BRENHAM, Texas — Blue Bell Creameries voluntarily recalled its ice cream products in 2015 after they were linked to 10 listeria cases in four states, including three deaths in Kansas.
On Tuesday, Blue Bell announced it is expanding its distribution area to include Kansas City and the surrounding area beginning March 18, 2019, according to a media release from the company.
In addition to the Kansas City (metro area) the ice cream will return to Topeka, Lawrence, Leavenworth and Ottawa in Kansas and to St. Joseph and Sedalia in Missouri
“It has always been our goal to return to Kansas City, and we believe that we are in a great position to expand our sales territory next year,” said Jimmy Lawhorn, vice president of sales and marketing for Blue Bell.
“Currently, you can purchase Blue Bell in the southeastern corner of Kansas and southwest Missouri. In 2019, we will be able to include larger portions of both states. We can’t thank our customers enough for their patience.”
Blue Bell will reopen its distribution facility located in Kansas City. “We have started hiring personnel, including a number of former employees, and will continue to add more as needed over the next few months,” Lawhorn said.
No store locations have been released at this time, but ice cream fans can expect to find Blue Bell at most major supermarkets and drug stores when it returns to the area.
In addition to Kansas City, Blue Bell will soon announce more cities it is expanding to next year. “We are anticipating a busy and successful year ahead,” Lawhorn added. “And our fans can look forward to enjoying many of their favorite flavors and products when Blue Bell returns in 2019.”
To find out where you can currently purchase Blue Bell and for the locations that will be added in March, visit www.bluebell.com/locator.
SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a shooting and asking the public for help.
Just before 10p.m. Sunday, police were dispatched to the Lazy Toad, 5331 SW 22nd Place in Topeka after report of a fight or disturbance, according to Lt. Manuel Munoz.
While in route to the call, officers were advised that it was now a shooting and a male victim was across the street from the location lying in the grass.
Officers arrived and could not locate a victim at the scene.
At approximately 10:13 pm, dispatch was notified that a gunshot victim had been brought in to a local hospital by private vehicle.
The male victim was suffering from a non-life threatening injury and was refusing treatment. Victim was also not cooperating with detectives and would only say it happened in the area of SE 24th and SE Jefferson.
Anyone with information regarding this crime is encouraged to contact the Topeka Police Criminal Investigation Bureau.
Wreaths Across America (WAA) announces that it has been granted permission by the French authorities, on the basis of phytosanitary guarantees provided by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to place 9,387 Maine-made, balsam veterans’ wreaths on Saturday, Dec. 1, 2018, on the headstones of all U.S. service members laid to rest at Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, located in Colleville-sur-Mer, France.
The cemetery is one of 14 permanent American World War II military cemeteries on foreign soil. The government of France granted use of the land, in perpetuity. United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower and French President René Coty dedicated the cemetery on July 18, 1956.
This is the first time WAA – whose mission it to Remember the fallen, Honor those that served, and Teach the next generation the value of Freedom – has sent U.S.-made balsam wreaths to be placed on foreign soil. The December wreath-laying event is a joint collaboration between the Normandy American Cemetery and American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) and will include ceremonial wreath placements on each of the five D-Day invasion beaches, at Pointe Du Hoc, and include a Canadian Wreath presentation.
“The mission of the American Battle Monuments Commission is to honor the service, achievements and sacrifices of our U.S armed forces in two World Wars. It closely parallels the mission of the Wreaths Across America organization — to Remember, Honor and Teach,” said Scott Desjardins, Superintendent, Normandy American Cemetery. “The Normandy American Cemetery is proud and pleased to be the first ABMC cemetery to have been chosen to attempt this important endeavor. As we approach the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings, conducted to establish a foothold in Western Europe to free it from tyranny, the Wreaths Across America organization storms the beaches of Normandy to establish a foothold and commemorate the sacrifice made by the men and women who never returned home and are now memorialized in our sites.”
The veterans’ wreaths are being gifted to WAA as a donation from its founder, Morrill Worcester. It has long been a dream of his to one day place a wreath in honor of every U.S. veteran laid to rest, worldwide. “When I began placing wreaths at Arlington National Cemetery in 1992, I could never have imagined that this idea would impact people around the world the way it has,” said Worcester. “To know that WAA will be able to place a wreath for each of those veterans and say their names out loud is truly incredible, and I am so honored to be able to help this effort however I can.”
The transportation of nearly 9,500 fresh balsam veterans’ wreaths from Maine to Normandy requires a massive and coordinated effort, and this complex transport would not be possible without the generous in-kind support of global supply chain management company CEVA Logistics, the transatlantic cargo capacity of United Airlines, and the over-the-road transport provided by Metropolitan Trucking.
“Our goal at Wreaths Across America is to honor and remember all those who served and sacrificed for the freedoms we as Americans enjoy every day,” said Wayne Hanson, chairman of the board of directors, Wreaths Across America. “To be given the opportunity and support needed to advance our mission to Normandy is truly a gift and we intend to continue to move forward until one day, all U.S. veterans laid to rest are honored.”
In 1992 in Harrington, Maine, wreath maker Morrill Worcester sought to turn a surplus of 5,000 holiday wreaths into an opportunity to pay tribute to our country’s veterans. With the help of then Maine Senator Olympia Snowe, Worcester arranged for the wreaths to be placed at Arlington National Cemetery. The tradition continued on for more than a decade before national attention spurred the start of the 501c3 Wreaths Across America in 2007. Since then, the program has grown in scope, touching the lives of thousands of veterans’ families and volunteers in every state across the country. In 2017 alone, Wreaths Across America and its national network of volunteers laid over 1.5 million veterans’ wreaths at 1,433 locations in all 50 U.S. states, at sea, and abroad.
This year, National Wreaths Across America Day is Saturday, Dec. 15, 2018. At least 1,500 participating locations across the country will host wreath-laying ceremonies, all run by dedicated volunteers. To learn more about how to sponsor wreaths or volunteer in your own community, please visit www.wreathsacrossamerica.org.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas recorded more domestic violence related homicides in 2017 than it had in more than two decades.
In February 2018, Jacob Ohnmacht admitted the strangulation murder of his wife. He is currently being held in the Lansing Correctional Facility
A Kansas Bureau of Investigation report shows the 38 domestic violence deaths in 2017 was twice as many as 2016.
The agency says 20 of the deaths were female and 18 were male. Also, 33 of the suspects were male while five were female. And firearms were used in 26 of 38 cases.
KBI spokeswoman Melissa Underwood says 2017 was the second highest number of domestic violence-related deaths since records began in 1993, with 41 deaths.
In June of 2017 Jonathan Perret was sentenced for the murder of his girlfriend and texting a photo of her dead body. He is serving a life term in Lansing Prison, according to the Kansas Dept. of Corrections
Erin Reazin, a victim services coordinator for Topeka’s YMCA, says society needs to changes the culture from telling females they are responsible for reducing their risk to finding only the perpetrator at fault.
SHAWNEE COUNTY — One person died in a fire Sunday in Shawnee County. Just after 2p.m., fire crews responded to a structure fire located at 722 SW Taylor Street Apartment # 101 in Topeka, according to Fire Marshal Michael Martin.
Fatal Sunday apartment fire in Topeka -photo courtesy WIBW TV
Upon arrival, fire crews reported heavy smoke showing from a two story apartment building.
Fire suppression crews forced entry into apartment # 101 to perform a primary search of the dwelling. While performing the search, 2 adult victims were located.
One victim was transported to a local hospital in critical condition. Another identified as 61-year-old Matthew Harris was pronounced dead at the scene.
Authorities are still working to determine the cause of the fire.
Estimated structural loss is $30,000, according to Martin.
The Kansas Capital Area Red Cross responded to the scene and provided immediate assistance for 10 individuals. No smoke detectors were sounding within the apartment.
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SHAWNEE COUNTY — One person died in a fire Sunday in Shawnee County. Just after 2p.m., fire crews responded to a structure fire located at 722 SW Taylor Street Apartment # 101 in Topeka, according to Fire Marshal Michael Martin.
Fatal Sunday apartment fire in Topeka -photo courtesy WIBW TV
Upon arrival, fire crews reported heavy smoke showing from a two story apartment building.
Fire suppression crews forced entry into apartment # 101 to perform a primary search of the dwelling. While performing the search, 2 adult victims were located.
One victim was transported to a local hospital in critical condition and one was pronounced dead at the scene.
Authorities are still working to determine the cause of the fire. The Kansas Capital Area Red Cross responded to the scene and provided immediate assistance for 10 individuals. No smoke detectors were sounding within the apartment. Martin did not release the name of the victims.
WICHITA —McCurdy Auction announced Monday the Starlite Drive-In personal property auction had been postponed until further notice at the request of the owner of the popular Starlite Drive-In, according to a social media report from the Auction site.
The auction was scheduled to take place November 13.
“The McCurdy team shares the community sentiments that it is unfortunate to see another Wichita business close after being a longtime attraction for family entertainment in Wichita,” Megan McCurdy Niedens, COO and auctioneer of McCurdy Auction said.
“At this time we have agreed with the owner to postpone the auction, allowing for time and consideration regarding the future of Starlite.”
The Starlite Drive-In served the Wichita community for over 50 years. Items in the auction included Starlite memorabilia, movie screens, projectors, drive-in speakers, and commercial kitchen equipment.
A rescheduled date for the sale has not been set.
The popular drive played their last films October 13.
BALTIMORE (AP) — U.S. Catholic bishops abruptly postponed plans Monday to vote on proposed new steps to address the clergy sex abuse crisis roiling the church at the Vatican’s insistence.
Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said he was told on the eve of the bishop’s national meeting to delay action until after a Vatican-convened global meeting on sex abuse in February.
“We are not ourselves happy about this,” DiNardo told reporters in an unusual public display of frustration at a Vatican pronouncement.
“We are working very hard to move to action — and we’ll do it,” he said. “I think people in the church have a right to be skeptical. I think they also have a right to be hopeful.”
The bishops are meeting through Wednesday in Baltimore and had been expected to consider several steps to combat abuse, including a new code of conduct for themselves and the creation of a special commission, including lay experts, to review complaints against the bishops.
The bishops plan to proceed with discussing these proposals, which were drafted in September by the bishops’ Administrative Committee. Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, of Chicago, suggested the bishops could hold a non-binding vote on the proposals while in Baltimore and then convene a special assembly for a formal vote after considering the results of the global meeting in February.
“I realize that another meeting will create logistical challenges for the conference staff and the bishops’ schedules, but there is a grave urgency to this matter and we cannot delay,” Cupich said.
Abuse scandals have roiled the Roman Catholic Church worldwide for decades, but there have been major developments this year in the U.S.
In July, Pope Francis removed U.S. church leader Theodore McCarrick as a cardinal after church investigators said an allegation that he groped a teenage altar boy in the 1970s was credible. Subsequently, several former seminarians and priests reported they too had been abused or harassed by McCarrick as adults, triggering debate over who might have known and covered up McCarrick’s misconduct.
In August, a grand jury report in Pennsylvania detailed decades of abuse and cover-up in six dioceses, alleging more than 1,000 children had been abused over the years by about 300 priests. Since then, a federal prosecutor in Philadelphia has begun working on a federal criminal case centered on child exploitation, and attorneys general in several other states have launched investigations.
DiNardo, in his address opening the bishops’ assembly, told survivors of clergy abuse he was “deeply sorry.”
“Some would say this is entirely a crisis of the past. It is not,” DiNardo said. “We must never victimize survivors over again by demanding they heal on our timeline.”
After DiNardo’s address, the bishops adjourned to a chapel for a daylong session of prayer that includes remarks by two survivors of clergy abuse who have worked to promote healing and reconciliation among other victims.
“Please understand the heart of the church is broken and you need to fix this now,'” Luis A. Torres Jr. told the bishops. “You were not called to be CEOs… You were not called to be princes. Be the priests that you were called to be. Please act now. Be better. Be good.”
Outside the conference hall, news of the delay in voting angered some protesters who were demanding the bishops take strong action against abuse.
“I know that they answer to the Holy See, but there’s a bigger imperative here, which is that children and victims need them to step forward,” said Anne Barrett Doyle, who works at the abuse database BishopAccountability.org. “By complying so meekly with what the pope has demanded of them today, they are surrendering their responsibility.”
Liz McCloskey, part of a coalition of concerned Catholics called the 5 Theses movement that has posted its proposals for reform on church doors in Baltimore and other cities, said the stakes couldn’t be higher. She said Catholics were “leaving in droves” in the absence of significant reforms and full transparency.
“Delaying taking any action in response to the sex abuse scandal is not only a public relations nightmare but a moral failing,” McCloskey told The Associated Press.
Her group’s proposals for the bishops include cooperating fully with investigations and releasing names of credibly accused clergy, committing to shedding regalia and living simply, and asking Pope Francis to put women in leadership posts.
DiNardo said the bishops didn’t complete a final draft of their proposed anti-abuse actions until Oct. 30 and the Vatican, with relatively short notice, sought to delay voting because of potential legal complications.
Nonetheless, John Gehring, the Catholic program director at a Washington-based clergy network called Faith in Public Life, said the Vatican “just made a big mistake.”
“The optics are terrible, and it sends a message, intended or not, that Rome doesn’t recognize the urgency of the moment,” Gehring tweeted .
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Court documents say a Kansas undersheriff who shot and killed a man with a beanbag round hadn’t been trained on how to properly use the weapon.
Brewer photo Barber County
A police expert says in a report for the prosecution that the lack of training led 60-year-old Virgil “Dusty” Brewer to aim at the wrong part of Steven Myers’ body as Myers left a Barber County shed. Authorities tracked Myers to the shed last year after he was accused of threatening people with a gun outside a bar in Sun City, about 110 miles (177 kilometers) west of Wichita.
An instructor on use of force and less lethal weapons wrote in the report that Brewer also didn’t use the right kind of round. Brewer is charged with involuntary manslaughter.
Seven of 20 Kansas City area hospitals got A’s in patient safety, according to a new report, while nine got B’s and four got C’s.
Centerpoint Medical Center was one of seven Kansas City-area hospitals to receive an A grade in a recent report on patient safety. HCA MIDWEST HEALTH
The grades were assigned by The Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit that twice a year rates 2,600 general acute-care hospitals across the country on patient safety measures.
The 28 performance measures include handwashing practices, blood infections and patient falls. Leapfrog uses the measures to come up with a single letter grade ranging from A to F, meant to show how effective a hospital is in keeping patients safe from preventable harm and medical errors.
“Over 33,000 lives could be saved if all hospitals performed at the level of A-graded hospitals,” Leapfrog says.
Some health experts say 4 percent of patients acquire infections in hospitals. Leapfrog says that an analysis it commissioned from the Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality at Johns Hopkins Medicine estimates 206,021 avoidable deaths occur in U.S. hospitals each year – and Leapfrog says that’s probably an underestimate.
The analysis also found that hospitals receiving Ds and Fs carry a nearly 50 percent greater risk of mortality than A-graded hospitals.
Listed below are the Kansas City-area hospitals and the grades they received:
A grades:
The University of Kansas Hospital
Saint Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City
Shawnee Mission Medical Center
Providence Medical Center
Centerpoint Medical Center
St. Mary’s Medical Center
Lee’s Summit Medical Center
B grades:
Research Medical Center (main campus)
Saint Luke’s North Hospital
St. Joseph Medical Center
Overland Park Regional Medical Center
Saint Luke’s South Medical Hospital
Liberty Hospital
Saint Luke’s East Hospital
Belton Regional Medical Center
Lawrence Memorial Hospital
C grades:
Truman Medical Center Hospital Hill
North Kansas City Hospital
Menorah Medical Center
Olathe Medical Center
Dave Dillon, a spokesman for the Missouri Hospital Association, noted that there are a lot of different hospital rating measures and they don’t always look at the same data.
The Missouri Hospital Association, for example, does its own survey, FocusOnHospitals.com, that includes all Missouri hospitals. (Leapfrog’s report card excludes specialty hospitals such as children’s hospitals, as well as critical access hospitals located in rural areas.)
“Additionally, not all of the data used is current,” Dillon said in an email. “So, a hospital might be performing better or worse, depending on the dataset and what practices the hospital has put in place to address specific issues.”
Dillon said hospitals have spent “significant amounts of time and energy to improve quality and patient safety.”
“As all hospitals get better, the competition to keep up gets fierce,” he said.
Leapfrog cautions that patients should never refuse emergency care because of a hospital’s safety grade but rather use the grades as a guide for planned hospitalizations and potential emergencies.
Its report card draws on data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Agency for Healthcare Research Quality, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American Hospital Association’s Annual Survey Health Information Technology Supplement and Leapfrog’s own hospital survey.
Leapfrog also ranks states, based on their number of “A” hospitals compared to the total number of hospitals graded. Kansas ranked #24, with nearly a third of its hospitals receiving an A grade, while Missouri ranked #34, with about 23 percent of its hospitals receiving an A grade.
Kansas moved up three notches from Leapfrog’s last survey in spring 2018; Missouri dropped 21 notches.
The top five jurisdictions were New Jersey, Oregon, Virginia, Massachusetts and Texas. The bottom five were Connecticut, Nebraska, Washington, D.C., Delaware and North Dakota.
Dan Margolies is a senior reporter and editor in conjunction with the Kansas News Service. You can reach him on Twitter @DanMargolies.
JOHNSON COUNTY— Investigators are working to determine the cause of a fatal Sunday night house fire in Johnson County.
Crews on the scene of Sunday evening’s fatal fire -photo courtesy Overland Park Fire Department
Just after 9p.m. responded to a house fire in the 7500 Block of Kessler Lane, according to a media release. First units on the scene found smoke and fire coming from the split-level single family residence. Crews attacked the blaze on the upper level while other crews searched for occupants.
A woman later identified as 67-year-old Leanora Marks was pulled from the basement of the home. She was unresponsive at the scene and transported to a local hospital in critical condition where she died.
It appears the fire started in the basement where the victim was found but the majority of the damage was to the home’s upper level. The blaze was brought under control in about 30 minutes. The home suffered significant smoke damage.
POINT LOOKOUT, Mo. (AP) – A convicted felon has been charged with abducting two Christian college students and forcing them to perform sex acts on each other at gunpoint after they violated curfew and were locked out of their southwest Missouri campus.
Hyslop -photo Taney Co.
49-year-old Robert Hyslop is jailed without bond on charges of kidnapping, sexual abuse and sodomy. No attorney is listed for him in online court record.
Charging documents say the College of the Ozarks students fell asleep in a commuter parking lot last month because the campus’ front gate was locked when they returned after curfew. The documents say Hyslop made the man and woman drive to a highway lookout where he forced them to perform sex acts. Hyslop also is accused of making the woman touch him sexually.
MANHATTAN — Kansas State University is saving energy costs and becoming greener by using one of Kansas’ most abundant resources: wind.
According to a media release, the new university agreement with Westar Energy will provide approximately 50 percent of the energy needs for the university’s main Manhattan campus from a wind farm in Nemaha County and save the university nearly $200,000 annually.
The agreement is part of Westar Energy’s new Renewables Direct program, which provides large customers access to renewable energy at set long-term prices. The program involves the 300-megawatt Soldier Creek Wind Energy Center, which is a wind farm that will be built in Nemaha County and is estimated to be on line in 2020. Kansas State University is one of 14 Kansas organizations that will receive electricity from the wind farm.
“We are excited about this innovative approach to use renewable energy to help Kansas State University become more sustainable and save energy costs,” said Cindy Bontrager, the university’s vice president for administration and finance. “Sustainability planning is one of the key components of our K-State 2025 plan to become a top 50 public research university by 2025. As a public land-grant university, K-State has a role to address the sustainability challenges of our time and this agreement is a step in the right direction. Our facilities power plant utilities staff actively seeks ways for the university to save costs and I appreciate their initiative and hard work in getting that done.”
As part of a 20-year agreement, the wind farm will provide Kansas State University with 14 megawatts of power, which is approximately 50 percent of the current load of the university’s Manhattan campus, said Gary Weishaar, university manager of energy and controls. The anticipated savings for the university will be approximately $180,000 to $200,000 annually.
The savings will come from a reduction in the retail energy cost adjustment, also known as fuel factor costs, Weishaar said. Under the Renewables Direct program, the price of electricity provided from Soldier Creek Wind Energy Center will be fixed for 20 years at 1.8 cents per kilowatt-hour and replaces the fuel factor cost, which is currently 2.3 cents per kilowatt-hour. The university’s average annual consumption for the Manhattan campus for the last five years has been 113 million kilowatt-hours per year. The university also will receive renewable energy credits associated with the agreement.
“We are constantly evaluating the potential of providing renewable energy for the university,” Weishaar said. “We feel this program is a good way to not only positively affect K-State financially, but to also take advantage of one of our most abundant natural resources.”
Westar Energy’s Renewables Direct program is designed to provide large customers a path toward their sustainability goals with Kansas’ abundant, affordable renewable energy. Participating customers are able to claim a portion of the energy generated by the wind farm as their own, retain all of the renewable attributes and lock in a portion of their electricity prices for 20 years. The program is structured to add projects in the future to keep up with the demand for renewable sources.
“We applaud K-State’s commitment to sustainable energy solutions,” said Chuck Caisley, senior vice president, public affairs and marketing and chief customer officer, Westar Energy. “Renewables Direct provides cost-effective access to Kansas’ excellent wind energy resources. We appreciate K-State’s role in making the introduction of Westar’s new program a success.”
Governor-elect Laura Kelly on election night -photo courtesy Kansas Dems
From New York to New Mexico, residents in a number of states can expect a leftward push for expanded health care coverage, gun control, education funding and legalized recreational marijuana as Democrats who gained new or stronger powers in the midterm elections seek to put their stamp on public policy.
While Republicans remain in charge in more states, Democrats nearly doubled the number of places where they will wield a trifecta of power over the governor’s office and both chambers of the state legislature. Democrats also broke up several Republican strongholds, forcing GOP lawmakers who have been cutting taxes and curbing union powers to deal with a new reality of a Democratic governor.
All told, Democrats gained seats in 62 of the 99 partisan state legislative chambers, according to data provided by the National Conference of State Legislatures (Nebraska is the lone state with a single, nonpartisan chamber). Democrats also added seven new governorships.
In Kansas, Democrat Laura Kelly’s election as governor immediately recasts the debate over several big fiscal issues.
She supports expanding the state’s Medicaid health coverage as encouraged by the Affordable Care Act. While bipartisan backing for that has grown, supporters had not achieved the legislative supermajorities that would have been needed to overcome the opposition of Republican Govs. Sam Brownback and Jeff Colyer.
Kelly also is pledging to reinstate an executive order barring anti-LGBT bias in state hiring and employment decisions, something Brownback rescinded in 2015.
In New York, where a new Democratic-run Senate will provide the missing link in liberals’ political power, the expansive agenda could go beyond guns, pot and health care to also include more protections for abortions rights and higher taxes on millionaires.
“We will finally give New Yorkers the progressive leadership they have been demanding,” said Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins, who stands to lead the Senate when the new session begins in January.
The U.S. is a deeply divided nation politically, a fact reflected in a midterm vote that gave Democrats the U.S. House while adding to the Republican majority in the U.S. Senate. But within states, the overall outcome of the 2018 elections was a continued trend of one-party control — Democrats in some places, Republicans in others.
For the first time since 1914, there will be only one state — Minnesota — with its two legislative chambers led by different parties.
If Republican gubernatorial candidates maintain their slim leads in Florida and Georgia, Republicans will hold full control over the governor’s office and legislative chambers in 22 states compared with 14 for Democrats. Just 13 states will have a split partisan control between the governor’s office and legislature, nearly matching the 60-year low point set in 2012.
There also has been a decrease in ticket-splitting between governors and state attorneys general, with the number of such divisions expected to decline from 12 to 10 as a result of Tuesday’s elections.
“This is the most hyper-polarized, hyper-partisan time we’ve see in generations, and nobody can deny that,” said Illinois state Sen. Toi Hutchinson, a Democrat who is president of the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Illinois is one of a half-dozen states where Tuesday’s election put Democrats in control of the governor’s office and legislature.
Democrat J.B. Pritzker, who ousted Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, wants to legalize and tax recreational marijuana. He also has promised to push for a constitutional amendment to replace Illinois’ flat income tax system with a progressive one that requires the wealthy to pay a greater share.
Democrats also are planning aggressive agendas in other states where they expanded their political power:
— Nevada is expected to pass a ban on bump stocks on guns as the state Legislature meets for the first time since the October 2017 mass shooting on the Las Vegas Strip. Democrats also will be pushing to spend more on education, expand Medicaid coverage, raise the minimum wage and require employers to provide paid sick leave.
— In New Mexico, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth said minimum wage and teacher pay increases will be at the top of the agenda. Democrats also could overhaul the state’s approach to climate change, gun control and marijuana.
— In Colorado, Democrats are planning a renewed push to expand health coverage, adopt gun controls, boost public education funding and enhance environmental protections.
— In Maine, new Democratic Gov.-elect and Attorney General Janet Mills has vowed to finally expand Medicaid as voters demanded in a 2017 referendum but which has been slowed by her Republican predecessor.
The states shifting to Democratic dominance can look to New Jersey, which held its governor’s election in 2017 and replaced a Republican with a Democrat. With the Legislature already controlled by Democrats, the state promptly tightened gun regulations, passed a paid sick-leave requirement and restored funding to Planned Parenthood.
But it hasn’t been like Christmas every day for liberals. It took a last-day deal before the budget expired over the summer to avoid a state government shutdown as Democrats disagreed over which taxes to raise. Lawmakers have missed their own deadlines on legalizing marijuana for adults, and some advocates are upset the state has not moved faster to boost the minimum wage.
New Jersey state Sen. Loretta Weinberg, a Democrat who’s been in the legislature since 1992, said there’s a big difference in legislative debates when there’s one-party control.
“It is more about details than the broader principles,” she said.
Some states that became accustomed to Republican control over the past decade also will be making adjustments.
In Wisconsin, Republican lawmakers have been privately discussing ways they could limit the rule-making powers of Democratic Gov.-elect Tony Evers, who narrowly defeated Republican Gov. Scott Walker. Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said they are looking at reconstituting boards to make sure they have equal representation.
North Carolina’s Republican-led Legislature did something similar after Democrat Roy Cooper won the governor’s race in 2016. But Cooper successfully sued over a law weakening his influence over the state elections board.
In Michigan, Democratic Gov.-elect Gretchen Whitmer broke a Republican trifecta while campaigning to “fix the damn roads” and replace aging water pipes with a multibillion-dollar infrastructure plan. But tax increases or increased borrowing could be a tough sell in the Legislature, which remains under Republican control.
The next Senate majority leader, Republican Sen. Mike Shirkey, signaled that he would oppose raising Michigan’s corporate income tax and said he would fight any attempt to repeal Michigan’s right-to-work laws “with every ounce of my body.”
Republicans who control the Minnesota state Senate said they will fight Democratic Gov.-elect Tim Walz if he follows through with a proposal to raise the gas tax to pay for infrastructure improvements. A number of states have taken that step in recent years to fund road repairs. That includes states where Republicans control the legislature and governor’s office, including Indiana, Oklahoma and Tennessee.
Split power at the Minnesota Legislature also could lead to gridlock on the top issue from the election — health care. Walz campaigned on expanding one of the state’s low-income health care programs to offer a public option, but Senate Republicans have shot that down as an unworkable government takeover of health care.
