Researchers: Kansas Less Prepared for Public Health Emergencies than Last Year
UNDATED (KNS) – Kansas residents may be at risk when the state faces public health emergencies. The Kansas News Service reports that researchers say Kansas is less prepared now than last year. Trust for America’s Health reported Kansas had some of the highest scores in the nation for public health emergency preparedness last year. But a new study shows the state’s scores are now in the middle tier. Twenty-one states are considered more prepared than Kansas. Researcher Matt McKillop co-authored the report. He says states need to take public health more seriously. “Recent proposed cuts to federal funding threaten to severely weaken state and local emergency preparedness and create dangerous gaps,” he explained. McKillop says to improve its scores, Kansas needs to invest more in public health.
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Governor Kelly Vetoes Bill to Extend State Budget if Legislature Fails to Pass One
TOPEKA, Kan. (Kansas Reflector) – Governor Laura Kelly has vetoed a bill designed to roll over a previous year's state budget if lawmakers fail to pass a new one. The Kansas Reflector reports that Kelly issued a statement pointing out every Legislature since the founding of the state has managed to pass a budget, and she expects current legislators to continue fulfilling that obligation. In a joint statement Senate President Ty Masterson and House Speaker Dan Hawkins said that the bill would prevent government from shutting down at the state level by providing a means for continuing appropriations.
Governor Kelly also vetoed a bill restricting the use of federal funds for elections and election-related activities without legislative approval. She said election officials would be more able to address issues of voter fraud and foreign interference if they were able to receive Congressional funding.
The Kansas Legislature is scheduled to return to the Statehouse on April 10th to consider the governor's vetoes and pass any other legislation before adjourning the session.
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Kansas Lawmakers On Break Until April 10
TOPEKA, Kan. (KPR) - Kansas lawmakers are on a two-week break. They wrapped up the majority of their business last week and will return for a veto session on Thursday of next week. The Legislature is on track for a pretty short session. Last year, they didn’t adjourn until June after a special session. It’s uncertain whether lawmakers will reach a substantial deal on property tax cuts this year. When they return to Topeka next week, they'll also have to decide whether to try to override the governor's vetoes on certain bills. Republicans have already successfully overridden two vetoes by Democratic Governor Laura Kelly.
GOP Lawmakers Send Fetal Development Education Bill to Governor Laura Kelly
UNDATED (KNS) – Republican lawmakers in Kansas sent a bill to the governor Monday that requires some public school classes to include instruction on fetal development. The Kansas News Service reports that the legislation was backed by anti-abortion advocates. The bill concerns sex education and biology classes across all grade levels. It mandates that teachers of those classes show kids at least three minutes of high-definition ultrasound footage — or computer-generated animation — showing the development of fetal organs. Reproductive rights groups oppose the bill and say it’s an attempt to insert anti-abortion propaganda into classrooms. Governor Laura Kelly, a Democrat, is expected to veto the bill. It’s unclear if Republicans will have the votes needed to override that veto.
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Governor Laura Kelly Hopes Legislators Will Revise Budget
UNDATED (KNS) – Kansas Governor Laura Kelly says she wants state lawmakers to change the budget they passed last week. The Kansas News Service reports that Kelly says the current plan is irresponsible. The budget would put Kansas at an estimated $461 million deficit within three years, partially thanks to new income tax cuts. Kelly told KCUR that the Legislature approved the budget weeks before revenue estimates reflecting last year’s tax cuts are available. “So the legislature passed a budget where they have no idea what the revenues will actually be moving forward,” she explained. She wants lawmakers to reconsider the budget when they return to Topeka next week, or call a special session to do so after revenue numbers come out later this month. Republicans say the budget bill further cuts taxes and fully funds public schools.
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No Degree? No Problem for Most State Jobs in Kansas
TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) - Kansas Governor Laura Kelly has signed several new bills into law. One of them ensures that applicants for state jobs can't be denied a position solely due to their lack of a post-secondary degree. WIBW TV reports that the law does NOT apply to positions for which a college degree is necessary. According to the governor, less than 15% of state employees work in jobs that require a post-secondary degree.
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Federal Tariffs to Increase Cost of Highway and Road Projects
UNDATED (The Beacon) – Federal tariffs are going to make highway and road projects more expensive in Kansas and Missouri. Calvin Reed with the Kansas Department of Transportation told The Beacon that highway projects will cost more because of federal tariffs. President Trump already imposed 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum with the promise of other tariffs coming on April 2, which he calls “liberation day.” Reed said in mid-March that construction costs are already 40% higher than projections without tariffs. With tariffs, some projects could be cut. “If tariffs go up, if prices continue to go up, if revenues go down, if more money is transferred away, then there are projects that will likely have to be sacrificed,” he added. It isn’t clear what all of Trump’s tariffs could look like in April.
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Only Women's Prison in Kansas Approaching Capacity
WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) – The Topeka Correctional Facility, the only women’s prison in Kansas, is approaching full capacity, continuing a decades-long trend of rising female incarceration rates. KWCH reports that before the COVID-19 pandemic, the facility was already overcrowded. However, the pandemic brought an unexpected relief for the women’s prison, as judges were less likely to issue prison sentences. Now, however, the numbers are rising again. The Kansas Sentencing Commission projects that the facility will reach full capacity by 2026.
According to the Commission’s recently released 2024 sentencing statistics, 75 fewer women were sentenced to jail or prison compared to 2023. However, the system faces delays. On average, nearly a year and a half passes between an offense and the final sentencing. Some judges attribute this backlog to a shortage of lawyers.
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Midwestern NWS Offices Cutting Back on Weather Balloon Launches
UNDATED (HPM) – National Weather Service offices across the Midwest are eliminating or scaling back weather balloon launches. Harvest Public Media reports that a staffing crisis is behind the the major shift. Weather balloons collect atmospheric information that informs forecasting models. Now the National Weather Service is ending balloon launches in Omaha, Nebraska and Rapid City, South Dakota and reducing them in other offices in both states and Wisconsin and Michigan. Adam Houston, an atmospheric sciences professor at the University of Nebraska Lincoln, says fewer balloon launches could be the tip of the iceberg. "Losing them is a problem. But I think in some ways, my biggest concern is what this portends for other types of observations,” he added. Experts say a staffing shortage was already a problem before the Trump administration announced a federal hiring freeze in January.
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Law School Applications Increase in Kansas and Missouri, Mirroring National Trend
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCUR) – Law school applications in Kansas and Missouri have skyrocketed in the last year. The Law School Admission Council says applications nationwide are up 20 percent from last year. UMKC Law School Dean Lumen Mulligan told KCUR that applications are up about the same amount, and says it mostly has to do with politics. “When you have changes in administration and politics are in the news much more aggressively that tends to correlate to people attending law school,” he explained. Mulligan also says the employment picture for lawyers is good. The University of Kansas Law School says its applications have surged 70 percent in the past two years, and Washburn Law in Topeka says applications have spiked 49 percent from a year ago.
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City of Leavenworth Suing CoreCivic over Proposed Immigrant Detention Center
UNDATED (KNS) – The city of Leavenworth is suing CoreCivic, a private corrections company seeking to operate an immigrant detention center in the city. The Kansas News Service reports that the city is asking a federal court to block the corporation from housing detainees on behalf of federal immigration authorities. The filing says CoreCivic needs a special use permit before it can reopen the former prison, which has been inactive since 2021. CoreCivic argues that local rules do not require a permit, which would involve several weeks of public hearings. The company has said it plans to resume operations in the coming weeks. In an email to the Kansas News Service, a CoreCivic spokesperson reaffirmed the company’s position that they do not need a special use permit to operate in Leavenworth.
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Inmate Dies at Federal Prison in Leavenworth
LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (KCTV) – The Federal Correctional Institution in Leavenworth reported that an inmate died over the weekend. KCTV reports that 28-year-old Denix Heredia-Chang was found unresponsive on Saturday, March 29th. Prison employees started life-saving measures until paramedics arrived, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. His cause of death was not disclosed. The release said that the Federal Bureau of Investigation and United States Marshals Service were notified, but there was never any danger to other employees or inmates. Heredia-Chang had been in Leavenworth FCI since May 2024 on an indictment for alleged synthetic narcotic sale.
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Kansas Settles with Inmate After Allegations of Failing to Protect Him from Gang Violence
TOPEKA, Kan. (TCJ) - The Kansas State Finance Council has approved a $4,000 settlement with an inmate who accused the state of failing to protect him from multiple prison gangs. The Topeka Capital Journal reports that the prisoner acted as a confidential informant while serving time at the Lansing Correctional Facility in 2015. The Kansas Department of Correction was investigating allegations of corruption at the facility. But despite assurances that he would remain anonymous, the prisoner's involvement was allegedly revealed by employees at the facility.
After his involvement was made known, the inmate said he was a targeted by members of the Bloods, the Crips, the Aryan Brotherhood and other violent gangs. The inmate was transferred out of state in 2017 but was since returned into the custody of the Kansas Department of Corrections. He stated in court documents that staff informed him that other prisoners were still planning to attack him, when he was transferred to the El Dorado Correctional Facilities.
Despite the warnings, he was housed with an inmate that the prisoner claims was a threat. Later, the prisoner alleges he was given an option to transfer to Larned Correctional Mental Health Facility but he says he was again targeted for attack by games.
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KSU Professor Making Headway in Treating Animal Pain
MANHATTAN, Kan. (KNS) - A Kansas State University scientist is finding ways to ease pain in livestock - and... he's getting national recognition for it. The National Academy of Sciences will give K-State veterinary professor Hans Coetzee a medal for what it calls groundbreaking research. It’s not easy to know when animals are in pain - many evolved to hide it to avoid tipping off predators. But Coetzee found ways - such as by using pressure mats. “You actually see the footfalls of the animal as they walk over the mat. And we can see changes in the stride length of the animal," he said. That can reveal pain from lameness. Coetzee and his collaborators then also proved that putting a medicine on the animal’s skin alleviates the pain. And this led to the first federal approval of a pain reliever for livestock.
“You know, our livestock producers that we work with all have a very special bond with the animals that they work with. And they want to do everything they can to alleviate fear and pain and make those animals as comfortable as they can," Coetzee said. His research, funded partly by the USDA, has shown how to check cattle for pain from lameness - and how to ease that pain.
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Northeast Kansas Man Charged with Intentionally Damaging a Tesla
WICHITA, Kan. (Hays Post) – A Northeast Kansas man has been charged with intentionally damaging a Tesla Model X in Northwest Wichita. Police say 30-year-old Johnathan F. Erhart, of Jefferson County, has been charged with one count of criminal damage to property. The Sedgwick County District Attorney's office says the crime took place on March 20th. The Hays Post reports that the felony charge carries a sentence of 5 to 17 months in prison.
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Sporting KC Manager Departs Team After Disappointing Start to Season
UNDATED (KPR) – Peter Vermes of Sporting KC entered this season as the longest-tenured manager in Major League Soccer. But after the team’s start this season with no wins, five losses and one draw, he and the organization have mutually agreed to part ways. Vermes had been Sporting KC’s manager since 2009. Under his leadership, the team won the league championship in 2013 and made 11 playoffs, including eight straight from 2011 to 2018. But team has gone into a tailspin the last couple of years and is currently last in the Western Conference standings this season. Assistant coach Kerry Zavagnin has been elevated to the manager position on an interim basis. The team has scheduled a Tuesday news conference to address the changes.
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