Brownback: Higher Sales Taxes Or Bust

KDP Weekly Wrap

This week, Governor Brownback and his GOP allies made themselves clear: raising sales taxes on working Kansans is the only way forward.
That’s why the governor let it be known among Republican legislators that he would veto any budget bill that didn’t include hundreds of millions of dollars in new sales taxes. It’s also why the legislature is at a complete standstill on the budget and any tax plans – Kansas House members don’t want to be held responsible for
cleaning up the mess Brownback created when he passed the worst tax plan in America.
It appears that Governor Brownback is falling back on his most common tactic: bully and threaten legislators until he gets his way. It’s how he got his 2012 tax bill passed, it’s how he defeated moderate GOP senators who opposed his agenda, and it’s how he’s now trying to pass his unpopular tax hike on working Kansans.
Brownback is getting assistance from other right wing legislators like Senate President Susan Wagle who led the Kansas Senate to pass a tax plan that would raise sales taxes by .6 cents and phasing out the home mortgage interest deduction for Kansas homeowners.
Sen. Wagle’s blind support for Governor Brownback has led her to do a complete reversal on sales taxes, leading her to lay out this whopper of a statement:
Sales taxes may not matter to Governor Brownback or Senate President Wagle, but they matter to working families whose groceries, gas, and clothing will all cost more now. Sales taxes matter to small businesses who have to compete across state lines. And sales taxes matter when you look at how Kansas is shifting its tax burden even more heavily onto the backs of the working poor and middle class.
Kansas taxes are already grossly regressive, asking the poorest 20% to pay over 2.5 times as much in taxes as the richest 1%. Middle-class Kansans aren’t getting off easy either, paying well over twice as much in state and local taxes.
So why does the governor and his GOP allies want to worsen this already sad situation? Because it’s the only way they can afford to pay for the tax breaks they doled out to the richest Kansans and big business.
So there you have it – Governor Brownback has backed himself into a corner and is now demanding that the Kansas Legislature bail him out and raise taxes on Kansas families. These actions go to show that KDP Chair Joan Wagnon was right when she said that the governor’s only real priority is protecting tax breaks for the richest Kansans.

May- June precipitation provides early indicator of pasture yield and animal performance

By – Keith Harmoney, rangeland scientist, and John Jaeger, beef scientist

Available soil water from precipitation is the main limiting factor to total forage production in most regions of Kansas. Other factors, such as prior grazing history (stocking rate), time of year in which grazing took place, and duration of grazing can also affect forage production in future growing seasons.

During drought periods, it would be beneficial to know the amount of pasture production that could be expected from decreasing amounts of precipitation so that producers can make informed stocking decisions. Shortgrass rangelands at the KSU Ag Research Center – Hays , have been used for grazing research since the 1940’s. For studies with similar stocking rates, rangeland production was compared to annual precipitation and specific monthly combinations of precipitation for 36 years of data to find the best relationships between the times of year precipitation is received and end of the growing season forage production.

The time period of precipitation with the greatest relationship to end of growing season forage production was precipitation from October of the previous year (OctPY) through September of the current year. Late fall precipitation of the prior year and winter precipitation promote early cool-season grass growth, namely western wheatgrass and annual bromes. The OctPY through September time period also includes precipitation that would
fall during the main growing period of the dominant forage in the shortgrass rangeland system, namely warm-season grasses.

The two month period that had the greatest relationship with end of season forage production was May and June precipitation. This two month period represents the most rapid growth period of warm-season grasses in western Kansas, and therefore precipitation during this time period can reasonably be a predictor of end of season forage production.

Conversely winter precipitation, OctPY to April of the current year precipitation (late fall, winter, and early spring precipitation) had almost no relationship to end of the year forage production and was a poor predictor of yield. The lack of precipitation during the winter does not indicate that a lack of forage production will occur, since precipitation in May and June can still produce favorable forage growth. Precipitation the prior year and prior two years to the current growing season also had no relationship whatsoever with current year forage production.
For drought planning, it appears that stocking at a recommended moderate stocking rate for the rangelands being utilized, and then adjusting that stocking rate based on condition and vigor of the vegetation entering the winter dormant season, should be the baseline for spring stocking rates since winter precipitation had almost no relationship
to end of growing season forage production. Further refinements of the stocking rate could be based on May precipitation and May and June precipitation combined since over half of the variation in end of growing season forage production can be explained by precipitation that occurs during May and June. However, sequential years of drought may place rangelands into a state of lower vigor and lower plant density, and therefore beginning season stocking rates may need to be reduced with further adjustments occurring during the spring growing season.

Producers are also concerned about animal gain during drought seasons. Animal gains during these 36 years showed that as precipitation increased, total animal gain decreased. Periods of drought place plants into moisture stress, so plants do not have the available water to develop and mature as quickly. Therefore, plants in a drought remain in a less mature stage of development for a greater length of time through the growing season and would also have greater forage quality for a longer period of time. The most recent thirteen years of stocker studies show, when animals are managed with consistent vaccination, growth implant, stocking rate, and supplement strategies, that total animal gain during the whole grazing season had an evident negative relationship with precipitation from OctPY to September of the current year . As precipitation increases, individual animal gains decrease over the same time period. The best individual gains tended to occur during drought years.
As long as animals have adequate current year forage available to meet daily dry matter intake needs during drought, the forage consumed should be of greater quality. Animals that do not perform well during drought periods may be limited by heat stress, poor water quality, old residual forage from the prior year, or lack of total available forage.

Generally, grazing animals are likely not limited by current year forage quality of native rangelands during dry years. Early growing season precipitation can be an early indicator of how well animals will perform on an individual basis, but early precipitation in May and June give an even greater indicator of how much forage growth can be expected at the end of the season to enable producers to adjust stocking and to make animal management decisions.

Not a Good Model

For the Wichita Eagle editorial board, Rhonda Holman

After the 2012 election put the entire Legislature under conservative Republican control, Gov. Sam Brownback touted Kansas as a “red-state model” for the nation. By Friday that model was looking a bit black and blue, though, as House and Senate leaders traded blame over their inability to agree on taxes and the budget.

Every legislative session includes some culminating drama, inevitably leading to deals and adjournment. But House Speaker Ray Merrick, R-Stilwell, and Senate President Susan Wagle, R-Wichita, clearly overpromised when they said the usual 90-day session would be trimmed to 80 days.

Brownback and Wagle underestimated the sales job necessary to persuade House Republicans, many of whom have signed no-tax pledges, that it technically would not be a tax increase to prevent a three-year sales-tax increase from ending June 30.

The governor also likely overreached in trying to pass a two-year budget, given the uncertain revenue stream in the wake of last year’s massive income-tax cuts. And it was a mistake for the governor, Merrick and Wagle to try to negotiate a fiscal deal behind closed doors, bypassing the appropriate legislative conference committees and the public.

By Friday, when the chambers were at a nasty impasse, there was even talk of Brownback vetoing any budget bill if the House didn’t also give him his desired extension of the current 6.3 percent sales-tax rate and resulting $250 million annually. A lot depends on how this conservative infighting ends, including whether the state universities and community colleges will see flat funding (Brownback’s choice), a 4 percent cut (House) or a 2 or 1 percent cut (Senate proposals). The governor is right in arguing that any cut would kill the system’s momentum, as well as hamper the ability to attract and retain top faculty.

Meanwhile, lawmakers have been misusing all the idle hours, coming up with bad ideas to further mess up the appellate courts and try to prevent any use of state funds to promote anything resembling gun control.

And Senate Ways and Means Committee Chairman Ty Masterson, R-Andover, inexplicably thought it would be a good idea to further complicate budget negotiations, urging passage of a proviso aimed at crippling implementation of the Common Core reading and math standards and new science standards. Never mind that school districts around the state have spent three years and a lot of money getting ready for the Common Core standards, which were voluntarily embraced by 45 states and are not a case of “the federal government imposing on our schools,” as Masterson put it, or that bills to block Common Core didn’t even have enough support to make it out of either chamber’s education committee.

In the coming days, Brownback and his fellow conservatives must demonstrate that they not only can win elections but also govern. Doing so responsibly means coping with the self-inflicted budget crisis without further harming K-12 schools and higher education or vulnerable Kansans who rely on social services.

At least Kansans now know that like-minded doesn’t mean lockstep.

For the editorial board, Rhonda Holman

 

An informed, watchful public can help protect Kansas lakes and rivers against the invasion of aquatic nuisance species (ANS).

KDWPT Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers!

Zebra mussels, Asian carp and other aquatic nuisance species pose serious environmental and economic threats to the state’s aquatic resources. Aquatic nuisance species are animals and plants not native to Kansas that can threaten lake and river ecology, harm native or desirable species, and interfere with our economy. They often hitchhike with unsuspecting people who may unknowingly transport an ANS to a previously uninfested body of water.
For more information about ANS, visit ProtectKSWaters.org.

SUMMER IS ALMOST HERE!!
What signals the start of summer? The last day of school and the opening of the Hays Aquatic Park!!!
The Hays Aquatic Park will open on Saturday, May 25 at 12:00pm!!
Join us for a great summer of fun – go to www.haysrec.org to see all the great specials and activities going on this summer!
Season Passes can be purchased in the HRC Office or at the Aquatic Park starting May 25th. They are $40.00 per person for 82 days of fun!

DEADLINES FOR MAY 22ND
If a class is full PLEASE put your name on the waiting list. We always do our best to accommodate everyone so if you are not on the waiting list and we add an additional class you will miss out!

ADULT LEISURE
SOCIAL DANCE SAMPLER – NEW
Loosen up! Prepare to dance socially with fun and confidence by learning the basics of the Waltz, Foxtrot, Salsa, Rhumba, Swing and more!
Entry Deadline: May 22
Entry Fee: $10.00 per person for lessons, $3.00 per session for open dance
Held on: Friday’s – May 24 – June 21 ( NO CLASS June 7)
Times: Lesson: 7:00 – 8:00pm
Dancing: 8:00 – 9:00pm
Ages: 18 & older
Location: Recreation Center
Limitations: Min. 6 Max. 20
Instructor: Tim & Melanie Folkerts

ADULT SPORTS
COED SAND VOLLEYBALL LEAGUE
Join us for the exciting League with teams divided into Competitive and Recreation leagues. The games will be held on Sunday evening at the Sonic Sand Volleyball Courts.
Entry Deadline: May 22
Entry Fee: $100.00
Games: 8 Games
Played on: Sunday’s – June 2 – July
Location: Sonic Sand Volleyball Courts – 1708 Vine

ADULT SUMMER SOCCER
Join us for the exciting Adult Summer Soccer. The games will be held on Thursdays at the Bickle/Schmidt Sports Complex. Must be 16 or older to play.
Entry Deadline: May 22
Entry Fee: $175.00
Games: 8 Games
Held on: Thursday’s – June 6 – July
Limitations: Min. 4 teams
Location: Bickle/Schmidt Sports Complex, Nex-Tech Wireless Fields
Manager’s Meeting: Tuesday, May 28, 7:00pm

SPEICAL POPULATIONS
To participate in these activities, a person must:
-be diagnosed with intellectual disabilities
-have a significant learning or vocational problem

To sign up for these activities by the deadline you can contact:
-Haley Nixon at HRC @ [email protected] or (785)623-2650
-DSNWK Members – Scott Stults @ [email protected] or (785)625-5678
-ARC Members – Gloria VonFeldt @ [email protected] or (785)628-6512
-Visit haysrec.org and sign up online!

Special Pops – BOWLING
Meet us down at Centennial Lanes for some fun team bowling! You can choose your teammate or we’ll find you one when you get there. We’ll see who can cheer on their team the most! The video games at the bowling alley will be available at your own cost as well.
Entry Deadline: May 22
Entry Fee: $3.00 per person
Held on: Thursday, May 23rd
Times: 6:30pm
Ages: All Ages
Location: Centennial Lanes – 2400 Vine Street
Limitations: Min. 5 Max. 30

Special Pops – COSMOSPHERE TRIP – FULL
Join us on a trip to Hutchinson to visit the Cosmosphere. Our day adventure will include The Hall of Space Museum, IMAX Theater, Planetarium, Dr. Goddard’s Lab and lunch at the Center. Lunch included in price.

Entry Deadline: May 23
Entry Fee: $20.00
Held on: Wednesday, May 29
Times: Leave from HRC @ 7:00am
Ages: All ages
Location: Recreation Center
Limitations: Min. 5 Max. 15

BICKLE-SCHMIDT SPORTS COMPLEX
HRC 16th ANNUAL ASA FAST PITCH TOURNAMENT
ASA girls fast pitch 9-18U open class tournament. 3 Game Guarantee.
Entry Deadline: May 24
Entry Fee: $185.00
Held on: June 1 – 2
Location: Bickle/Schmidt Sports Complex

UPCOMING DEADLINES
May 29
Adapted Day Camp
Adult Aikido
Aikido Stretches & Motion
Aquathlon
Bead Drum (art)
Beginners Shot Gun Shooting For Ladies
Beginning Ballet
Bug Bash
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
Drum Alive
Kanine Kollege
Little Lotus Yoga
Little Sparks – Session 2
Miniature Horse Tour
Music Sparks Sharing- Gardening
Parent’s Keepsake
Pee Wee Tee Ball
Photo Adventures Day Camp
Pottery Works
School’s Out
Savory Summertime Delights
SP Adapted Day Camp
SP JAM (Just Add Music)
Storytime Station
Tumbling for Tweens
Yoga for Kids
Youth Aikido (active learners)
Youth Aikido (traditional)
NBC Baseball Points Tournament

Hunting trip in Texas ends with amazing bird catch. Pastor was filming education video. He let the bird go. Yes, that is former University of Texas QB Colt McCoy in the video. Enjoy!

Forty years ago,  The Washington Post – and its self-described “young and hard-digging reporters, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein” – took home a Pulitzer Prize for public service for coverage of the Watergate scandal.

Other winners in journalism that year included the Chicago Tribune, The New York Times and Knight Newspapers, and entries from several local newspapers –all part of what we today would call “mainstream media.”

Interestingly, the winner in drama that year was Jason Miller, for a play titled “That Championship Season.” There’s little doubt that the year and the era also was a “championship season” for journalism and a free press.

The Watergate era, which echoed well past President Richard Nixon’s resignation in 1974, was a time when reporters were considered heroes by most, newspapers and broadcast outlets still churned out high profits and journalism school enrollments swelled with increased numbers of young men – and for the first time, young women – intent on writing stories and doing good.

Forty years later, Woodward and Bernstein are pursued themselves by the journalists today asking at least two questions: How would Watergate coverage been different in the digital era? And, to a lesser degree, what’s happened to the “golden glow” around the profession?

Woodward and Bernstein responded to the questions at the 2012 convention of the American Society of News Editors (which in 1974, by the way, had “Newspaper” not “News” in its name). In a story by The Washington Post on that ASNE session, it quoted the pair as saying that “editors gave them the time and encouragement to pursue an intricate, elusive story … and then the rest of the American system (Congress, the judiciary) took over and worked.

“It was a shining act of democratic teamwork that neither man believes is wholly replicable today — either because news outlets are strapped or gutted, or because the American people have a reduced appetite for ponderous coverage of a not-yet-scandal, or because the current Congress would never act as decisively to investigate a president.”

Bernstein was quoted by the Post as saying that “We had a readership that was much more open to real fact than today. Today there’s a huge audience, partly whipped into shape by the 24-hour cycle, that is looking for information to confirm their already-held political-cultural-religious beliefs/ideologies, and that is the cauldron into which all information is put.”

Forty years after Watergate, Careercast.com’s 2013 annual report tagged “reporter” as the worst job to have. There were just under 1,800 daily newspapers in 1985, and fewer than 1,400 today. Yet, with all of that negative news, don’t count out a free press yet.

At that same ASNE session nine months ago, even Bernstein said, “ … I have no doubt there are dozens of great reporters out there today — and news organizations — that could do this story.”

And look at the Pulitzer winners this year. Winners again included regulars such as The New York Times and Wall Street Journal. But prizes also went to a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., reporting team that included a “database editor” examining traffic statistics; and a three-person team from InsideClimateNews.org – which published an “e-book” in 2012 on flawed regulation of the nation’s pipelines.

We’re in the midst of a huge, exciting change in how we get news, and from whom. The once-a-day ritual of a national news campfire, the network newscast, is fading – challenged first by 24/7 cable news, and now increasingly replaced by news alerts on mobile “apps” that bring images and video to consumers at near real-time.

The First Amendment’s protection for a free press continues to encourage journalists – now joined by new age publications and even citizens as bloggers – to hold accountable even the highest levels of government and the powerful.

Watergate and “Wood-Stein” may belong to the ages, and news-on-printed paper may well be in its last years. But the appetite for news among consumers remains a constant. Technology provides ever more ways to get the news than ever.

If we work at accessing multiple news and information sources – as opposed to relying on anonymous aggregators or automatic algorithms to feed us packaged information – this new, larger and more varied stream of news will be ever more valuable to each of us.

Forty years from now, it’s my bet the Watergate era will be remembered as “a” pinnacle of American journalism – not “the.”

Surveillance: On Wednesday, a deer crashed through the windshield of a Johnstown, PA bus and walks out the front door.

 

Book Review: Lean In (Author Sheryl Sandberg)

Sandberg is the chief operating officer of Facebook and is ranked on Fortune’s list of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business and as one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People in the World. In 2010, she gave an electrifying TEDTalk in which she described how women unintentionally hold themselves back in their careers. Her talk, which became a phenomenon and has been viewed more than two million times, encouraged women to “sit at the table,” seek challenges, take risks, and pursue their goals with gusto.

This book is an excellent peek into the life of a high-powered businesswoman and what women need to do to get a taste of that life for themselves. Sandberg attests that having a woman at the top can have a difference. Are women viewed differently in the workplace? Sure they are, but different does not have to be negative.

Sandberg points out some discrepancies between men and women at work: men are promoted based on potential, while woman are promoted based on past accomplishments; careers depend on taking risks and advocating for yourself, traits that are typically discouraged in girls but encouraged in boys. She then notes how women can be successful but at the same time not give up what makes women different (and valuable) in the workplace and at home.

4 out of 5 stars.

Marleah Augustine is the Adult Department Librarian at the Hays Public Library

You can see more of her blog here    https://hayspubliclibrary.wordpress.com

 

 

 

 

Over the past two years, LeadingAge Kansas has closely monitored and actively advocated on KanCare. As an association representing 160 nonprofit long-term care and aging service providers that serve more than 20,000 older Kansans, we have had many opportunities to provide input about KanCare to the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services and the Brownback administration. We have appreciated their open-door policy and responsiveness to our questions and concerns.

It has been clear for more than a decade that the growth in the state’s Medicaid budget is not sustainable. The administration established KanCare as a way to address this issue, and to improve quality outcomes, expand consumer choice and increase care coordination across health care settings. LeadingAge Kansas supports these ambitious and laudable goals.

The initial implementation phase of KanCare was rocky, especially related to claims filing and timely payment. However, as the weeks have gone by, problems have been fixed, and the state is working diligently with the managed-care companies and our members for resolution of remaining issues.

More than 16,000 frail older Kansans rely on Medicaid to pay for their long-term care, and the number will increase in years ahead. They deserve the best care that we can provide. It is in this spirit that we have and will continue to work with the state to ensure that the goals of KanCare are advanced.

DEBRA HARMON ZEHR

President and CEO

LeadingAge Kansas