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A jobless recovery is no recovery for the jobless, which is why President Obama, members of Congress and other leaders at all levels still need to focus on getting Americans working again. Like the layoffs, the problem solving should cut across party lines.
The Greater Wichita Economic Development Coalition commissioned a study five years ago that identified industries to target for growth and to help diversify the local economy. Given new economic and market conditions (including the emergence of the green-energy sector), GWEDC is wise to update that study and re-examine the region's competitiveness.
The Sedgwick County Commission was right last summer to want to chart a productive future for the Kansas Coliseum complex. But especially with county staff warning that even the better of two proposals would put taxpayers at significant financial risk, the commission also was right Wednesday in declining to pick a developer and start contract negotiations.
In the absence of formal legislation on health care for much of the year, members of Congress and others could itemize grievances about the reform effort freely, without regard to any facts.
School districts certainly have grounds for suing the state again. After all, they won an earlier lawsuit over inadequate school funding, yet the state is reneging on that funding obligation.
Plant closing —It's hard to gauge the extent of damage from losing the Hawker Beechcraft manufacturing plant in Salina. But there's no doubt it is far- reaching. This closure means a loss of nearly 240 of the best-paying jobs in Salina. According to government reports, the average annual earnings for Kansas aircraft workers outside of Wichita is $53,004, including both entry-level and management employees. By the time doors close on Hawker Beechcraft operations, $12.6 million in payroll will be lost from Salina and surrounding communities. We estimate a similar amount has disappeared already since the plant started losing workers a year or so ago. At one time employment was up to 500. Those losses are a big blow to local economies, no matter how one looks at it.— Salina Journal
What began as polite resistance to the idea of opening a satellite Lord’s Diner in central-northeast Wichita had turned defiant in recent days. So it seemed inevitable, if regrettable, when the Lord’s Diner dropped its proposal Saturday and asked Mayor Carl Brewer to pull the item from Tuesday’s City Council agenda.
The usual festive adjectives will have some sobering company this year, as the season of giving in the Wichita area follows a year of layoffs.
Scott Roeder dwells in the Sedgwick County Jail these days, awaiting trial early next year on charges that he gunned down George Tiller in a Wichita church in May. But judging from Roeder's unrepentant confessions to the murder this week in the media, Roeder also lives in some other world in which a cold-blooded killing can be justified by the cockamamie excuse of his choosing.
Last week's violence at Fort Hood set a shocking new standard for the potential risks faced by U.S. military personnel at stateside facilities. Yet the rampage, which left 13 dead and 29 wounded, also demonstrated why Americans can and should take tremendous pride in the courage and skill of their armed forces, on this Veterans Day and every day.
Health care reform still faces some high hurdles to becoming law, but its passage Saturday in the House of Representatives was a major achievement — hence the cheering by Democrats following the vote and the grousing by GOP lawmakers, including those in Kansas' delegation.
Tax increase —No one wants to see taxes raised or restored, but neither can the state afford to cripple important budget areas that may help lead it out of the current recession. Economic development efforts are still vital, as is maintaining the quality of the state's public schools and higher education system. Providing some level of service to people who are struggling in the current economy is both humane and an investment in the state's safety and security. The challenge, of course, is to balance the state's financial needs against the taxpayers' needs. We can't afford to cripple state government, but we also can't afford to pass taxes that will cripple businesses that provide tax revenue and jobs in the state.— Lawrence Journal-World
The usual indicators of economic well-being remain on a roller coaster. Any hopes raised by the third quarter’s 3.5æpercent growth dipped with Friday’s news of the
In general, state Rep. Jason Watkins, R-Wichita, is correct: The people of Kansas don't "buy into the argument that this is the way we have always done it so we have to keep doing it."
Maybe in the end, the results from the Justice Concepts Inc. consulting firm will prove the majority on the Sedgwick County Commission right. County taxpayers certainly can hope so, because the county's control of the population of the Sedgwick County Jail is the only thing standing between them and another multimillion-dollar jail expansion.
Put suppliers and potential buyers in a room for an hour anytime, and the talk is guaranteed to be illuminating. Do it at a time when expectations far exceed resources, and frustration will follow, too.
Most observers of the Sedgwick County Commission and Wichita City Council would be hard-pressed to explain why a seat on the commission should draw more in annual salary than a seat on the council — let alone nearly $50,000 more.
Stimulus —A picture-perfect example of the Republican criticism of the Democratic administration's stimulus program came from the lips of Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan.: "Unfortunately, it is much more of a government stimulus than an economic stimulus and the bill will be left to be paid by our grandchildren," he said. His separation between the government and the people would be funny if it weren't so exasperating. How irritating it is to have a U.S. senator suggest that money spent on public schools, public highways and to care for the indigent is somehow less important to the state's economy than money spent in the private sector — as though public employees weren't people; as though state spending was somehow robbed of any impact on the economy.— Iola Register
Even though Sedgwick County "may be crawling out of recession," as an Eagle headline put it last week, the funding cuts already made to the state budget are straining services statewide.
A lot of good people are working hard to guide the nation through the H1N1 flu epidemic as safely as possible, from Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on down through state and county health departments and school districts. They surely are saving lives during this first pandemic in 40 years, through the impressive public information effort and otherwise.
