A $28.6 million lifeline: Progress in Kansas’ lead pipe problem
In November 2021, I wrote my second column for Insight Kansas as a guest contributor.
Opinion
Read MoreA $28.6 million lifeline: Progress in Kansas’ lead pipe problem
Plains Folk: Babes in the wood
If you readers will indulge me, a little nostalgia today.
Rain on our parade
For many, these next few days and weeks consist of a lot of events that will generally take place outside.
Student protests are not the problem; genocide is
It’s time for us all to listen to students who are leading calls to stop supporting genocide and let Palestinians live, not to call the police on them for disrupting the “peace” on their campuses.
A century ago, we established the U.S. Foreign Service. It’s an anniversary worth celebrating.
May 24 is the 100th anniversary of the Rogers Act, the law that established, for the first time in our country, a professional Foreign Service.Before the Rogers Act, the United States was represented abroad by a hodgepodge of amateurs.
Education Frontlines: China’s position on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis
Turner SyndromeIn teaching biology (10 years in public schools, over 30 more years at college), I always included human reproductive biology including variations.
Facing uncomfortable partisan realities in Kansas
Like many of you, I’ve seen volunteers for the United Kansas Party over the past few months collecting signatures to gain ballot access as a legitimate political party.
After Kansas civil asset forfeiture reform, let’s funnel that money into communities it came from
David Gilkey once asked a pair of police officers a profound question: “What do you do with all the money you seize in drug busts?”One officer said, “we put in back into law enforcement training.” The other officer nodded.Gilkey, a Wichita youth advocate, then asked, “Why don’t you put that money back into the community?”The officer who answered said, “That’s not a bad idea.” The other officer stayed quiet.Those questions could prove timely.
Plains Folk: Public libraries and grassroots democracy
When the brand-new public libraries in Kansas towns at the turn of the twentieth century realized they needed books--imagine that!--they addressed the problem with a strategy that combined genteel and grassroots elements.In polite society, the bridal shower had in some instances taken a distinctly literary direction.
Kansas lawmakers neglect problems at home, throw $15.7 million at the border
In the waning hours of its 2024 veto session, the Kansas Legislature stumbled to and fro like a drunken sailor, pushing some bills into law, scrapping others, and holding its mouth closed tight to prevent itself from becoming violently ill.Perhaps no single action from Thursday to Tuesday encapsulated members’ wayward legislating like the decision to earmark $15.7 million for Kansas National Guard troops to assist Texas law enforcement with the so-called migrant crisis.