue re...

Republican governors Sam Brownback and Jeff Colyer praised it. Democratic governors Kathleen Sebelius, Mark Parkinson and now Laura Kelly concurred. What were they excited about? They were pointing to wind farm development in Kansas. The state is a hotspot for wind power. On highways through blustery hills and flatlands of Kansas, you can't miss these turbines. So far, around 14 billion has been i...

Kansas voters overhauled the Kansas Senate in 2020, filling more than 1/3 of the 40 seats with newcomers. The chamber has 15 new members, a dozen Republicans and three Democrats. One of those freshman senators is Ethan Corson, D-Prairie Village, who had never before held elective office, but was no stranger to politics. Host Tim Carpenter sits down with Corson to discuss his impressions of his fir...

In response to the pandemic and other policy desires, the 2021 Kansas legislative session has been packed with action on several fronts. It’s a long process and the Legislature has weeks left to discuss and amend favored bills, but some measures have already been approved. On this episode of the Kansas Reflector podcast, editor in chief Sherman Smith, senior reporter Tim Carpenter, reporter Noah T...

Last week, the Kansas Senate Education Committee held a hearing on a bill forbidding any team designated for females to be open to students of the “male sex.” Champions of Senate Bill 208 said it would preserve hard-fought opportunities won by feminists for equal participation in athletics and guarantee a level playing field for girls and women. Opponents of the bill said it would provide legal au...

No Kansas legislative session is without a debate about the academics, leadership and financing of Kansas public education. This session is no exception. The conversations are made more compelling by the COVID-19 pandemic, which is interrupted in-class teaching, much to the dismay of lawmakers who questioned the wisdom of teaching the state's 400,000 or so public school students through online alt...

In December 2020, Gov. Laura Kelly appointed then-Lt. Gov. Lynn Rogers to fill the vacancy of state treasurer left by U.S. Rep. Jake LaTurner. Unlike his predecessors, Rogers does not see his new role as a stepping stone for future political positions. Rogers joins Tim Carpenter to discuss his first month in the role of state treasurer and what the future may hold.

For years, Kansas declined to include children with brain injuries and some adults with comparable problems in the state's Medicaid program. Finally, in 2019, the federal government prodded the state into expanding coverage to these vulnerable populations. Here's the problem: The governor's budget didn't include the 8 million needed to finance the brain injury program as intended. A state agency a...