Kansas legislators returned to Topeka for a special session originally meant just to tackle a tax cut plan. But an incentive package for the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals ended up getting more attention.Kansas Reflector reporters Tim Carpente

Annual report on Kansas kids points to policy needs

21 days ago 32m 30s

Kansas Action for Children vice president Adrienne Olejnik and data and policy analyst Ryan Reza talk about the 2024 Kids Count report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, which shows Kansas slipping in the overall ranking.

New Kansas literacy program to better prepare future educators

28 days ago 26m 53s

Cindy Lane, the new director of the Kansas Blueprint for Literacy, and Blake Flanders, president and CEO of the Kansas Board of Regents, speak about the imperative that Kansas better equip current and future educators to teaching reading instru

New Kansas LGBTQ+ youth shelter almost ready to open doors

Jun 3rd, 2024 27m 50s

Braided Haven board member Darin Stephens and executive director Kathleen Marker discuss the need for an LGBTQ+-specific shelter and the inspiration for the project. After years of work, the organization is planning to open both a drop-in cente

Making the case for Sarah Gonzales-McLinn

May 28th, 2024 37m 8s

Advocates of clemency for Sarah Gonzales-McLinn are taking the next step in their efforts. Gonzales-McLinn is serving at least 25 years in prison for murder, but her advocates want the public to understand that she was the victim of sex traffic

How a data-driven system could prepare Kansas students for workforce needs

May 20th, 2024 21m 11s

Kansas businesses have more jobs than workers, and state universities are exporting 57% of graduates. A workforce pathway system could serve both students and businesses, says Torree Pederson, president and CEO of the Kansas City-based nonprofi

Brown v. Board: Celebrating 70 years of desegregated schools

May 13th, 2024 34m 7s

National Park Service rangers Lawson Nwakudo and Jeff Tully discuss celebrations May 17 and May 18 of the 70th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision that "separate but equal" public schools were a violation of the 14th Amendment to t

Kansas Legislature ends session — and prepares for an encore

May 6th, 2024 25m 35s

Kansas Reflector opinion editor Clay Wirestone talks with editor in chief Sherman Smith about an overstuffed veto session yielding drama aplenty — not that any of the drama was required — and the prospects of Gov. Laura Kelly calling lawmakers

Kansas Legislature ends session — and prepares for an encore

May 6th, 2024 25m 35s

United Kansas Party chairman on merits of fusion voting

Apr 29th, 2024 28m

Jack Curtis, founding chairman of the United Kansas Party, says many right- and left-leaning independent voters in Kansas feel the Republican and Democratic parties don’t represent their interest. The United Kansas Party would seek to initiate

Racial profiling during traffic stops and the need for police training

Apr 22nd, 2024 33m 5s

The Community Voice editor and publisher Bonita Gooch and Wichita State University professor Michael Birzer discuss discrimination in traffic policing

Kansas advocates describe effects of gun violence on their communities

Apr 15th, 2024 39m 41s

LaTonya Boyd, along with Courtland Davis, director of operations at the YWCA Northeast Kansas, and LaRonna Lassiter Saunders, a civil rights advocate and attorney, discussed the nuances of Kansas gun violence. In an average year, 456 people die

Kansas advocates talk financial empowerment for women, gender pay gap

Apr 8th, 2024 27m 4s

YWCA Northeast Kansas CEO Kathleen Marker and Fatima Perez-Luthi, the founder and CEO of The Grind Coaching and Consulting and manager of a local financial literacy program, talk about financial empowerment for women, looking at workplace trend

Kansas advocates talk crisis pregnancy centers, racial disparities in maternal health care

Apr 1st, 2024 29m 40s

Sharla Smith, the founder of the Kansas Birth Equity Network, Sapphire Garcia-Lies, the founder and executive director of Kansas Birth Justice Society, and Abriona Markham, executive director of Topeka Doula Project, discuss the need to improve

A Kansas judge's inside view of NRA corruption

Mar 25th, 2024 40m 48s

Phil Journey, a two-term national board member of the National Rifle Association, offers an insider perspective of financial misconduct threatening the future of the prominent gun-rights lobbying and educational organization.

How early childhood office could give Kansas kids a crucial boost

Mar 18th, 2024 31m 50s

A task force appointed by Gov. Laura Kelly last year recommended consolidating services for early childhood development into a single office, and there's a new piece of legislation that would do just that. Children's advocates Monica Murnan and

Transgender advocates on the Kansas Legislature's ongoing attacks

Mar 11th, 2024 28m 2s

The Kansas Legislature has renewed its attack on transgender rights with a bill that would ban gender-affirming care for those who are younger than 18.A committee led by Rep. Brenda Landwher, a Wichita Republican, has advanced the bill — afte

Sierra Club lobbyist on plastic bags and other environmental issues

Mar 4th, 2024 28m 29s

Sierra Club lobbyist Zack Pistora condemns legislation that would ban plastic bag bans, and gives an overview of other environmental measures up for debate under the dome.

Kansas coalition proposes conservation initiatives

Feb 26th, 2024 25m 26s

Sean Miller, a Statehouse lobbyist working with the diverse Kansans for Conservation, says the coalition proposes the state — without raising taxes — dedicate about $50 million annually to voluntary conservation programs to protect and upgrade

Surveying the landscape of Kansas journalism in 2024

Feb 18th, 2024 31m 56s

Kansas Reflector opinion editor Clay Wirestone chats with Emily Bradbury, executive director of the Kansas Press Association, and Max Kautsch, a media lawyer based in Lawrence, about the landscape for journalism and free expression in the Sunfl

'Kansans aren't having it': ACLU, Loud Light talk state elections

Feb 12th, 2024 31m 34s

Davis Hammet, president of the voter advocacy group Loud Light and Micah Kubic, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas warn of creeping attempts to restrict Kansas voters during a Kansas Reflector podcast, referencin

A new chapter in Kansas library squabbles

Feb 5th, 2024 25m 28s

Kansas Sen. Cindy Holscher and Kansas Library Association president Sean Bird talk about challenges to books in public and school collections. Holscher has introduced a bill establishing statewide requirements for consideration of requests to p

Kansas child advocates on Statehouse obstacles to progress

Jan 29th, 2024 32m 5s

Kansas Appleseed Welfare Advocate Adina Morse and John Wilson, president and CEO of Kansas Action for Children talked legislative priorities for the state’s child welfare system, including the ripple effect of the state’s scarce mental health r

U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids on the fight for reproductive health care

Jan 22nd, 2024 21m 30s

U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, D-Kansas, agonizes over the demise of Roe v. Wade and attempts by politicians to interfere with health care decisions of women.