Kansas Government

By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

The Kansas Supreme Court has upheld a gambling law that will drain money from the state's residents while sending millions to out-of-state casino owners. What a "victory" for Kansans.

What is expensive, cumbersome and serves little purpose?

Any number of things may come to mind including, lately, oversized vehicles. But in Topeka and some other state capitals, the answer to that question is the federal rules that require Medicaid recipients to provide proof of citizenship.

By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has ratcheted up her opposition to a large coal-fired power plant in western Kansas. The latest "victim:" Johnson County's intermodal hub.

By Barb Shelly, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

Kathleen Sebelius was raised to be a Catholic and elected to be a governor. A church leader is turning that into an uncomfortable intersection.

By Barb Shelly, Kansas City Star editorial board

Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann is asking Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to choose between his will and the oath she swore to govern the state of Kansas to the best of her ability.

Let’s look at what Kansas lawmakers stuffed into their legislative stocking before wrapping up the 2008 session this week. Caution: It’s not a pretty picture.

What’s missing:

-- Progress on health care. The Legislature not only ignored bold proposals like a statewide smoking ban and a tobacco user fee to fund expanded access to medical care, it backpedaled on a pledge made last year to help more low-income families afford insurance.

The Kansas Legislature bills itself as a fiscally responsible body, but you wouldn’t know it from the way lawmakers have handled this year’s so-called wrap-up session.

Keep in mind that the 40 senators and 125 House members each receive $183.80 daily for service and expenses while the Legislature is in session.

By Barb Shelly, Kansas City Star editorial board

Let's hear it for the Kansas Legislature. It gets points for stamina, if nothing else.

How about the Senate, passing yet another coal plant bill as the "wrap-up" session ended its sixth day and members were limp with exhaustion. So what if the proposal probably isn't constitutional? (Violates a "bundling" prohibition.) Never let a little thing like that stand in the way of principle.

By Barb Shelly, Kansas City Star editorial board

The Kansas Legislature might need to come up with a new description for that closing ritual known as the "wrap-up" session.

Supporters of cleaner skies across Kansas have achieved a significant victory by turning back the unwarranted expansion of a coal-fired power plant.

Now it’s time for the Legislature to cooperate with Gov. Kathleen Sebelius on a long-term, comprehensive energy policy to serve the state’s residents.

By Barbara Shelly, Kansas City Star editorial board

Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius set up the ultimate showdown with her Legislature today by rejecting the latest compromise presented by Sunflower Electric and Republican legislative leaders.

By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Board

Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius next week will help host a major summit on clean energy for the National Governor's Association. Uh, oh, it could be bad timing.

Who's to blame for the problems at the Kansas Board of Healing Arts? Leave your comments here.

Patient confidence in the medical network depends on effective oversight of doctors and other providers. The public needs to know that complaints will be investigated promptly and fairly.

Unfortunately, that has not been happening in Kansas. Recent investigations by The Topeka Capital-Journal newspaper and state legislators have documented serious problems with the state’s Board of Healing Arts.

By Barb Shelly, Kansas City Star editorial board

The jaw-dropping quote of the day comes courtesy of Steve Miller, spokesman for Sunflower Electric Power Corp., talking to The Star's David Klepper about this week's anticipated coal plant showdown.

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has received national attention for her tough stand against the overzealous expansion of a coal-fired power plant in western Kansas.

The governor should not back down from that position when the Legislature returns to finish this year’s session.

By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Board

As rumors fly that Gov. Kathleen Sebelius will give in to pressure to build excessively large coal-fired plants in Kansas, let's review her track record so far.

By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Board

Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius will lose a great deal of her political credibility if she accepts the new compromise offered by state legislators who favor a huge expansion of a coal-fired power plant.

By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Board

Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius is absolutely right to oppose building a greatly expanded coal-fired plant. But environmentalists need to back off their no-more-coal-in-Kansas arguments. Sebelius has.

By Barb Shelly, Kansas City Star Editorial Board

Emily Bazelon of Slate has an outstanding summary of the efforts by anti-abortion groups to get their hands on the medical records of patients who have had abortions at George Tiller's clinic in Wichita.

How should Kansas meet its future energy needs? Leave your comments here.

The Kansas Legislature appears intent on ignoring reality and pushing a huge, unwarranted expansion of a coal-fired power plant near Holcomb.

Fortunately, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius seems focused on forging a common-sense compromise. She wants to meet the state’s future energy needs without excessive amounts of pollution to the skies over Kansas.

By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Board

Good for Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius . Her decision Friday to halt expansion of a large coal-fired power plant will have statewide and national repercussions.

This was supposed to be the year Kansas lawmakers would move on health care reform. They have -— backward.

Republicans led the Senate to renege on the Legislature’s pledge last year to help low-income families buy private medical insurance.

Critics of bi-partisan bills in the Kansas legislature that would revise the standards for approving coal power plants have apparently raised too many difficult questions. The chairman of the House Energy and Utilities Committee, Rep. Carl Holmes, a Republican from Liberal, has said there is only time for "short questions, short answers."

Limiting questions and citizens' understanding of proposed legislation is no way to create a law that will affect the state's economy and environment for decades to come. If passed, the new law would eliminate the discretion of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment in approving plants and would allow the expansion of a Western Kansas coal plant to proceed.

The Tyson Foods Inc. layoffs in Emporia, Kan., is a huge story.

Tyson is cutting 1,500 of 2,400 jobs because business at its slaughterhouse is slow. The reason, according to the company: Rising grain prices, caused in part by the use of corn for ethanol, has put pressure on feed costs.

People in central and western Kansas have warned about this very scenario since ethanol became trendy. The feed lot industry depends on corn, which depends on water pumped from a diminishing aquifer. Neither the cattle nor the ethanol industry is sustainable indefinitely, and particularly not when they're competing against one another.

Opponents of Kathleen Sebelius have found an enjoyable way to capitalize on one of the governor's rare missteps.

Republican House Speaker Melvin Neufeld announced that he and other legislators would be touring state wineries to promote the Kansas wine industry.

The wine-lovers voting bloc is up for grabs, after Sebelius made a joke dissing Kansas wine while visiting Washington State.

Barb Shelly, editorial board