KU Aims to Raise $2.5 Billion in Private Donations by 2028
LAWRENCE, Kan. (LJW/KPR) - The University of Kansas has launched a massive fundraising effort. Thursday evening, KU Chancellor Doug Girod announced that the university is aiming to raise $2.5 billion in private donations by 2028. The new campaign, called Ever Onward, is the largest campaign in KU history. The KU Endowment Association, the fundraising arm of the university, will lead the campaign. Among other things, the money raised will be used to fund scholarships, fight cancer, fund research into Alzheimer's Disease and treatments and revamp the KU football stadium and the surrounding area. The Lawrence Journal-World reports that the money raised will fund a variety of efforts at the KU campuses in Lawrence, Kansas City, Kansas, Johnson County, Wichita, Salina and at other KU healthcare facilities around the state.
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Wyandotte County Public Health Plans Effort to Address Health Disparities
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (KNS) – The Wyandotte County Public Health Department has started planning a four-year effort to tackle some of the biggest health disparities in the county. The Kansas News Service reports that community non-profits, health organizations and Wyandotte County residents met Thursday to strategize ways to meet needs in five areas, ranging from health care access to violence prevention. Chiquita Miller lives in Kansas City, Kansas, and is a K-State researcher. She says the planning sessions give advocacy groups the chance to coordinate on improving health. The groups discussed creating health tracking tools that can monitor income levels and other measures like access to primary care physicians.
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Kansas Poised to Boost Legislators' Pay by $28,000 in 2025, Nearly Doubling It
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas is poised to nearly double its lawmakers' pay in 2025 in hopes of attracting more diverse members, only months after the Legislature boosted the salaries of other state officials. A commission created by the Republican-controlled Legislature to study lawmakers' pay on Thursday approved a proposal to increase the compensation for rank-and-file members by nearly $28,000 a year, a 93% increase to nearly $58,000. Legislative leaders, who receive extra pay, would see proportionally larger dollar increases, so that the Senate president and House speaker would be paid more than $85,000 a year, up from the current $44,000. The commission's plan will take effect unless both legislative chambers vote to reject it by Feb. 7, a month after lawmakers convene their 2024 session.
Under the plan, Kansas lawmakers would be paid better than their counterparts in a majority of states — not only neighbors like Iowa and Missouri, but also more populous ones like New Jersey and Texas, according to National Conference of State Legislatures data. New York has the highest-paid lawmakers, at $142,000 a year, following a 29% raise at the start of this year.
Like legislators in other states, some Kansas lawmakers have complained for years that it's a financial hardship to serve in the Legislature. They have said the current $30,000 in compensation isn't enough to live on year-round and that being in office makes it difficult or even impossible to work at an outside job when lawmakers are in session. “You don't want it to be, 'We're not going to pay anything and get all retirees or wealthy people,'" said former Republican state Rep. Clark Shultz, one of eight ex-legislators on the nine-member commission. “We also don't want $100,000 salaries and people, this becomes their jobs.”
It's not clear whether the plan will face opposition in the Legislature, though all 40 Senate seats and 125 House seats are up for election next year. The commission's staff, on loan from the Legislature, reported receiving only a single negative comment, an email Wednesday from a “concerned Resident of Kansas,” whose name was withheld. Senate President Ty Masterson and House Speaker Dan Hawkins, both Wichita-area Republicans, didn't offer opinions Thursday on the proposal, saying they respected the commission's work.
The law creating the Legislative Compensation Commission also increased the salaries of the state's judges and elected executive branch officials. A 2019 legislative audit found that most other states paid more and that Kansas was among the bottom 10 in pay for the governor and attorney general.
Starting in 2025, the governor's salary will jump 57%, to $174,000. The attorney general will receive nearly $170,000, a 72% increase, and the salaries of the secretary of state, state treasurer and insurance commissioner will increase 87%, to almost $161,000.
As for legislators, states vary in how they pay them. New Mexico doesn't provide a salary but pays up to $202 a day to cover lawmakers' expenses when they are in session, according to the NCSL. Most states pay a salary and give their lawmakers extra money each day to cover expenses in session.
In Kansas, the daily in-session checks to cover expenses account for about half of the current compensation of $30,000 a year for rank-and-file lawmakers, and those payments won't change under the commission's plan. The rest of their annual compensation is a salary of roughly $7,800 for their work in session and an allowance of $7,100 to cover office expenses out of session, and neither figure has increased since 2009. Under the plan, a $43,000 salary will replace both.
When Kansas became a state in 1861, its constitution specified that lawmakers were to receive $3 a day in session, up to $150. They didn't get a raise for nearly 90 years, with voters rejecting five proposals before approving pay of $12 a day in 1948. In 1962, voters said lawmakers' pay could be set by state law.
“I think this is a better approach,” said another commission member, former Democratic state Sen. Anthony Hensley. “You don’t put legislators in a position where they’re increasing their own pay. You have a group of people that really studied this from the outside.”
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Protected Mussel Species Released into State Waters
WICHITA, Kan. (KNS) – The Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks has released protected mussel species into state waters as part of a new conservation project this fall. The Kansas News Service reports that forty freshwater mussel species reside in Kansas, but most have disappeared from waters they historically occupied. Trevor Starks is a species recovery coordinator with the state. He says development and water pollution fragmented mussels' habitat. The state is attempting to reverse this trend by growing mussels in fish hatcheries, then releasing them into the wild. This fall, it stocked two Southeast Kansas rivers with two mussel species, one of which is federally endangered. The state is planning to release up to 18,000 mussels in southeastern Kansas next year. Starks says he hopes to return the species to non-protected status.
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U.S. Announces $3.5 Billion to Strengthen Electric Grid
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration has announced $3.5 billion for 58 projects across the country to strengthen electric grid resilience as extreme weather events such as the deadly Maui and California wildfires continue to strain the nation's aging transmission systems. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm says Wednesday's announcement marks the largest federal investment ever in grid infrastructure. Funding will support projects to harden electric systems and improve energy reliability and affordability. The federal spending, combined with money promised by private partners, could result in up to $8 billion in investments nationally to upgrade the grid and help it withstand natural disasters and extreme weather worsened by climate change.
Projects funded by the federal Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships program will increase the flexibility, efficiency and reliability of electric power systems, with a particular focus on spurring solar, wind and other renewable energy, Granholm said. The projects also are aimed at fixing problems that may contribute to wildfires and other disasters and will improve reliability by deploying innovative approaches to electricity transmission, storage and distribution, she and other officials said. The largest grant, $464 million, will go to improve five transmission projects across seven Midwestern states, from Iowa to North Dakota.
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Head of Auto Workers Union Says Strikes Will Continue in Drive to Gain Better Offers from Companies
DETROIT (AP) — United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain said Friday that while Detroit’s automakers have increased their wage and benefit offers, he believes the union can gain more if it holds out longer in its contract talks.
In a Facebook Live appearance, Fain didn’t announce any more factories to add to those that have been on strike for up to five weeks. But he warned that the UAW could announce such an expansion of its strikes at any time, depending on how much progress it makes in its negotiations with the automakers.
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K-State Trying to Remain in Big 12 Title Hunt in Championship Game Rematch with TCU
MANHATTAN, Kansas (AP) — Kansas State will be trying to remain in the Big 12 title hunt when it plays TCU on Saturday in a rematch of their conference championship game a year ago. The Wildcats are coming off a win over Texas Tech in which freshman quarterback Avery Johnson ran for a school record-tying five touchdowns. It was a nice bounceback after the Wildcats lost the previous week at Oklahoma State. The Horned Frogs also bounced back from consecutive Big 12 losses to blow out BYU. Freshman quarterback Josh Hoover threw for 439 yards and four touchdowns in his first career start against the Cougars.
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Tale of 2 Defenses: Chiefs Have Been Brilliant, Chargers Awful Ahead of AFC West Showdown
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Chiefs and Chargers are bringing two very different defenses into their matchup at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday. The Chiefs have the second-ranked scoring defense in the league, one that has helped to bail out an offense that has been good but that quarterback Patrick Mahomes thinks has yet to hit its stride. The Chargers have allowed more yards than all but one other team in the league, which has dragged down an offense that has been similarly good at times.
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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.