Print edition: 
Pollution rule — Environmental Protection Agency officials say the agency’s Cross State Air Pollution Rule will protect millions of Americans by preventing pollution generated at power plants from drifting across state borders and jeopardizing air quality in neighboring states. It may do that, but officials with Westar Energy and other utilities contend the EPA isn’t giving utilities sufficient time to comply with the rule’s emission standards. The rule is to go into effect Jan. 1, but wasn’t issued by the EPA in its final form until this past July. Energy producers say that schedule didn’t give them sufficient time to comply with the rule. We tend to agree.
Topeka Capital-Journal
JJA move — The problem in Gov. Sam Brownback’s proposal to cram Kansas’ juvenile justice programs into the social services agency is found in assessments of the current system: Juvenile justice is a rousing success in the state. In fact, it’s nationally recognized. In an era of complaints about government inefficiencies, why mess with one area that gets rave reviews? Brownback hopes to save money with his plan. But any adjustment that fails to maintain the high quality of the juvenile justice system will increase long-term policing and detention costs, and that is no bargain at all for Kansans.
Kansas City Star
Farm labor — While few want to return to the days when children were forced to work alongside adults in factories and textile mills, new rules under consideration by the U.S. Department of Labor to restrict the work that children can do on farms are unduly burdensome. Though the Department of Labor’s intentions might be based in an effort to protect children, those efforts could serve to erode a future generation’s interest in farming, and undermine a key way in which children develop a strong work ethic.
Hutchinson News
Poverty — The recently released poverty estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau do not paint a pretty picture for northwest Kansas. It’s even worse when viewed from a statewide perspective. In our corner of the state, the number of residents in the grips of poverty hit 13,211 in 2010. That’s up 9.5 percent from 12,607 in just five years. Statewide, the number soared 20.6 percent, from 310,666 in 2005 to 374,677 in 2010. Such increases are shocking and disturbing enough. But it gets worse when one dissects the data by age groups. Children are getting hit harder than the population at large. In northwest Kansas, the number of poverty-stricken individuals under 18 rose 14.5 percent. Across the Sunflower State, that number went up 28.7 percent.
Hays Daily News
Health insurance — It’s disappointing to see Kansas ranked as dead last when it comes to state efforts to increase the number of children with health insurance coverage. While 33 states and the District of Columbia reported decreases in their rate of uninsured children, Kansas recorded an increase between 2008 and 2010, according to the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute’s Center for Children and Families. During that period, the state’s rate of uninsured children rose from 7.4 to 8.2 percent. In real numbers, that’s nearly 8,000 more uninsured Kansas children in 2010 than in 2008. Providing health care services for the state’s children is a basic component in ensuring their healthy development and success in school and other areas. It seems that Kansas has nowhere to go but up in this important task, and residents should be watching to make sure that the promised progress does indeed occur.
Lawrence Journal-World
