TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Heated challenges to conservative Republic incumbents in Kansas during November’s election that left the status quo in place finished as the top two Kansas stories of 2014.
Longtime U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts narrowly fended off the challenge of independent Greg Orman after a bitter campaign, while Gov. Sam Brownback slipped past Democrat Paul Davis to retain his seat for another four years.
Steep budget shortfalls blamed on Brownback’s tax cuts finished as the third most-significant Kansas story of the year, while court rulings that opened the door to same-sex marriages in spite of the state’s constitutional ban was fourth.
The fatal shootings of three people at two Jewish centers by an avowed white supremacist from Missouri rounded out the top five.
State legislators in western Kansas are already gearing up to fight for rural issues and values in the upcoming legislative session in Topeka.
On her path to a second term, 111th District Rep. Sue Boldra, R-Hays, emphasized that Topeka gets bogged down in battles between rural and urban legislators as opposed to the traditional partisan battle that is seen on the national stage. She said she continues to stand true on the idea that some urban legislators simply don’t understand the issues that face rural communities as she readies to take the 200-mile trip each week to Topeka.
“We have to make sure those urban legislators understand what happens out here in rural Kansas because they don’t,” Boldra said. “They just don’t understand what we do out here. It just looks like a lot of open and empty space to them.”
The Hays High School government teacher turned lawmaker notes one of the biggest issues within this battle is education. As local school bond issues fail and some rural populations continue to shrink, Boldra said school consolidations aren’t necessarily the answer and some urban legislators just don’t understand the associated hardships. She also said she would like legislators to revisit the idea of implementing all-day kindergarten.
“We can’t ask our children to stay on the bus for long amounts of time just to go to school each day,” Boldra said. “They don’t understand the concept of driving five hours to a baseball or basketball game in Liberal. They don’t understand how much immense space we have and what that means and why we pass some of the rules that we do.”
Depending on the outcome of the ongoing school finance court battles, legislators might have to fill another hole in school funding.
Earlier this year, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled there was an unconstitutional disparity in school funding. The court sent part of the Gannon lawsuit back to district court to determine what adequate funding was. Following the ruling, the state passed a funding bill that increased school funding by $129 million dollars. The bill also stripped a tenure mandate from state law and gave school boards the power to determine their own due process rules. Boldra voted against the bill.
“I hope that we can move forward on education including trying to bring back all-day kindergarten,” Boldra said. “I was very disappointed with that bill, and I think we’re going to have to go back and do some fixing during this legislative session.”
Legislators will also face another budget battle as they prepare to fill a projected $300 million budget shortfall for this fiscal year, which ends June 30. The Brownback tax experiment was driven deep into the heart of almost every statewide election this past year, including Boldra’s race against Democrat James Leiker of Hays. Several Republican legislators are saying the tax plan championed by Gov. Sam Brownback might have to be revised. In the 2012 legislative process, Brownback and the Legislature approved eliminating almost all income taxes.
“We might have to look at doing some taxing,” Boldra said. “(In order to cover the deficit), we might have to bring some of those taxes back.”
Boldra and other state legislators will head back to Topeka where they will convene on Jan. 12 for the first legislative meetings. Boldra has asked House Speaker Ray Merrick, R-Stillwell, for the same committee assignments as she held last year — education, agriculture and natural resources, utilities and environment and utilities and telecommunications.
The day after Christmas will be a busy one for employees of the Hays Solid Waste Division. They’re planning on picking up lots more trash than usual, the shiny remnants of all those holiday gifts and decorations.
Solid Waste Superintendent Marvin Honas hopes the recycling trucks are really busy. “We encourage Hays residents to recycle as much as they can, particularly boxes,” said Honas.
Honas issued a reminder some things that may be inside cardboard boxes, cannot be recycled in Hays.
“A lot of people leave the styrofoam packing inside the boxes, especially for something like a TV. So we’re encouraging people to remember to remove the styrofoam and any plastic wrapping that a lot of components come in.”
The styrofoam and plastic wrapping has to go into the regular waste collection.
Plastic packaging #1 through #7 that may have contained a retail item can be recycled, as well as all that once-festive, now wadded-up and ripped-up gift wrap, along with Christmas cards and envelopes.
“Christmas wrapping paper is definitely recyclable. We get a lot of extra paper and boxes in the recycling pickups several days after Christmas.”
“We definitely get more (holiday) recyclables and we definitely encourage people to recycle as much as they can,” Honas said.
Thursday and Friday’s collection schedule will be picked up on Friday, Dec. 26.
The volume of household waste in the United States generally increases 25 percent between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day — about 1 million extra tons, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
CHICAGO (AP) — Unions across the U.S. are reaching out to immigrants affected by President Obama’s recent executive action in hopes of expanding their dwindling ranks by recruiting millions of workers who entered the U.S. illegally.
Labor leaders say the action will give new protection to workers who’ve been reluctant to join for fear of retaliation. The action curbs deportation and gives work permits to some 4 million immigrants.
Service Employees International Union Local has announced a website where immigrants can learn about the action. The AFL-CIO says it’s training organizers to recruit eligible workers. Other unions are partnering with community groups to reach out to immigrants.
Opponents meanwhile are working to undo the action, saying it will hurt American workers. Some labor experts are skeptical immigrants will feel safe enough to unionize.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell says health care sign-ups are off to an encouraging start, but a lot of work is still needed to make the second open enrollment season for the federal insurance market a success.
Burwell says 1.9 million new customers have picked a plan through the federal market as of Dec. 19. It serves 37 states.
Another 4.5 million have renewed existing coverage, with most automatically re-enrolled.
The numbers don’t include states running their own insurance exchanges.
Burwell said Tuesday the administration will release a full 50-state report next week.
With the HealthCare.gov website running much better this year, the administration has set a goal of 9.1 million customers signed up and paying premiums in 2015.
Handcrafted metal FHSU Tiger ornaments grace the Christmas Tree in the Sheridan Hall Dreiling Lobby.
By BECKY KISER Hays Post
The Christmas tree in the Dreiling Lobby of the Fort Hays State University Sheridan Hall is decorated with unique sparkling silver ornaments. When you look closely, you can see the official FHSU Tiger logo engraved onto each piece.
A traditional star topping the Christmas tree also features the Tiger logo.
“Instructor Randy Jordan and Assistant Professor Kris Munsch of the FHSU Institute of Applied Technology worked together in the campus metal lab to design and cut the ornaments with a CNC (Computer Numerical Control) mill,” according to Melissa B. Dixon, University Relations Social Media Coordinator.
“This ‘upcycle’ project used scraps of aluminum diamond tread plate that were too small for other projects and resulted in about 30 finished pieces,” she wrote in a FHSU Facebook post Tuesday.
Dixon included a close-up picture of one of the handcrafted Tiger ornaments in the post and she suddenly had “several requests from people wanting to know if they could buy the ornaments,” so Dixon contacted Kim Stewart, the Institute’s Executive Director, who is also an associate professor.
“From time to time our TEECA Group (Technology and Engineering Education Association students) do things such as the Christmas ornaments for fundraisers. However, I believe we are all out of this particular ones at this time. Not to say we could not duplicate them at some point in time,” Steward said.
Given the interest on the Facebook posting, the FHSU ornaments could be a popular Christmas purchase next year by alumni and supporters alike.
Chapman Rackaway is a Professor of Political Science at Fort Hays State University.
It’s been an out-of-the-ordinary year for Kansas politics, and with the holiday season upon us an out-of-the-ordinary celebration fits. In that spirit, let’s celebrate 2014 with Festivus, the parody holiday made famous on the television series Seinfeld.
Festivus begins with a pole, known for its high strength-to-weight ratio and low maintenance needs. Kansas’ lowest-maintenance politician has to be Senator Jerry Moran. In addition to his strength-to-weight ratio, Moran managed to lead the NRSC to a Republican U.S. Senate majority while holding more in-state town hall meetings than any other state politico.
Festivus dinner, a mix of meat loaf and spaghetti with meatballs, is a cheap dinner that serves as a good proxy for what’s coming next year: big cost cutting. Governor Brownback is dipping into KPERS and the highway fund to fill 2014’s budget shortfall, and next year’s budget looks to even more austerity. No steak for this Festivus. And the state legislature might want to start pricing ramen noodles.
After Festivus dinner comes the Feats of Strength. Guests challenge the head of the household until he is pinned. This year, the event ran long as there were plenty of hopefuls to knock off the state GOP campaign apparatus, but neither Jennifer Winn nor the Paul Davis campaign could pin Governor Brownback. Tim Huelskamp held on after a close match with Alan LaPolice in his primary and quickly dispatched his general election opponent. Mike Pompeo, Lynn Jenkins, and Kevin Yoder all won easily. Milton Wolf and then Greg Orman failed to pin Pat Roberts, while Ron Estes, Kris Kobach, and Derek Schmidt made short work of their challengers.
After the Feats of Strength the mighty GOP, head of Kansas’ political household, remained pinned. In a year where it seems Democrats and Independents might actually upset the old guard, our biennial Feats of Strength had a default result.
No Festivus would be complete without the words of Seinfeld’s Frank Costanza, “I’ve got a lot of problems with you people, and now you’re going to hear about it!” The Airing of Grievances begins. Campaigns are one long extended airing of grievances, never truer than with the Paul Davis campaign. We were constantly reminded of Davis’ disappointment with Governor Brownback throughout the election season.
Low approval ratings for all political figures were another part of our protracted Airing of Grievances. Everyone seemed to hate everyone. The highest-rated political figure wasn’t running – our Festivus Pole himself, Senator Moran. But if we learned anything this year, it’s that the public’s general dissatisfaction will probably suppress his rating as his 2016 re-election nears. After all, Pat Roberts’ ratings were ten points higher before he ran for re-election. Once a candidate runs, they immediately get cast into the pool of ‘politicians’, who are actually LESS trusted than used-car salespersons. The public is so fed up with politics of their own making they have taken to airing their grievances in polls and not at their polling places.
The last grievance to air is against pollsters. Nationwide polls were skewed in favor of Democrats, which became evident on Election Day. As mobilization has moved to the individual level and potential voters have gotten tougher to contact reliably it has become harder to predict votes from poll responses. The polls had it wrong, and we trusted their reliable history a bit too much.
Everyone is hoping for a Festivus Miracle to pump money into the state’s coffers now. Governor Brownback’s ‘shot of adrenaline’ tax cuts have not produced as promised, taking one potential miracle off the table. Perhaps we can set up Kansas’ own version of George Costanza’s “Human Fund” charity to feed a very hungry state budget.
Chapman Rackaway is a Professor of Political Science at Fort Hays State University.
Work continues on renovations to the Hays Regional Airport terminal.
Groundbreaking for the $1.3 million project was in August and includes expansion of the passenger holding area. It features a bathroom, which has not been available once passengers enter the holding area, according to Assistant Hays City Manager Paul Briseno.
“As of Dec. 22, the new hold room was in use and TSA will move their equipment to the screening area Monday, December 29. The contract stipulates the project will be completed by March,” Briseno said.
The new 50-passenger holding area is expandable to 80 people.
Other terminal improvements include renovations to the TSA and ticketing facilities as well as the baggage claim area.
GARDEN CITY-Two people were injured in an accident just after 3 p.m. on Wednesday in Finney County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2007 Honda Civic driven by Gene Boreyko, 62, Overland Park, was eastbound on Kansas156 nineteen miles east of Garden City.
The driver crossed the centerline into the westbound lane of traffic and struck a 1999 Dodge Ram 1500 pickup driven by Vicky L. Borell, 60, Utica, in a front end collision causing excessive damage to both vehicles.
Borell was transported to the hospital in Garden City. Boreyko was not injured.
The KHP reported both drivers were properly restrained at the time of the accident.
ATLANTA (AP) — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials say a lab technician is being monitored for possible exposure to the Ebola virus.
CDC spokeswoman Barbara Reynolds says in an emailed statement Wednesday that the person working in a secure laboratory in Atlanta may have come into contact with a small amount of a live virus that was part of an Ebola experiment.
Reynolds says the potential exposure is under internal investigation and has been reported to Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Burwell. Reynolds says additional employees have been notified, but none has required monitoring.
CDC Director Tom Frieden says he’s troubled by the employee’s potential exposure.
In June, at least 52 workers at the CDC took antibiotics as a precaution because a lab safety problem was thought to have exposed them to anthrax.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Heated challenges to conservative Republic incumbents in Kansas during November’s election that left the status quo in place finished as the top two Kansas stories of 2014.
