Takeaways: Kansas lawmakers approved new tax cuts, bans on gender-affirming cares and some new crimes this year. The Republican-controlled Legislature can expect Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly to veto some of the most controversial bills, setting up override votes. Legislators finished the regular session and will take a few weeks off before returning for veto session. […]
Posted inHealth Care
Kansas and Missouri bans may spur families to travel far out of state for gender-affirming care
If Kansas bans gender-affirming care for minors, Kansas City families with transgender children will be hundreds of miles from a doctor who could help them. Kansas lawmakers stand poised to follow a conservative playbook that 24 states, including Missouri, already have used to outlaw treatments like puberty blockers and hormone therapy. The Kansas Legislature passed […]
Posted inLocal Government
What the stadium tax defeat says about teams, their subsidies and Jackson County voters
Editor’s note (April 4, 2024): This story has been corrected to reflect an error about a Virginia tax package to attract stadiums. The Royals and the Chiefs had everything. Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce — fresh off of a Super Bowl victory — endorsed a “yes” vote in ads airing on TV and on YouTube. […]
Posted inElections
Kansas City area election results: Voters snub stadium tax and fill school boards
Voters turned out in large numbers for a spring election on Tuesday, soundly rejecting a proposal to extend a Jackson County sales tax to pay for a downtown Royals stadium and sorting out the makeup of school boards across the metro. Stadium tax Jackson County’s Question 1 failed by a vote of roughly 42% to […]
Posted inState Government
When social issues stall Missouri lawmakers, statewide officials make their own rules
Who needs legislators? Especially when they can’t even pass laws on the hottest of hot-button issues? Instead, conservative Republicans who hold every statewide office in Missouri increasingly show they can limit what materials libraries can stock, toss aside rules on socially responsible investments and shut off access to gender-affirming care. When lawmakers in the Missouri […]
Posted inEducation
Hickman Mills school board has struggled to work together. Will April’s election help or hurt?
This year, Superintendent Yaw Obeng said, Hickman Mills school board members are finally working together.
Posted inState Government
Kansas may ban gender-affirming care for minors. Doctors cite physical and mental costs of waiting
Takeaways: Iridescent Riffel wishes she could have started gender-affirming treatment when she was younger. Riffel, a transgender Kansan, said she wasn’t in a welcoming home, so she delayed her transition until she felt more safe. She went through an unwanted puberty while she waited. “I didn’t really want to grow facial hair,” she said. “A […]
Posted inHealth Care
Supreme Court abortion pill case could make abortion access even more difficult for Missourians
A case before the U.S. Supreme Court could drastically restrict access to medication abortions, now the most common form of abortion in the United States. That could further limit abortion options for Missouians, who must cross the state line to get a legal abortion. It could also increase the number of patients coming to Kansas, […]
Posted inState Government
Missouri lawmakers break new ground to stop constitutional amendments — and abortion
Editor’s note (March 25, 2023): This story has been corrected to reflect that the proposal would require a majority support from voters statewide, plus a majority vote in five of Missouri’s eight congressional districts. While state lawmakers across the country stumbled when trying to make it harder for voters to amend state constitutions, Missouri lawmakers […]
Posted inElections
April 2 election could change the Independence school board’s relationship with its superintendent
the differing ways candidates talk about the four-day week showcases a struggle for the future of a board that has reliably backed Superintendent Dale Herl’s recommendations, prided itself on its unity and put limits on public participation.