Stateline Headlines

Little choice

Reward veterans with in-state tuition

Regents to consider bonds for new engineering building

Kansas taxes are now flatter and fairer

Hensley requests A.G. opinion on voter registration

Police investigating threats against legislators

KU education dean flunks rating system

Regents to consider tuition hikes

Arts decline

Decisions on KU budget cuts now in hands of deans, other leaders

Kobach considering filing charges against protesters who came to his home

Report says schools underfunded $657 million in FY 2015

Kansas should drop onerous 'proof of citizenship' law

Court defies Kobach's prediction

Guard members returning from Afghanistan

Supreme Court ruling on voter I.D. could affect Kansas law

Core standards

Be patient, Missouri. Kansas will self-destruct

Kansas colleges and universities learn to cope with budget cuts

Education department may leave positions vacant to cope with budget cuts

Brownback signs 2-year budget plan, vetoes DOC cuts

Immigration reform group visits Kobach's house

Analysis: Kansas education standards debate exposes tensions

Veterans still pay out-state tuition as bill falters

Kansas receives $1.2 million for work force database

Brownback calls out Missouri on border war

Brownback signs Kansas tax measure

Brownback picks NASA vet for spokeswoman

Institute: Old Kansas science standards were better

Brownback ready to sign tax bill

Kansas ponders innovative-schools law

State agencies run into the ground

House speaker names new chief of staff

KDOT awards funds for projects

Kansas approves new science standards

Auditor slams DESE, Social Services for early childhood funds

Let Nixon's veto be a call to rethink tax-cut bills

$10 million biotech center expansion groundbreaking set for Friday at KU

Kansas Bioscience Authority approves $1.8 million in investments, loans

Kansas withholding funds for vehicle system

State education board set to act on science standards

Feds belatedly send $67 million in disaster funds to Utah, Colorado, 12 other states

Drinking water runs low as dry conditions drag on

Kansas budget reflects Legislature’s dysfunction

Kansas governor’s chief spokeswoman taking lottery job

Brownback weighs decision on higher ed cuts

Regents, Legislature going in opposite directions on higher education funding

Corrections officials in Kansas face at least $5.6 million in cutbacks

Brownback's legislative agenda parts feast, famine

Regents, Legislature going in opposite directions on higher education funding

NRA-backed Kansas gun-lobbying law raises tough speech issues

Kansas and Missouri share the wrong approach to taxes

Kansas regents criticize budget cuts, hear requests for tuition increases

Nixon’s veto of border war tax cuts sets up showdown with Missouri GOP

Apparent inaction on Medicaid expansion in Kansas leaves medical facilities scrambling to cover costs

KCC rejects audit of executive director's criticism of staff

Activist, reckless session

NRA-backed Kansas law raises tough free-speech issues

Liberal group to hold mock funeral for Kansas to protest Brownback’s tax measures

Analysis group believes new tax plan could ruin Kansas

Nixon’s veto of border war tax cuts sets up showdown with Missouri GOP

Kansas Republicans pushed tax plan as old business

Corrections budget cuts put spotlight on King's absence

Brownback signs bill restricting gun lobbying

Don’t let turmoil hurt Kansas utility customers

Tuition increases expected as Kansas universities brace for cuts

Attorneys General Prepare to Defend Controversial Laws

State attorneys general are about to head to court to defend controversial state laws. Are they required to defend laws that might not survive legal scrutiny?

Foreign Law Bans: Political Statement or Unconstitutional?

State lawmakers are focused on keeping U.S. courts away from the influence of foreign law. But does banning all foreign law go too far?

After Expanding Coverage, Health Care Pioneer Seeks to Tame Costs

The Affordable Care Act will extend health care coverage to almost everybody. Now states are moving on to the next frontier in health care reform: containing costs. Once again, Massachusetts is taking the lead by putting its health care industry on an annual budget and requiring all insurers and medical providers to make detailed price lists available to the public.

In Drought Ravaged Plains, Efforts to Save a Vital Aquifer

The Ogallala Aquifer, which feeds some of the world’s most productive croplands, is running dry.

Maryland Repeals Death Penalty, Sixth State in Six Years

Maryland became the sixth state in as many years to repeal the death penalty. But the fate of the state’s five remaining death row inmates is up to Governor Martin O'Malley.

Issue To Watch: School Testing

A number of states are pushing to up the stakes on reading tests for younger students and assign letter grades to schools.

Hard Realities on the Environmental Disaster Front

After another year marked by expensive and deadly disasters, states all over the country are still picking up the pieces from what Mother Nature wrought in 2012. But they confront equally sobering expectations for 2013.

Issue To Watch: Immigration

Long-bottled-up bills that address state policies on whether to offer in-state tuition to undocumented students could become law this year, because of changes in party control of legislative chambers and changes in federal policy.

GOP Lawmakers Look to Abolish Income Taxes

Republican lawmakers in several states are taking aim at something no state has done in more than three decades: eliminate income taxes.

Kansas State of the State Address 2013

TOPEKA, Kansas -- Jan. 15 -- Following is the prepared text of Gov. Sam Brownback's 2013 State of the State Address:

Kansas Cuts to Education Unconstitutional, Court Rules

A three-judge panel on Friday said the state was shortchanging its students about $400 million each year — money it must find to comply with the constitutional mandate.

Brownback's Dilemma: How to Balance the Kansas Budget After Massive Tax Cuts

Kansas made a big gamble last year that huge income tax cuts would eventually bring prosperity. Right now, though, they’re causing painful decisions.

State School Funds On Trial, Again

Texas, Colorado, Kansas and others will see action on school finance lawsuits next year, but it could be years before they make a difference in the classroom.

Oklahoma Among States Limiting Property Taxes

Lowering property taxes is always popular, and results from the November 6 elections show this year was no exemption

As Layoffs Mount, Governors Seek Support on Wind Tax Credit

With election season politics behind them, several governors are reapplying pressure on Congress to extend a tax credit whose looming expiration is stirring angst within the wind industry.

U of Kansas Turns to Legacies to Boost Enrollment

As the University of Kansas contends with four straight years of declining enrollment, school leaders and the alumni association hope to attract more “legacy” students, whose parents or grandparents attended the school.

Dam Inspectors Fear the Deluge

Each year, more dams in the United States show signs of disrepair. Meanwhile, the money to fix them grows harder to find.

Kansas Attorney General Wants Return of “In Cold Blood” Evidence

Kansas Attorney General Derek Smith on Monday called for the return of the case file records, investigative reports and gruesome crime scene photographs related to the 1959 murders of Holcomb, Kansas farmer Herb Clutter, his wife and two children, the subject of Truman Capote’s classic book “In Cold Blood.”

Wind Subsidies Raise a Storm in Heartland States

Wind-energy has been a booming industry in many states the past few years. But the federal tax credits that have helped fuel that growth is likely to disappear in a few months.

Best of #StateReads: Ex-Parks Official Had Criminal Past

This week’s extraordinary journalism about state government, tagged to #StateReads on Twitter.

Farmers, Frackers and Scarce Water

Hydraulic fracturing by energy drillers may not be the heaviest consumer of water on parched land. But environmentalists and some farmers are starting to worry about it.

Even in Hard Times, States Find It Difficult To Recruit Talent

As state government hiring picks back up, competing with the private sector for highly skilled workers is becoming a challenge for some agencies.

In Kansas Primary, Results Could Advance Governor’s Agenda

On a busy primary day in four states, conservatives in Kansas are looking to oust moderate Republicans, freeing up room for the governor to push his ambitious agenda.

Best of #StateReads: California Parks Director Resigns After Budget Revelations

This week’s extraordinary journalism about state government, tagged to #StateReads on Twitter.

Art for the Economy’s Sake

After years of budget cuts, state funding for the arts is making a comeback.

Kansas and Oklahoma Income Tax Cuts Won’t Reach Zero

Kansas may soon finish a large tax cut and Oklahoma is likely to approve a smaller one, but both will be short of some lawmakers’ initial aspirations: ending the income tax entirely.

Q&A With Outgoing Colorado Pension Chief: ‘The 401(k) Experiment Is a Failure’

After more than two decades heading public employee pension systems in Colorado and Kansas, Meredith Williams says Americans are woefully underprepared for retirement.

In Kansas, a Redistricting Battle Like No Other

While nearly every other state is done with the once-a-decade redrawing of its political districts, Kansas Republicans can’t seem to come to an agreement.

Labor Shortages Lead Businesses to Support Help for Undocumented Workers

Business groups, especially in agriculture, are pushing several state measures to aid immigrant laborers who are in the country illegally. But many of those efforts are treading on uncertain legal ground.

Busy Brownback Agenda Running Into Problems in Kansas

TODAY'S TAKE: Legislative leaders from both parties are expressing doubts about Republican Governor Sam Brownback's proposals to cap state spending, overhaul the tax code and revamp school financing.

In Kansas, Governor Sam Brownback Drives a Rightward Shift

TOPEKA, Kansas - Republican Sam Brownback is pushing what may be the boldest agenda of any governor this year. In the process, he is setting up a showdown with moderates in his own party.

Kansas State of the State Address 2012

TOPEKA, Kansas — Jan. 11 — Following is the prepared text of Gov. Sam Brownback's (R) 2012 state of the state address Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, Legislators, Justices of the Kansas Supreme Court leaders of Kansas sovereign Native American Nations,

Governors Preview Their 2012 Priorities

TODAY'S TAKE: From a constitutional amendment to expand gambling in Kentucky to creation of a health insurance exchange in Idaho, some governors are not waiting until 2012 to declare their agendas.

Protests Mark Child Poverty Forums in Kansas

SOCIAL POLICY BEAT: Holding town hall meetings on ways to reduce childhood poverty might seem unlikely to offend anyone. But don't tell that to the folks in Kansas.