UPDATE: Kansas Governor Vetoes GOP Tax Cut Proposal
TOPEKA, Kan. (KPR/KNS) — Kansas Governor Laura Kelly has vetoed a GOP tax cut proposal that, among other things, would have established a flat tax. Kelly called the proposal irresponsible and said the plan would cost the state $1.3 billion over the next three years and put public education funding at risk. The governor also announced her proposal to spend the current budget surplus on a tax rebate of $450 for individuals and $900 for married taxpayers filing jointly. Kelly said the one-time tax rebate provides relief to all Kansas resident taxpayers without breaking the bank or jeopardizing funds for public schools. (Read more.)
(AP version)
Governor Vetoes Bill to Cut Kansas Taxes $1.4 Billion
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Democratic Governor Laura Kelly has vetoed a bill to cut taxes in Kansas by nearly $1.4 billion over the next three years. Kelly told reporters Monday that she objected to a proposal included by conservative Republicans to impose a single-rate "flat" income tax for individuals. Kelly said abandoning the state's current, three-rate income tax with higher rates for higher earners would be fiscally reckless and threaten funding for public schools. She announced her veto at a Topeka-area elementary school and recalled the state's 2012-13 experiment in slashing income taxes and the huge budget shortfalls that followed under then-Republican Governor Sam Brownback. House Speaker Dan Hawkins called Kelly out of touch.
Republican leaders plan to attempt overriding Kelly's veto once the full GOP-controlled Legislature reconvenes Wednesday to wrap up its business for the year. Backers of the bill included Americans for Prosperity, the grassroots low-tax, small-government group funded by the billionaire industrialist Koch brothers, and supporters appeared to have a good chance of getting the two-thirds majorities necessary to override a veto. "It is a throwback to the Brownback tax experiment, and we all know how that turned out," Kelly told reporters, hitting a key theme of her successful 2018 and 2022 campaigns for governor. "Any tax cut we pass needs to be sustainable, fiscally responsible and targeted to the people who need it the most."
The measure also would have reduced taxes on retirees' Social Security incomes and accelerate phasing out of the state's sales tax on groceries, so that it would end at the start of 2024 instead of 2025, both measures Kelly supported. It also would have reduced property taxes for most homeowners by $46 a year, a proposal pushed by Democrats. The income tax changes were a nonstarter for many Democrats, particularly because it set the rate at 5.15% when the state's current top rate is 5.7%. As an alternative, Kelly proposed a one-time, $450 rebate for each Kansas individual filer, so that the state's revenues would not be reduced each year going forward. Republicans have been cold to the idea of a rebate in the past. Kansas tax collections generally have run ahead of expectations since lawmakers repealed most of the tax experiment under Brownback in 2017.
The veto came four days after state officials and university economists issued a new fiscal forecast that boosted the state's official projections for tax collections through June 2024 by roughly 1%. Even with the tax cuts Kelly vetoed factored in, the state is on track to end June 2024 with surplus cash and rainy day funds of more than $4 billion. Kelly and lawmakers in both parties see the tax cuts as a way of helping people deal with inflation.
"It’s especially careless and out-of-touch for Governor Kelly to veto this broad, sustainable tax policy that provides tax relief to ALL Kansans," House Speaker Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, said in a statement.
(-Earlier reporting-)
Proposed Kansas GOP Tax Cut in Limbo: Will the Governor Sign or Veto It?
TOPEKA, Kan. (KPR) — Billions of dollars in proposed tax cuts could be in jeopardy as Kansas lawmakers return to Topeka this week to wrap up the legislative session. Earlier this month lawmakers approved a massive tax-cut bill. It included many things that Democratic Governor Laura Kelly wants, notably a provision to speed-up the repeal of the state sales tax on groceries. But it also included something that Republicans very much want – a provision to replace the state’s three-tiered income tax with a single flat rate of just over 5%. Because that would benefit mainly upper-income Kansans, many – including some Republican leaders – are expecting Kelly to veto the measure. If she does, it would leave little time to hammer out a compromise -- a deal to salvage a package that also includes property-tax relief and tax breaks for many Kansans on Social Security.
(-Related-)
Kansas Lawmakers Return to Topeka to Wrap Up 2023 Session
TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) — Kansas lawmakers return to Topeka this week. The Republican-controlled Legislature still has a lot to do before closing out the 2023 session. Lawmakers still need to finalize a big part of the state budget, a multi-billion dollar spending bill for public schools. Republicans might also try to couple policy changes with the spending in an attempt to win the support of Democratic Governor Laura Kelly. They could include an expansion of tax credits to send students to private schools. But much of the week may be focused on veto overrides of several bills Kelly recently rejected. That includes bills related to transgender women, election security and abortion.
Will Kansas Pass an Education Budget? Questions Remain as Legislature Tries to Wrap Up Session
TOPEKA, Kan. (TCJ) — Kansas lawmakers are returning to Topeka to try and wrap up business for the year. A number of substantial items remain on the plates of lawmakers. Lawmakers have other policy loose ends to tie up but the most significant one is education funding. Lawmakers left town in early April without finalizing a budget for K-12 schools, with the current proposal including a number of controversial items. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that lawmakers are expected to reconsider the issue of school choice in a bid to force Governor Laura Kelly to reject a measure that would allow private school students to access public dollars for tuition and other expenses.
State Senator Molly Baumgardner, R-Louisburg, chair of the Senate Education Committee, argued that the Kansas Senate's latest plan maintains the requisite funding levels. "Each year has been more funding going to our pre-K through 12 public schools," Baumgardner said. "That will not change. So, there is not a need to be aggrieved. There is no reason to scream 'fire' because schools will still be fully funded." But districts point to an item in the budget that would not guarantee adjustments to the base per-pupil aid on an annual basis based off of inflation, as was approved by the Kansas Supreme Court. Instead, legislators would evaluate the matter annually. Leah Fliter, a lobbyist for the Kansas Association of School Boards, said this was tantamount to freezing base aid in future years. Numbers provided to the group by the Kansas State Department of Education show a $215 million funding hit if the base aid isn't adjusted. The Kansas Supreme Court ruled legislators had some flexibility in how to adjust for inflation and that they did not have to use the framework the justices approved, which calculates inflation using a three-year average of the Consumer Price Index. The state's new fiscal year begins July 1.
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NWS: 8 Tornadoes Touched Down Last Week in Chase County
TOPEKA, Kan. (TCJ) — A powerful supercell thunderstorm produced eight tornadoes in Chase County last week - and all of them touched down within a single hour. That's according to the National Weather Service office in Wichita, which sent crews out to assess damage from Wednesday night's storms. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that all eight tornadoes touched down between 8:13 and 8:55 pm Wednesday in Chase County. Two people were injured. The tornado that stayed on the ground the longest lasted for 30 minutes and traveled nearly a dozen miles on the ground.
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Ark City Standoff Ends Peacefully, 2 Arrested
ARKANSAS CITY, Kan. (KWCH) — Law enforcement officials in Arkansas City confirm two people are in custody following a standoff in the southeast Kansas town. Police were called to an area late Saturday morning following a report of a woman threatening people with a gun. When officers arrived, they found 44-year-old Jesse Shae Simmons, of Winfield, in a disabled vehicle. Police say Simmons pointed a handgun at the responding officers, then brandished a machete and a hammer. Officers created a perimeter and requested backup. Hours later, another woman involved in the standoff, 33-year-old Alyna Arran Alvarado, of Winfield, surrendered to law enforcement. KWCH TV reports that several minutes later, Simmons also surrendered. Both Simmons and Alvarado were taken into custody without injury and were evaluated medically before being taken to the Cowley County Jail.
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Kansas Wants to Make It Easier to Hire Out-of-State Teachers
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas is joining a fledgling effort that could one day make it easier to hire teachers from other states. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that a bill that Governor Laura Kelly signed last week makes Kansas the latest member of the Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact. It is not off the ground yet. Ten states are required to fully enact the compact, and Kansas is only the fourth to join. The three others are Utah, Colorado and Kentucky. Legislation is pending in about a dozen other states. The compact could be operational in a year or two depending on what happens. The compact is a creation of the Council of State Governments, with heavy backing from the U.S. Department of Defense, which wanted to create an easier pathway to teacher licensure for military personnel and their spouses as they move around the country. It would effectively allow teaching licenses to be viable across members of the compact, cutting through the current 50-state patchwork of disparate requirements. It's not off the ground yet. The Kansas chapter of the National Education Association has raised concerns about the potential for under-qualified educators. Schools have championed the compact as a way to help fill vacant teaching jobs. Senator Pat Pettey, a Kansas City Democrat and retired educator who sponsored the bill, described the effort in a statement as "one more tool to the State Board of Education Licensure tool box." (Read more in the Lawrence Journal-World.)
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Keystone Pipeline Oil Spill in Northern Kansas Caused by Stress, Construction Error
WASHINGTON COUNTY, Kan. (KNS) — The Keystone pipeline oil spill in Kansas was partly caused by stress put on the pipeline during construction. The owner of the pipeline, TC Energy, says an independent report shows the problems that led to the Keystone spill started a decade ago. During construction, the pipe experienced bending stresses sufficient to start a crack. That’s how company officials describe the independent findings, but it has not made the document public. More than half a million gallons of crude oil spilled into a creek in Washington County. TC Energy and the EPA disagree on the exact amount. TC Energy says it has recovered 98% of the spilled oil. (Read more.)
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Kansas Planning State Presidential Primary for March 2024
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP/KPR) — Kansas plans to hold a presidential primary in March 2024 rather than leave it to political parties to decide whether they want to have more exclusive caucuses or state conventions instead. Democratic On Friday, Democratic Governor Laura Kelly signed a bill into law that schedules the election for March 19, 2024 for the Democratic, Republican and Libertarian parties. The measure had bipartisan support when the GOP-controlled Legislature approved it this month. County officials will oversee the voting and the state is likely to cover the costs, which could total several million dollars. The state hasn't held a presidential primary since 1992, though in 2020, Democrats did their own mail-ballot primary election.
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Man Accused in Shooting of 3 KCK Police Officers Mistakenly Released from Jail
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (KCTV/KPR) — Officials are searching for a shooting suspect who was mistakenly released from the Platte County, Missouri, jail. KCTV reports that Jae'veon Mitchell-Locke was being held in connection with a shooting April 6th that injured three Kansas city, Kansas, police officers. KCK police say Mitchell-Locke should be considered armed and dangerous. Two other suspects in the shooting are being held in the Wyandotte County Jail.
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KCK Police: Woman Killed in Shooting Was Unintended Target
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (KCTV) — Kansas City, Kansas police say a young woman who was shot and killed last week was an unintended target. Authorities say 20-year-old Jadah Clark was a mere bystander. Police say a gunfight took place outside of her apartment and a stray bullet came through a wall and hit her. She died later at a hospital. KCTV reports that Clark was a former student-athlete at JC Harmon High School. Police say they are still searching for the suspected shooter.
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Kansas Man Sentenced for Child Sex Crimes
MOUND CITY, Kan. (JC Post) – A Kansas man has been sentenced to more than 18 years in prison for committing sex crimes against children. Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach says 34-year-old Lonnie Shane Martin, of Fort Scott, was sentenced April 14 in Linn County District Court on one count of rape and aggravated indecent liberties with a child. The JC Post reports that Linn County Judge Andrea Purvis ordered Martin to serve the sentences consecutively and to register for the rest of his life as a sex offender. Martin pleaded no contest to the charges in February. The crimes took place between July 2014 and December 2017. The case was investigated by the Linn County Sheriff’s Department and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.
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Kansas Releases March Jobs Numbers
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The state of Kansas has released its latest labor market report. The report for March shows a seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate of 2.9%, which remains unchanged from February. The department says the state’s seasonally-adjusted total non-farm jobs have increased by 37,000 over the past year. That includes an increase of 33,000 private sector jobs and 3,900 government jobs. Labor Department officials say job growth this past year has been led by gains in professional, scientific, and technical services as well as in health care and social services.
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Marker Sought for Black Teen Imprisoned After 1882 Rape
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Civil rights activists are seeking to draw attention to an 1882 rape that ended with the Black teenage victim dying in prison, her white attacker dead and three men lynched.
Margaret Vinegar was just 14 when two family friends came across her being sexually assaulted under a downtown Lawrence bridge in Kansas and intervened. The body of her attacker, David Bausman, a farmer in his 40s, later was found in the Kansas River, the Lawrence Journal-World reports.
Arrests ensued and a mob broke into the jail — hanging the two friends, Isaac King and George Robertson, as well as Margaret’s father, Pete Vinegar, who was not even in town the day it all happened.
Margaret was later convicted of murder — tried on a story that she had enticed her attacker under the bridge so her friends could rob him, said Lawrence NAACP member Kerry Altenbernd, who added that some also accused her of prostitution.
“That’s what she was tried on, not the truth, but that story,” Altenbernd said.
Ursula Minor, president of the Lawrence branch of the NAACP, said that because of her race, Margaret Vinegar was neither seen as the child nor the victim she was.
“During that era most Black women and girls could not refuse advances of a white man,” Minor said.
Since 2019, the Lawrence branch of the NAACP has worked with the Equal Justice Initiative, which created a national lynching memorial in Montgomery, Alabama, to commemorate the 1882 lynching and the events surrounding it.
Last year, on the 140th anniversary, a historical marker was erected at the site of the lynching. Now, the coalition is proposing a second marker in remembrance of Margaret and her plight.
Margaret died of tuberculosis in the state penitentiary in Lansing, at the age of 20 while her attorney sought a pardon for her. Because it is unclear what happened to her body, the coalition has proposed that her marker be placed near the site of her trial in downtown Lawrence.
A historic commission has signed off on the marker, and the next step is for the Lawrence City Commission to vote on it. The activists hope to dedicate the marker on June 10, the 141-year anniversary of the lynching.
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Wichita Police Department Targeted by Fake TikTok Page
WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH/KPR) — The Wichita Police Department has been targeted with a fake TikTok page. KWCH TV reports that the department put out an alert Saturday saying they are investigating who is behind the fake social media account. Police say they have also reported the imposter account to the company that owns TikTok.
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Kansas Governor Signs Affordable Housing Bill
TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) — Kansas Governor Laura Kelly has signed a bill that expands affordable housing development. Kelly signed an update to the Kansas Reinvestment Housing Incentive District Act (RHID) that opens the program for people throughout the entire state. WIBW TV reports the bipartisan bill provides local governments with a financing tool to work with developers to address housing shortages. It also adds provisions to prioritize the development of affordable housing. Kelly says access to affordable housing is the best way to grow the state’s economy.
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CPKC Railroad Announces Deal to Handle Mexico Shipments
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Canadian Pacific Kansas City railroad announced its first big business win Friday — a week after completing its long-planned merger — with a multiyear agreement to handle the Schneider National trucking company's rail shipments to and from Mexico starting in mid May. The deal provides that CPKC will become Schneider's preferred cross-border rail partner. It will move shipping containers of goods that the trucking company picks up at manufacturers and ports in Mexico to the key rail hub of Chicago, where all the major railroads exchange traffic — taking traffic away from Union Pacific and BNSF. The companies didn't say how many of these intermodal shipments might be involved in the deal, but Schneider reported a $458 million profit last year on all the deliveries it handled across North America.
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Oldest Living Kansan Celebrates Her 112th Birthday
WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) - A Chanute, Kansas, woman has set a record that will be hard to break. Margaret Hollenshead turned 112-years-old over the weekend, making her the oldest living Kansan. KWCH TV reports that the senior living facility in Chanute, where Hollenshead lives, threw her a birthday party and a parade on Saturday.
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Kansas Game Wardens: Beware of Rattlesnakes
McPHERSON, Kan. (KAKE) — Kansas game wardens are advising residents to keep an eye out for rattlesnakes, whether they're alive or dead. In a Facebook post, the Department of Wildlife and Parks said that a dead rattlesnake was removed from the McPherson County State Fishing Lake area Wednesday because even dead snakes can pose a threat. In the post, game wardens explained that rattlesnakes can still envenomate - or, inject venom - for some period of time after death. Wildlife officials say there are 42 species of snakes in Kansas, including four native venomous snakes. KAKE TV reports that wild reptiles, alive or dead, can only be collected for non-commercial purposes and cannot be bartered or sold in Kansas.
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Most Kansas State Historic Sites Now Free to Visit
TOPEKA (KSNT) – Exploring the state's history just got easier. The Kansas Historical Society (KSHS) recently announced via social media that every Kansas State Historic Site, with the exception of one, will now be free for those who want to visit. KSHS Executive Director Patrick Zollner told KSNT that they want to make Kansas history accessible to everyone, so they're offering free admission for Kansas families to all state historic sites, except for Shawnee Indian Mission in Fairway. The free admission policy will be in place for the foreseeable future to help encourage more participation.
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Alabama Stops Recruiting Wichita State Transfer After Arrest
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — Former Wichita State player Jaykwon Walton, who had previously announced plans to transfer to Alabama, has been arrested on a charge of second-degree possession of marijuana. Walton had announced his commitment to the Crimson Tide in March, but coach Nate Oats said that won’t happen now. Oats says Walton won't play for Alabama. Walton averaged nearly 14 points for Wichita State last season.
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This summary of area news is curated by KPR news staffers, including J. Schafer, Laura Lorson, Tom Parkinson and Kaye McIntyre. Our headlines are generally posted by 10 am weekdays and updated throughout the day. These ad-free headlines are made possible by KPR members. Become one today. And follow KPR News on Twitter.