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Wichita can be irrational in thinking that its interests get short shrift in Topeka's circles of power. Unfortunately, the way the Kansas Corporation Commission came down Monday on electric-rate parity did nothing to dispel such suspicions.
More than half of Sedgwick County voters were able to wrap their minds around the mere idea of a downtown arena in 2004, long before it had a site, design or facade, let alone a schedule.
Best wishes to City Manager Robert Layton on his efforts to bring trash franchising to Wichita and, in turn, bring down the needlessly high rates paid by residents and businesses.
Plant closing —For months we've been hearing rumors that Salina would lose its Hawker Beechcraft airplane manufacturing plant. Those rumors took on credibility with the report that Hawker Beechcraft was looking to consolidate its operations, and that it was "very likely" it would close its Salina plant. The plant employs 241, down from 500 a year ago. The decision isn't final. Salina Airport Authority executive director Tim Rogers said the possibility of the plant closing is one of the highest priorities for local civic and government leaders — as it should be. Those aren't just any jobs Hawker Beechcraft provides. Those are great-paying manufacturing jobs, the kind that almost any community would covet and would find nearly impossible to replace. To lose them would be a blow worth millions of dollars a year to Salina and the area in salaries alone. Still, if it does close, Salina will be hurt but not devastated. And that's a direct result of the community leaders and hardworking employees who helped rebuild Salina after the closing of Schilling Air Force Base in 1965. Their fortitude and vision are the same qualities that will get us through the next painful challenge.— Salina Journal
Suddenly Wichita is the talk of the business media, and not in a good way. Long the center of so much airplane manufacturing because of Cessna, Hawker Beechcraft, Bombardier Learjet, Spirit AeroSystems, Boeing and their suppliers, it’s now the poster community for the unprecedented collapse of the market.
To their credit, state lawmakers have tried in recent years to reduce, if not eliminate, the waiting lists for in-home services for disabled Kansans, sometimes swooping in to save the day with more dollars just as the Legislature adjourns. But they fell short this year, closing a ghastly budget gap by forcing cuts in those and most state services.
One puzzle piece for helping reduce the population at the Sedgwick County Jail is finally in place. The city of Wichita began operating the state's first mental health court this month — though it will take a while before it has a significant impact.
Kansas has a death penalty in theory. It does not have a death penalty in practice, although capital punishment has been back on the books in Kansas since 1994 and there currently are nine men on death row. Each complex phase of each case seems to churn up new legal questions, leading to more delays in realizing lawmakers' goal of making execution available for the "worst of the worst" criminals in Kansas.
Consolidation —Last week the House Appropriations Committee started discussing school consolidation during a hearing on budget problems. One lawmaker spoke in favor of merging districts. Which part of the state did he represent? A.) A rich city in Johnson County. B.) A rural area in western Kansas. We hope you guessed the one from Johnson County, because that means you understand the dynamics of this ongoing debate. Lawmakers from urban areas argue that consolidation is swell, while rural ones understand that merging school districts will affect more than education. It can devastate entire communities. For consolidation savings to be realized, schools must close and jobs disappear, including janitors, teachers and principals. When those classrooms and jobs are eliminated, then families vanish, also. Local businesses close or move when there are no more customers and no labor pool. That's a huge price to pay, considering consolidation will have little effect on total state education spending for kindergarten through high school, which is nearly $4 billion of the state's total budget of nearly $20 billion.— Salina Journal
The latest round of bidding for a new $35æbillion fleet of refueling tankers for the U.S. Air Force already is dangerously overloaded with baggage. It will be a miracle if a contract emerges in mid-2010 that doesn’t invite more protests and do-overs.
University of Kansas economist Art Hall certainly got everybody's attention with the recent report he co-wrote declaring that the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System "is bankrupt under current operating assumptions." But he also needlessly shook up retirees and their surviving spouses statewide, making it sound as if KPERS was dead broke and beneficiaries were about to be cut off when in fact KPERS has more than $11 billion in assets.
With the health reform process now shifting to behind-the-scenes negotiations, forecasts that something will pass the full Congress this year seem more credible. For those who share President Obama's commitment to making insurance coverage more accessible and affordable, that should be a reason to celebrate.
Anti-tax groups blame the state's budget crisis on too much spending. Others, such as Kansas Secretary of Revenue Joan Wagnon, blame it on too much tax cutting.
It's not reassuring that no one has figured out exactly why inmates are staying longer at the Sedgwick County Jail. But that reflects how complicated the problem is — and how there aren't easy solutions for reducing the jail's population.
Prison sex —Reports of the illicit drug and sex trade between employees and inmates at the Topeka Correctional Facility make it abundantly clear the Kansas Department of Corrections needs to improve its security measures and increase supervision of its workers. The story of an inmate at the 550-bed women's prison who became pregnant during a tryst with a plumbing instructor — and ultimately chose to have an abortion — exposed the sordid things that can happen when an inmate population hungry for cash and contraband from the outside finds staff members willing to meet those demands for a price, usually sexual favors.— Topeka Capital-Journal
The lack of women's rights in developing countries has come into the spotlight recently, and some are calling the struggle for gender equity the human rights cause of this century.
Barack Obama, the reluctant war president, spent part of Wednesday's eighth anniversary of the U.S. operation in Afghanistan discussing the difficult conflict with his national security team, a day after doing the same with bipartisan leaders of Congress.
Now that drivers and businesses at last are enjoying the $105 million railroad overpasses north of downtown, City Hall's second thoughts about a long-planned overpass at Pawnee and Mead may strike some as the latest of many south-side slights.
Good for Sedgwick County for giving members of the public, albeit belatedly, the opportunity to review and make up their own minds about the proposals for the Kansas Coliseum site. This way, county leaders can have the benefit of citizen input as they decide the venue's future.
School funding —Apparently, Alan Rupe and Schools for Fair Funding won't stop until they've turned every Kansas taxpayer upside down and shaken out his pockets.
