On Friday afternoon, just three days after Kansas voters have decided just whose name will go on the checks that will provide the $99,636 salary we pay our governor, a small panel of economists and tax experts will deliver the second-biggest news of the week in Kansas.

It’s the obscure Consensus Revenue Estimate (CRE) panel, and it will deliver the real news which is the experts’ best estimate of just how much money that governor is going to have to spend in his/her first year at the top of the governmental food chain.

Now, there isn’t going to be a reception with drinks and finger-foods as the results are announced, but just how much money the governor will have to provide Kansans the services that they campaigned on is a big deal.

That CRE will become the baseline for the new governor’s budget and is the key to not only fulfilling campaign promises, but to providing basic services to thousands of Kansans who receive state-financed social services and health care from the state, plus things like highway work, aid to public education, public safety, the judiciary and everything else.

It’s a big deal.

In last year’s estimate, the group of scholars predicted that the state would take in $6.8 billion for the current fiscal year, which ends on June 30, 2019. That was a $108 million boost over the previous year. And in April, the CRE was adjusted, and this year’s revenues were estimated at $7 billion, a boost of $217 million for the current budget year, for which spending was approved last spring.

Not a bad boost in revenue, was it?

Well, Friday we find out whether there is more money that the Legislature can spend—or return to Kansans in the form of tax cuts for the current fiscal year, and the amount that the governor/Legislature will have to spend or not spend or return to Kansans through tax rate reductions in the fiscal year that starts next July 1.

Yes, that’s the real result of that CRE estimate Friday. Spend more money or cut taxes. Republican Kris Kobach talks about income tax cuts, Democrat Laura Kelly talks food sales tax cuts, after meeting Kansas Supreme Court orders for more spending on K-12 education.

Best estimates are that the Kansas economy is relatively strong now, lots of people working, and jobs out there for the unemployed if they care or have the skills to land those jobs. Count on the CRE showing some more revenue to spend or save or return.

The income and sales tax increases of the past couple years are now solidly in effect. We’ve seen what they produce in revenue, and this CRE ought to be a pretty good measure of just how strong the Kansas economy is. The income tax boost of a couple years ago? Well, the administration never really knows how much those tax hikes raise until people have been paying them for at least a year, and that year is over.

So, what happens after Friday?

It’ll be mostly under-the-covers planning for adjustments of current year spending, most of which has already been approved by the Legislature, with some touch-ups for unanticipated spending needs.

But the real news will be that the CRE is a new governor’s blank check for her/his first budget, and a definition of just what the new governor believes is important, either for the state or for the governor’s future…

New governor? That’s big news. And how that new governor plans to spend our tax dollars? That’s big news, too…

Syndicated by Hawver News Company LLC of Topeka; Martin Hawver is publisher of Hawver’s Capitol Report—to learn more about this nonpartisan statewide political news service, visit the website at www.hawvernews.com

During the early days of our country, settlers hunted out of necessity. While farming and trading provided them with a great deal of food, it wasn’t enough for sustenance. To survive, they hunted, fished and trapped wildlife where they lived and worked.

Today, hunting in America offers two major benefits to society: wildlife management and an economic boost.

Most wildlife populations continue to thrive under conservation programs put into place in the early 1900s. For example, the white-tailed deer population was a meager half a million 100 years ago. With careful conservation efforts, plentiful crops, well planned hunting seasons and reasonable limits for hunters, the population has grown to approximately 32,000,000.

Almost every other wildlife species has flourished as well. Most of these animals number in the millions today. This wasn’t the case before the efforts of hunters and wildlife enthusiasts became commonplace.

Just as impressive are the numbers on the economic impact of hunting. With approximately 6 percent of the U.S. population hunting today, business is booming.

For countless small businesses in rural Kansas communities, hunter spending plays a major role in economic success.

Local shops, outfitters, hotels, convenience stores, restaurants and landowners across the United States all benefit. In 2011, nearly 13.7 million hunters spent $38.3 billion, according to a 2011 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service survey.

In addition to the 680,000 jobs supported by hunters, hunting generated nearly $12 billion in tax revenues for federal, state and local coffers. Wildlife agency positions are also supported by sportsmen through the purchase of hunting licenses and funds collected as excise taxes through the long-running Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration.

These sportsmen contribute on average $8 million per day nationally, much of which goes toward conservation efforts. Billions of dollars have been used to protect fish and wildlife habitats throughout the country.

Through conservation efforts, money generated and jobs created, hunting remains a positive engine in this country’s economic industry. What many fail to understand about this sacred tradition is that it isn’t just about the act itself.

Hunting provides the opportunity to experience nature. Some sportsmen will tell you the best part about hunting isn’t shooting. It’s the peacefulness and serenity of being outdoors.

Some may even feel a connection with their ancestry while hunting. It’s also an opportunity to pass such traditions to their children and friends.

For generations, families have shared these experiences and it has strengthened their relationships. It is a visceral feeling that can strengthen family bonds. Hunting remains a way of sharing in nature’s beauty and the dynamic between human and animal have few comparisons in society today.

Hunting prevails as a part of our American identity. Millions of people take pride in hunting. Their experiences are much bigger than themselves and create this community we call hunting.

John Schlageck is a leading commentator on agriculture and rural Kansas.

By JOHN P. TRETBAR

Kansas oil-and-gas operators filed 165 intent-to-drill notices with the KCC last month, including eight in Barton County, five in Ellis County, eight in Russell County and six in Stafford County. So far this year, the KCC reports 1,635 new intents, compared to 1,298 through October of last year. By this time in 2014, when prices were starting to drop from record highs, operators had filed drilling notice on 5,815 new wells.

Baker Hughes reported 1,067 active rigs across the U.S., down one oil rig. Texas was down four rigs, while Oklahoma gained three.

Independent Oil & Gas Service reports a slight increase in the weekly drilling rig count in Kansas. There are 30 rigs in western Kansas that are moving in, rigging up, drilling or relocating, up one from last week. The count east of Wichita was unchanged at ten active rigs. Operators are about to spud one well in Ellis County, two in Russell County and one in Stafford County. They’re moving in rotary drilling tools at another Stafford County lease, and they’re moving in completion tools at one site in Ellis County.

There were 60 permits for drilling at new locations filed last week across Kansas, 38 east of Wichita and 22 in the western half of the state. There are four new permits in Ellis County, two in Russell County and three in Stafford County. So far this year, 1,539 permits are on file, which marks a big improvement over the 1,190 permits filed through the first week in November last year.

Independent Oil & Gas Service reports 41 new well completions for the week, 1,294 so far this year. There were 25 new completions in eastern Kansas and 16 west of Wichita, including one each in Barton, Ellis, Russell and Stafford counties.

Crude inventories spiked last week, increasing by 3.2 million barrels to 426 million, about two percent above the five-year average for this time of year. Crude production also increased. EIA reported total production of 11.188 million barrels per day for the week ending October 26. That’s up 315 thousand barrels per day over the week before, and 1.6 million barrels per day more than a year ago.

Texas regulators reported a significant drop in production. The state produced an estimated 90.3 million barrels in August, the latest numbers available from the Texas Railroad Commission. That’s down more than eight million barrels from the month before, and about 300,000 barrels lower than August of last year.

The Trump administration announced it is exempting eight countries from the Iran oil sanctions, which officially resumed Monday. Those exemptions reportedly included some of the largest importers of oil from the Islamic republic. Those countries’ imports from Iran have already dropped dramatically, and officials say shipments from Iran are expected to drop by as much as 1.7 million barrels a day. Reuters reported major Asian buyers of Iran’s crude have already cut purchases to a 32-month low. China, India and South Korea last month imported 1.13 million barrels per day from Iran, down nearly 41% from a year ago and the lowest totals since the previous sanctions were lifted.

Chevron doubled its profits in the third quarter on record high quarterly production of nearly three million barrels per day. Chevron posted a profit of $4.05 billion for the quarter, more than double its earnings from a year ago. Royal Dutch Shell reported third quarter profits were up 60% to $12.1 billion, the highest in four years. Exxon Mobil beat expectations for quarterly profit and revenue, but reported another drop in total oil and gas production. Quarterly profits for the world’s largest publicly traded oil and gas company surged 57 percent to $6.24 billion.

Oil and gas giant Chesapeake Energy reported third-quarter net income of $84 million, after reporting a loss in the same period a year ago. The Oklahoma company also announced its purchase of Texas producer WildHorse Resource Development for nearly $4 billion.

The Canadian Press reports record oil exports by rail out of Canada in August, an eleven percent increase to more than 229-thousand barrels per day. That’s nearly double the oil-by-rail exports from Canada in August of last year. An analyst from the Royal Bank says Canadian producers are losing millions of dollars a day in discounted prices. The region does not have enough export pipeline space, and those barrels can’t go into storage in Alberta because there’s no room. The traditional solution, to put the stranded oil in railroad cars, won’t work because that capacity is also full and growing too slowly to make a difference. The bank predicts fourth-quarter rail exports will increase to about a quarter million barrels per day.

Some Canadian producers are getting so desperate to get crude to market they’re using trucks, some of them traveling 500 to 600 miles to the nearest pipeline or rail terminals. Bloomberg reports the country’s crude-by-truck exports nearly doubled due to pipeline bottlenecks to almost 230,000 barrels in August.