Sen. Rick Billinger&nbsp;Newsletter February 2, 2026 Topeka

Budget work for the 2026-2027 cycle began early this year. The House met a week before this year’s session began to start developing its budget, and the Senate followed by beginning its work on the second day of session. This is the second year that the House and Senate have worked on their own budget/bills and have not waited for the Governor’s budget. 

The Senate is using the subcommittees and some of our standing committees to hear agencies budget and requests for enhancements. Our subcommittees have been meeting every day not only during committee time but also early in the morning before session starts, over lunch hours and after our work on the Senate floor. 

This week the first week in February we will finish subcommittee work and be ready to build our budget the second week of February. A key challenge this year will be finding ways to reduce the total budget while maintaining core priorities. Throughout the session, I will try to keep you updated on the budget process.

Some of the bills that have been debated on the floor and passed are as follows: Kansas becomes the 20th state to approve the Convention of States. Last session the Senate approved the Convention of States and this year the House passed the resolution calling for a Convention of States under Article 5 of the United States Constitution. 

Under Article 5 of the United States Constitution, there are two methods of adopting a constitutional amendment-Congress adopting said amendments by a two-third majority and then being ratified by three-fourths of state legislatures; or a convention of states, which is called when at least thirty-four state legislatures adopt a similar resolution. 

Any amendments proposed from said convention would then need to be ratified by at least thirty-eight states to become part of the United States Constitution.

The Kansas Senate has the responsibility of confirming nominees by various state officers, usually the Governor. This week, the Senate cleared twenty-one nominees for various boards and commissions.

Senate Resolution 1615 passed honoring Charlie Kirk, through his work at Turning Point USA. Charlie Kirk showcased his commitment to free speech and civil discourse on college campuses across the country, and it is through his efforts we are now seeing a renewed nationwide commitment to promoting free speech for all. 

The Senate adopted Senate Resolution 1615 recognizing Charlie Kirk on his birthday October 14th- as Charlie Kirk Free Speech Day.

I am honored and grateful to represent the 40th Senate District in Kansas. 

Please do not hesitate to contact me by email: rick.billinger@senate.ks.gov or call me with your questions or concerns. My office number is 785 296-7399 or my cell number is 785 899-4700. If you are in Topeka, stop by my office at 545-S.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/2/1644852447177.jpeg" alt="State Sen. Rick Billinger, R-Goodland, 40th Dist.&nbsp;File photo/Hays Post" />
 <figcaption>State Sen. Rick Billinger, R-Goodland, 40th Dist.&nbsp;File photo/Hays Post</figcaption>
 </figure>Sen. Rick Billinger&nbsp;Newsletter February 2, 2026 TopekaBudget work for the 2026-2027 cycle began early this year. The House met a week before this year’s session began to start developing its budget, and the Senate followed by beginning its work on the second day of session. This is the second year that the House and Senate have worked on their own budget/bills and have not waited for the Governor’s budget. The Senate is using the subcommittees and some of our standing committees to hear agencies budget and requests for enhancements. Our subcommittees have been meeting every day not only during committee time but also early in the morning before session starts, over lunch hours and after our work on the Senate floor. This week the first week in February we will finish subcommittee work and be ready to build our budget the second week of February. A key challenge this year will be finding ways to reduce the total budget while maintaining core priorities. Throughout the session, I will try to keep you updated on the budget process.Some of the bills that have been debated on the floor and passed are as follows: Kansas becomes the 20th state to approve the Convention of States. Last session the Senate approved the Convention of States and this year the House passed the resolution calling for a Convention of States under Article 5 of the United States Constitution. Under Article 5 of the United States Constitution, there are two methods of adopting a constitutional amendment-Congress adopting said amendments by a two-third majority and then being ratified by three-fourths of state legislatures; or a convention of states, which is called when at least thirty-four state legislatures adopt a similar resolution. Any amendments proposed from said convention would then need to be ratified by at least thirty-eight states to become part of the United States Constitution.The Kansas Senate has the responsibility of confirming nominees by various state officers, usually the Governor. This week, the Senate cleared twenty-one nominees for various boards and commissions.Senate Resolution 1615 passed honoring Charlie Kirk, through his work at Turning Point USA. Charlie Kirk showcased his commitment to free speech and civil discourse on college campuses across the country, and it is through his efforts we are now seeing a renewed nationwide commitment to promoting free speech for all. The Senate adopted Senate Resolution 1615 recognizing Charlie Kirk on his birthday October 14th- as Charlie Kirk Free Speech Day.I am honored and grateful to represent the 40th Senate District in Kansas. Please do not hesitate to contact me by email: rick.billinger@senate.ks.gov or call me with your questions or concerns. My office number is 785 296-7399 or my cell number is 785 899-4700. If you are in Topeka, stop by my office at 545-S.

BILLINGER: Senate update, Feb. 2

By MICHAEL A. SMITH Insight Kansas

It has been fourteen years since former Governor Sam Brownback’s disastrous “Great Experiment,” which cratered state revenues, slashed social services, and landed the state in court over school funding. Have policymakers already forgotten? Perhaps so.

Last year, the Kansas Legislature passed another income tax cut over Governor Laura Kelly’s veto. Like Brownback, legislators claimed that the tax cut would pay for itself with economic growth and net migration. Instead, this year, the Legislature seeks to close a $200 million shortfall by battering already hard-hit higher education and social services.

On the border, Missourians had a front-row seat to watch the Brownback experiment. Yet this year, Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe proposed a near carbon copy of Brownback’s plan, including incremental reduction of the state tax rates (Brownback’s “glide path to zero”) and the false promise that lost revenues can be made up with economic growth and net migration, along with use taxes, which are sales taxes on services.

Since Kansans and their neighbors seem to have forgotten, here is a brief primer on the Great Experiment. In 2012, Brownback convinced the Legislature to incrementally lower the state income tax and replace the revenue with compensating use taxes, economic growth, and net migration. Three tax brackets were reduced to two, the top bracket was reduced from 6.45 to 4.9%, and LLCs paid no tax at all.

Public revenues plummeted by more than half a billion dollars during the first year after the tax cut. They remained at this lower level consistently until a bipartisan supermajority overrode a veto and ended the experiment in 2017. Use taxes replaced less than a quarter of the revenue lost.

No economic growth or net migration resulted from the Experiment. In fact, during this period, Kansas had lower net migration than all neighboring states– each of which has an income tax. Nor was it popular. Shortly before he resigned the governorship to become U.S. Ambassador of Religious Freedom, Brownback had the second-lowest popularity rating of any U.S. governor.

To cope with this manmade disaster, the state adjusted by cutting funding for social services so low that children were sleeping in welfare offices. The federal government threatened to pull funding from state mental health facilities due to understaffing. Prison riots broke out in overcrowded conditions. The state also borrowed over $1 billion from the highway trust fund (the “Bank of KDOT”), and eliminated funding for the arts. The state cut school funding so much that it landed in court. The Legislature’s attempt to replace the Base State Aid formula for schools with block grants was also rejected by the courts. The formula was restored the following year. During the Experiment, school districts were forced to rely more on property taxes to replace state aid.

None of this should come as a surprise. According to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, states without an income tax have property taxes that are 12% higher and sales taxes that are 20% higher, on average. Property taxes fall hardest on retired homeowners with fixed incomes, while sales taxes fall hardest on the poor.

They say that those who don’t learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat it. This year, both the Kansas Legislature and the Missouri Governor seem bound and determined to prove this true.

Michael Smith is a professor of political science at Emporia State University.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/7/1751494323778.jpeg" alt="Michael Smith. Courtesy photo" />
 <figcaption>Michael Smith. Courtesy photo</figcaption>
 </figure>By MICHAEL A. SMITH Insight KansasIt has been fourteen years since former Governor Sam Brownback’s disastrous “Great Experiment,” which cratered state revenues, slashed social services, and landed the state in court over school funding. Have policymakers already forgotten? Perhaps so.Last year, the Kansas Legislature passed another income tax cut over Governor Laura Kelly’s veto. Like Brownback, legislators claimed that the tax cut would pay for itself with economic growth and net migration. Instead, this year, the Legislature seeks to close a $200 million shortfall by battering already hard-hit higher education and social services.On the border, Missourians had a front-row seat to watch the Brownback experiment. Yet this year, Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe proposed a near carbon copy of Brownback’s plan, including incremental reduction of the state tax rates (Brownback’s “glide path to zero”) and the false promise that lost revenues can be made up with economic growth and net migration, along with use taxes, which are sales taxes on services.Since Kansans and their neighbors seem to have forgotten, here is a brief primer on the Great Experiment. In 2012, Brownback convinced the Legislature to incrementally lower the state income tax and replace the revenue with compensating use taxes, economic growth, and net migration. Three tax brackets were reduced to two, the top bracket was reduced from 6.45 to 4.9%, and LLCs paid no tax at all.Public revenues plummeted by more than half a billion dollars during the first year after the tax cut. They remained at this lower level consistently until a bipartisan supermajority overrode a veto and ended the experiment in 2017. Use taxes replaced less than a quarter of the revenue lost.No economic growth or net migration resulted from the Experiment. In fact, during this period, Kansas had lower net migration than all neighboring states– each of which has an income tax. Nor was it popular. Shortly before he resigned the governorship to become U.S. Ambassador of Religious Freedom, Brownback had the second-lowest popularity rating of any U.S. governor.To cope with this manmade disaster, the state adjusted by cutting funding for social services so low that children were sleeping in welfare offices. The federal government threatened to pull funding from state mental health facilities due to understaffing. Prison riots broke out in overcrowded conditions. The state also borrowed over $1 billion from the highway trust fund (the “Bank of KDOT”), and eliminated funding for the arts. The state cut school funding so much that it landed in court. The Legislature’s attempt to replace the Base State Aid formula for schools with block grants was also rejected by the courts. The formula was restored the following year. During the Experiment, school districts were forced to rely more on property taxes to replace state aid.None of this should come as a surprise. According to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, states without an income tax have property taxes that are 12% higher and sales taxes that are 20% higher, on average. Property taxes fall hardest on retired homeowners with fixed incomes, while sales taxes fall hardest on the poor.They say that those who don’t learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat it. This year, both the Kansas Legislature and the Missouri Governor seem bound and determined to prove this true.Michael Smith is a professor of political science at Emporia State University.

Insight Kansas: Are we already forgetting Sam Brownback's tax-cutting "great experiment"

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By STEVE GILLILAND Explore Outdoor Kansas

In an 1892 football game against its arch rival Yale, Harvard unveiled a football formation called the “flying wedge” also known as the “flying V.” In this formation, the entire team lined up in a V-shaped wedge around the player with the ball and headed down the field. 

The logic was that no defender could reach the ball carrier until the players forming the sides of the wedge were knocked out of the way, which was difficult to do since the V-shape allowed each player to help the man in front of and behind him. 

Although illegal to use in football today, the flying V is still the basis of many football plays. It is the most common and most effective formation used in the game of rugby, it is still used by military tank and armored units, and the flying V was a play used by the Mighty Ducks hockey team in the popular Disney movies.

Each fall here in Inman, KS, USA, the skies fill with honking geese leaving the nearby wetlands heading for local wheat and stalk fields to feed. For days there will be so many in fields within ear shot of town that their squawking fills the air even when no geese can be seen. 

It’s like an old-World War II movie where wave after wave of fighter planes and bombers cover the sky. The Vs of geese are all shapes and sizes; some perfectly shaped, some haphazard, some fly straight as an arrow, some meander back and forth across the sky like weeds in a stream, and some seem so close together it’s hard to tell where one V stops and the next starts. But they all had one thing in common; they flew in some sort of V formation.

Several years ago, while thinking about the dynamics of this flying formation, I contacted Helen Hands, who was then a Kansas Dept of Wildlife and Parks biologist, who shared with me from her wealth of knowledge as the waterfowl specialist at Cheyene Bottoms.

One theory suggests that this V-formation is nothing more than a way for the birds to stay in better visual contact with each other and to avoid losing stragglers as the flock covers the vast distance required during annual migration.

The more widely accepted explanation deals with aerodynamics. It seems everything that flies, be it beast or machine, produces some amount of turbulence with its wings, known as “upwash” and “downwash,” causing “drag” as it moves through the air. 

However, a second set of wings correctly positioned behind and to one side of the first, benefits from a reduction in drag caused by that set of wings in front of it. We know this as “drafting,” a ploy used by racecar drivers to reduce the drag on their own car, thus using less fuel. What I didn’t know is that in a wedge of flying geese, each bird benefits slightly from the bird behind it also.

A link on the website www.aerospaceweb.com explains the aerodynamics involved in a V of flying geese. As commonly thought, the front bird as leader of the pack, works harder than the ones behind it. However, according to this website, each bird helps dissipate the turbulence caused by the bird in front of it, so the leader as well as each subsequent bird also gets some help from those behind it. This means that in actuality, the back two birds work harder than most of the flock since they have no followers.&nbsp;

The bottom line is that birds flying this way don’t flap their wings as hard or as often, their muscles work less and their heart rates are slower than birds flying solo. Research shows that a group of 25 or more birds in a V formation can fly 70% farther than if flying alone.

We have all noticed that the lead bird in a wedge of geese changes periodically and is replaced by another. This website suggests that the trailing two birds do the same since they also work a little harder than most. 

Helen told me the timing of these replacements is probably determined by the age and physical fitness of the individual geese plus wind speed and direction, among other factors. She said that migrating geese often travel as family groups, the pair and their offspring from that year, so the number of geese in any particular V is possibly determined by the size of certain family groups traveling together.

Once again, as usual, it appears that God’s creatures had this flying V thing figured out long before even Harvard, and furthermore, judging from what I see as I gaze skyward around here each fall, it’s still legal for geese to use it! 

By the way, do you know why one side of a V of geese is always longer than the other? That’s because there are more geese on that side!

Steve can be contacted by email at stevenrgilliland@gmail.com.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2026/1/1768930624044.jpeg" alt="Geese flying in classic V formation. Photo by Ben Mieremet/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration" />
 <figcaption>Geese flying in classic V formation. Photo by Ben Mieremet/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration</figcaption>
 </figure>By STEVE GILLILAND Explore Outdoor KansasIn an 1892 football game against its arch rival Yale, Harvard unveiled a football formation called the “flying wedge” also known as the “flying V.” In this formation, the entire team lined up in a V-shaped wedge around the player with the ball and headed down the field. The logic was that no defender could reach the ball carrier until the players forming the sides of the wedge were knocked out of the way, which was difficult to do since the V-shape allowed each player to help the man in front of and behind him. Although illegal to use in football today, the flying V is still the basis of many football plays. It is the most common and most effective formation used in the game of rugby, it is still used by military tank and armored units, and the flying V was a play used by the Mighty Ducks hockey team in the popular Disney movies.Each fall here in Inman, KS, USA, the skies fill with honking geese leaving the nearby wetlands heading for local wheat and stalk fields to feed. For days there will be so many in fields within ear shot of town that their squawking fills the air even when no geese can be seen. It’s like an old-World War II movie where wave after wave of fighter planes and bombers cover the sky. The Vs of geese are all shapes and sizes; some perfectly shaped, some haphazard, some fly straight as an arrow, some meander back and forth across the sky like weeds in a stream, and some seem so close together it’s hard to tell where one V stops and the next starts. But they all had one thing in common; they flew in some sort of V formation.Several years ago, while thinking about the dynamics of this flying formation, I contacted Helen Hands, who was then a Kansas Dept of Wildlife and Parks biologist, who shared with me from her wealth of knowledge as the waterfowl specialist at Cheyene Bottoms.One theory suggests that this V-formation is nothing more than a way for the birds to stay in better visual contact with each other and to avoid losing stragglers as the flock covers the vast distance required during annual migration.The more widely accepted explanation deals with aerodynamics. It seems everything that flies, be it beast or machine, produces some amount of turbulence with its wings, known as “upwash” and “downwash,” causing “drag” as it moves through the air. However, a second set of wings correctly positioned behind and to one side of the first, benefits from a reduction in drag caused by that set of wings in front of it. We know this as “drafting,” a ploy used by racecar drivers to reduce the drag on their own car, thus using less fuel. What I didn’t know is that in a wedge of flying geese, each bird benefits slightly from the bird behind it also.A link on the website www.aerospaceweb.com explains the aerodynamics involved in a V of flying geese. As commonly thought, the front bird as leader of the pack, works harder than the ones behind it. However, according to this website, each bird helps dissipate the turbulence caused by the bird in front of it, so the leader as well as each subsequent bird also gets some help from those behind it. This means that in actuality, the back two birds work harder than most of the flock since they have no followers.&nbsp;The bottom line is that birds flying this way don’t flap their wings as hard or as often, their muscles work less and their heart rates are slower than birds flying solo. Research shows that a group of 25 or more birds in a V formation can fly 70% farther than if flying alone.We have all noticed that the lead bird in a wedge of geese changes periodically and is replaced by another. This website suggests that the trailing two birds do the same since they also work a little harder than most. Helen told me the timing of these replacements is probably determined by the age and physical fitness of the individual geese plus wind speed and direction, among other factors. She said that migrating geese often travel as family groups, the pair and their offspring from that year, so the number of geese in any particular V is possibly determined by the size of certain family groups traveling together.Once again, as usual, it appears that God’s creatures had this flying V thing figured out long before even Harvard, and furthermore, judging from what I see as I gaze skyward around here each fall, it’s still legal for geese to use it! By the way, do you know why one side of a V of geese is always longer than the other? That’s because there are more geese on that side!Continue to Explore Kansas Outdoors.Steve can be contacted by email at stevenrgilliland@gmail.com.

Explore Kansas Outdoors: Drafting, goose-style

By&nbsp;RUSSELL ARBEN FOX Insight Kansas

Seven months from now, on August 6, 2026, Kansas voters will see on their primary ballots an&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://legiscan.com/KS/text/SCR1611/2025">amendment to the state constitution</a>&nbsp;that they can vote “yes” or “no” on:

The citizens of Kansas who are qualified electors shall elect the justices of the supreme court. The rules applicable for such elections and the designation of position numbers shall be provided by law.

The supporters of this amendment—primarily the Republican caucus in the Kansas legislature, as they were the ones who pushed to get the amendment on the ballot, but also conservative organizations like Americans for Prosperity and the Kansas Policy Institute—insist that their aim,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/committees/ctte_s_fed_st_1/documents/testimony/20250225_02.pdf">in the words of Senate President Ty Masterson</a>, is to “shine the light of democracy” on the selection of state Supreme Court justices, a process that is currently, “veiled by a commission.”

Kansans love the idea of transparency and choice, at least in principle. But when it comes to extending that idea to the judiciary, this claim sometimes confuses people. 

Since those who serve as justices on the U.S. Supreme Court are, like every judge on the federal level, appointed for life rather than elected, it seems perfectly normal to many to see the judicial branch as entirely apolitical, so much so that I occasionally have students who are first-time voters ask worryingly as to why retention votes for state judges show up on their ballots. (When I tell them that Thomas Jefferson, responding to the unavoidably political nature of some Supreme Court decisions, was sympathetic to the idea that the House of Representatives should elect the justices rather than the president appointing them, they get even more perplexed.)

In truth, once one embraces the idea of a supposedly independent judiciary to interpret the law, every system for determining who will serve as those judges is a complicated compromise.

Kansas’s system for state judges is not unique, but it is a relatively rare combination of merit (nomination by a judicial commission, appointment by governor) and voting (elections to stay in office at the end of one’s term). 

It’s an approach shared, in one form or another, by 17 other states. Not that straightforward elections are employed by all the rest; only 21 states allow voters to choose their state Supreme Court justices directly. 

Ultimately, the methods of choosing justices, on any court level,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.brennancenter.org/judicial-selection-map">vary greatly from state to state</a>—and there is&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://effectivegov.uchicago.edu/primers/elected-vs-appointed-judges">no clear evidence that one method is always better</a>&nbsp;in terms of judicial trust, fairness, and accountability than any other.

Former Kansas Chief Justice Lawton Nuss is one of those who has&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://kansasreflector.com/2025/12/22/former-kansas-supreme-court-chief-justice-joins-national-alliance-to-promote-rule-of-law/">criticized the amendment</a>, calling the election of state Supreme Court justices a “<a target="_blank" href="https://otter.ai/u/P3HZPcfw2TmylZONJMx4UT-MuIs?utm_source=copy_url">really bad idea</a>.”

He is joined by numerous state organizations, many of which point out that the arguments for the amendment made by the Republican majority in Topeka often just focused on electing judges who would overturn past rulings on abortion and education, rather than principled concerns about democracy.

I would just add that it’s important to note that the amendment says nothing about the “rules” of the “elections” that “shall be provided by law.” Most of the states that hold elections for their state justices require those elections to be nonpartisan. Others require them to be held by district throughout the state. 

Without any such language, one should probably assume that whatever elections emerge from the amendment will be state-wide, majority-driven, and partisan. Something to keep in mind before next summer’s vote.

Dr. Russell Arben Fox teaches politics at Friends University in Wichita.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1750955074364.jpeg" alt="Russell Arben Fox. Courtsy photo" />
 <figcaption>Russell Arben Fox. Courtsy photo</figcaption>
 </figure>By&nbsp;RUSSELL ARBEN FOX Insight KansasSeven months from now, on August 6, 2026, Kansas voters will see on their primary ballots an&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://legiscan.com/KS/text/SCR1611/2025">amendment to the state constitution</a>&nbsp;that they can vote “yes” or “no” on:The citizens of Kansas who are qualified electors shall elect the justices of the supreme court. The rules applicable for such elections and the designation of position numbers shall be provided by law.The supporters of this amendment—primarily the Republican caucus in the Kansas legislature, as they were the ones who pushed to get the amendment on the ballot, but also conservative organizations like Americans for Prosperity and the Kansas Policy Institute—insist that their aim,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/committees/ctte_s_fed_st_1/documents/testimony/20250225_02.pdf">in the words of Senate President Ty Masterson</a>, is to “shine the light of democracy” on the selection of state Supreme Court justices, a process that is currently, “veiled by a commission.”Kansans love the idea of transparency and choice, at least in principle. But when it comes to extending that idea to the judiciary, this claim sometimes confuses people. Since those who serve as justices on the U.S. Supreme Court are, like every judge on the federal level, appointed for life rather than elected, it seems perfectly normal to many to see the judicial branch as entirely apolitical, so much so that I occasionally have students who are first-time voters ask worryingly as to why retention votes for state judges show up on their ballots. (When I tell them that Thomas Jefferson, responding to the unavoidably political nature of some Supreme Court decisions, was sympathetic to the idea that the House of Representatives should elect the justices rather than the president appointing them, they get even more perplexed.)In truth, once one embraces the idea of a supposedly independent judiciary to interpret the law, every system for determining who will serve as those judges is a complicated compromise.Kansas’s system for state judges is not unique, but it is a relatively rare combination of merit (nomination by a judicial commission, appointment by governor) and voting (elections to stay in office at the end of one’s term). It’s an approach shared, in one form or another, by 17 other states. Not that straightforward elections are employed by all the rest; only 21 states allow voters to choose their state Supreme Court justices directly. Ultimately, the methods of choosing justices, on any court level,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.brennancenter.org/judicial-selection-map">vary greatly from state to state</a>—and there is&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://effectivegov.uchicago.edu/primers/elected-vs-appointed-judges">no clear evidence that one method is always better</a>&nbsp;in terms of judicial trust, fairness, and accountability than any other.Former Kansas Chief Justice Lawton Nuss is one of those who has&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://kansasreflector.com/2025/12/22/former-kansas-supreme-court-chief-justice-joins-national-alliance-to-promote-rule-of-law/">criticized the amendment</a>, calling the election of state Supreme Court justices a “<a target="_blank" href="https://otter.ai/u/P3HZPcfw2TmylZONJMx4UT-MuIs?utm_source=copy_url">really bad idea</a>.” He is joined by numerous state organizations, many of which point out that the arguments for the amendment made by the Republican majority in Topeka often just focused on electing judges who would overturn past rulings on abortion and education, rather than principled concerns about democracy.I would just add that it’s important to note that the amendment says nothing about the “rules” of the “elections” that “shall be provided by law.” Most of the states that hold elections for their state justices require those elections to be nonpartisan. Others require them to be held by district throughout the state. Without any such language, one should probably assume that whatever elections emerge from the amendment will be state-wide, majority-driven, and partisan. Something to keep in mind before next summer’s vote.Dr. Russell Arben Fox teaches politics at Friends University in Wichita.

Insight Kansas: On state supreme court justices, and how to choose them

My ancestors emigrated from their original homes to homestead central and western Kansas starting in 1872.

 Canadians arrived by train to settle Devizes in Norton County. Indianans moved by horse and wagon to settle Ford, Kansas. Brits via New York state traveled to Russell County by Union Pacific. Volga Germans ventured to Rush County by Missouri Pacific. 

Once here, they traveled and worked with literal horsepower, requiring livery stables, blacksmiths, and hayfields, not gas stations. However, within two generations, technology shifted and each expanding family needed gas pumps and auto mechanics.

Grandma, born in 1909, first recollected horse-drawn wagon and buggy travel. Technology advanced and her dad bought a motor car. By the time she married Grandpa in 1925, they drove an early model Ford from Colorado to start their home in Ford, Kansas. 

His family’s once busy livery stable stood behind his grandparents’ house, an outdated business. Over time it deteriorated so that when I visited on Memorial Day to lay flowers on family graves, it was only a memory. When I visited her during college breaks, we’d watch evening news, and she’d laugh about going from horse travel to riding in airplanes in 65 years.

Now that I’m older than she was, I think about change in my lifetime. While vehicles offer more sophisticated amenities than early day Model A's and T's with crank starts and hand-controlled windshield wipers, gas stations and mechanic shops still offer essential services along busy American highways. 

In remote areas, card-tro—unmanned gas stations—require a credit card and a driver’s ability to fuel vehicles to keep engines running. Although a necessary adaptation, it doesn’t reflect the change that occurred when horses ceased to be necessary and automobile drivers had to think about which towns supplied gas pumps.

This makes me think about Kansas artist Rudolph Wendelin’s dad adapting from selling heating oil to establishing a gas station/mechanic garage in Ludell. Then I recall quaint gas stations I’ve photographed as I cruise Blue Highways. Refined petroleum and combustion engines changed our world. While businesses evolved from full-service stations with employees who filled customers’ tanks, checked oil, and cleaned windows to current practice self-serve, most travelers still require petroleum-base fuels.

A motel we visit in Wyoming offers guests driving electric vehicles charging stations. Recently, a nearby truck stop installed an island of recharge ports. Those will multiply as electric cars become more reliable and affordable and infrastructure is secure. At the cusp of a major shift, Americans transition from gas to electric-powered travel.

At the moment, I’m not sold on the benefits, but I’ve studied enough history to know technology and energy needs drive change. Switching from horse to motorized travel forced business to reconsider customer need. Now, those will include updated vocational training, additional recharge ports, an ample electrical supply along with skilled mechanics to service the system. Who knows what other jobs will open?

To remind me humans survive progress, I timehop through rural towns with vintage gas stations standing on once busy corners and invite my imagination to transport me across decades. Then I mentally leap a century forward to consider what future travelers will envision when they see our old quick shops and truck stops. 

Karen Madorin is a retired teacher, writer, photographer, outdoors lover, and sixth-generation Kansan.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2026/1/1769011107902.jpeg" alt="Photo courtesy Karen Madorin" />
 <figcaption>Photo courtesy Karen Madorin</figcaption>
 </figure>By KAREN MADORIN My ancestors emigrated from their original homes to homestead central and western Kansas starting in 1872. Canadians arrived by train to settle Devizes in Norton County. Indianans moved by horse and wagon to settle Ford, Kansas. Brits via New York state traveled to Russell County by Union Pacific. Volga Germans ventured to Rush County by Missouri Pacific. Once here, they traveled and worked with literal horsepower, requiring livery stables, blacksmiths, and hayfields, not gas stations. However, within two generations, technology shifted and each expanding family needed gas pumps and auto mechanics.Grandma, born in 1909, first recollected horse-drawn wagon and buggy travel. Technology advanced and her dad bought a motor car. By the time she married Grandpa in 1925, they drove an early model Ford from Colorado to start their home in Ford, Kansas. His family’s once busy livery stable stood behind his grandparents’ house, an outdated business. Over time it deteriorated so that when I visited on Memorial Day to lay flowers on family graves, it was only a memory. When I visited her during college breaks, we’d watch evening news, and she’d laugh about going from horse travel to riding in airplanes in 65 years.Now that I’m older than she was, I think about change in my lifetime. While vehicles offer more sophisticated amenities than early day Model A's and T's with crank starts and hand-controlled windshield wipers, gas stations and mechanic shops still offer essential services along busy American highways. In remote areas, card-tro—unmanned gas stations—require a credit card and a driver’s ability to fuel vehicles to keep engines running. Although a necessary adaptation, it doesn’t reflect the change that occurred when horses ceased to be necessary and automobile drivers had to think about which towns supplied gas pumps.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2026/1/1769011244898.jpeg" alt="Photo courtesy Karen Madorin" />
 <figcaption>Photo courtesy Karen Madorin</figcaption>
 </figure><figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2026/1/1769011272299.jpeg" alt="Photo courtesy Karen Madorin" />
 <figcaption>Photo courtesy Karen Madorin</figcaption>
 </figure><figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2026/1/1769011308201.jpeg" alt="Photo courtesy Karen Madorin" />
 <figcaption>Photo courtesy Karen Madorin</figcaption>
 </figure>This makes me think about Kansas artist Rudolph Wendelin’s dad adapting from selling heating oil to establishing a gas station/mechanic garage in Ludell. Then I recall quaint gas stations I’ve photographed as I cruise Blue Highways. Refined petroleum and combustion engines changed our world. While businesses evolved from full-service stations with employees who filled customers’ tanks, checked oil, and cleaned windows to current practice self-serve, most travelers still require petroleum-base fuels.However, that’s changing. A motel we visit in Wyoming offers guests driving electric vehicles charging stations. Recently, a nearby truck stop installed an island of recharge ports. Those will multiply as electric cars become more reliable and affordable and infrastructure is secure. At the cusp of a major shift, Americans transition from gas to electric-powered travel.At the moment, I’m not sold on the benefits, but I’ve studied enough history to know technology and energy needs drive change. Switching from horse to motorized travel forced business to reconsider customer need. Now, those will include updated vocational training, additional recharge ports, an ample electrical supply along with skilled mechanics to service the system. Who knows what other jobs will open?To remind me humans survive progress, I timehop through rural towns with vintage gas stations standing on once busy corners and invite my imagination to transport me across decades. Then I mentally leap a century forward to consider what future travelers will envision when they see our old quick shops and truck stops. No matter what, we can count on change.Karen Madorin is a retired teacher, writer, photographer, outdoors lover, and sixth-generation Kansan.

MADORIN: Time travel

January 20, 20256 Topeka GOVERNOR’S LAST BUDGET

On Wednesday, January 14, 2026, the Governor’s final budget proposal of her term, for fiscal year 2027, was presented to a joint meeting of the House Appropriations and Senate Ways &amp; Means committees. The budget presentation serves to inform the Legislature of the Governor’s spending and taxing priorities for the upcoming fiscal year. 

Overall the proposed budget’s spending increases were lean but did add $171.3 million state general funds (SGF). Below is a sample of five areas where the Governor proposed new spending in her budget.

First was K-12 education. The Governor’s budget increased base spending for special education aid to schools by $50 million SGF, added $2.5 million SGF to eliminate co-payments for reduced lunches provided to students, and added $3.5 million SGF for professional development, scholarships, and mentor programs for school teachers.

Second was spending to cover funding shortfalls created by decreases in federal aid to Kansas. The Governor added $16.1 million SGF in new spending for the Kansas Department of Children and Families (DCF) to cover administrative and new compliance costs of the Supplemental &amp; Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). $5 million SGF was also added to the Adjutant General’s office to reimburse the Emergency Management Performance Grants fund.&nbsp;

Third was mental health. $3.6 million SGF was added to implement a Community Support Waiver (SDW) program, to provide reduced services for individuals currently waiting on the Intellectual Developmentally Disabled (I/DD) waiver waitlist that require fewer services than provided under the I/DD program. $2.8 million SGF was also added to the Technology Assissted waiver, in response to alleged increase demands for the program’s services.

Fourth was spending for state hospitals. $30.9 million SGF was added to fund the new South Central Regional Mental Health Hospital in Wichita, KS, $5 million SGF was added to state-aid for behavioral beds at local hospitals, and $37 million SGF was added to fund contract nursing staff at Larned and Osawatomie State Hospitals.

Fifth and final was state employee pay. $33 million SGF was added to cover portions of a 2.5 percent salary increase for executive branch employees and $3.3 million SGF was added for a similar increase to judicial branch employees’s salaries, as requested by the Judicial Branch.

The first week of the 2026 Session saw the Kansas House of Representatives introduce 52 bills, on topics ranging from public libraries to hunting. Below is a sample of three bills from those introduced this week. 

First is House Bill (HB) 2421. This piece of legislation would strictly limit the use of personal wireless electronic devices by students during school hours in both public and accredited nonpublic schools in Kansas. 

Second is HB 2458, which would require that property taxes and public bonds be approved by elected officials within certain tax jurisdictions. 

Third and last is HB 2470, which would grant municipalities in Kansas greater freedom in designating neighborhood revitalization districts.

House Appropriations (HAPP) held its first committee meeting this session on Thursday, January 15, 2026. As usual there were committee staff introductions and a welcome for new and returning committee members. However, this year the committee also worked and passed out nine agency budget reports for fiscal years 2026 and 2027, a first for me during my time in the legislature.

The first three of these budgets came from the General Government Budget Subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Barbara Wasinger, R-Hays. These were the Office of Administrative Hearings, Pooled Money Investment Board, and the Public Disclosure Committee (previously named the State Ethics Commission). Said budget reports drew several questions from members regarding the agencies’ performance metrics and full-time employee positions (FTEs).

The latter six budgets came from the Agriculture &amp; Natural Resources Budget Subcommittee, chaired by Representative Lisa Moser. These were the Board of Accountancy, Board of Veterinary Examiners, Citizen’s Utility Ratepayer Board, Kansas Corporation Commission, Kansas Department of Credit Unions, and the Office of State Bank Commissioner. Discussion on these budgets involved the same topics of concern.

It is a distinct honor to serve as your representative for the 109th Kansas House District and the state of Kansas. Please contact me with your thoughts, concerns, and questions. I always appreciate hearing from the residents of the 109th House District and others from the state of Kansas, as well.

Contact My Office Representative Troy L. Waymaster 300 SW&nbsp;10th Street Topeka,&nbsp;Kansas&nbsp;66612 troy.waymaster@house.ks.gov <a href="https://www.kslegislature.gov/li/">www.kslegislature.org</a>

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/10/1633970422056.jpeg" alt="Rep. Troy Waymastser, R-Bunker Hill. Courtesy photo" />
 <figcaption>Rep. Troy Waymastser, R-Bunker Hill. Courtesy photo</figcaption>
 </figure>January 20, 20256 Topeka GOVERNOR’S LAST BUDGETOn Wednesday, January 14, 2026, the Governor’s final budget proposal of her term, for fiscal year 2027, was presented to a joint meeting of the House Appropriations and Senate Ways &amp; Means committees. The budget presentation serves to inform the Legislature of the Governor’s spending and taxing priorities for the upcoming fiscal year. Overall the proposed budget’s spending increases were lean but did add $171.3 million state general funds (SGF). Below is a sample of five areas where the Governor proposed new spending in her budget.First was K-12 education. The Governor’s budget increased base spending for special education aid to schools by $50 million SGF, added $2.5 million SGF to eliminate co-payments for reduced lunches provided to students, and added $3.5 million SGF for professional development, scholarships, and mentor programs for school teachers.Second was spending to cover funding shortfalls created by decreases in federal aid to Kansas. The Governor added $16.1 million SGF in new spending for the Kansas Department of Children and Families (DCF) to cover administrative and new compliance costs of the Supplemental &amp; Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). $5 million SGF was also added to the Adjutant General’s office to reimburse the Emergency Management Performance Grants fund.&nbsp;Third was mental health. $3.6 million SGF was added to implement a Community Support Waiver (SDW) program, to provide reduced services for individuals currently waiting on the Intellectual Developmentally Disabled (I/DD) waiver waitlist that require fewer services than provided under the I/DD program. $2.8 million SGF was also added to the Technology Assissted waiver, in response to alleged increase demands for the program’s services.Fourth was spending for state hospitals. $30.9 million SGF was added to fund the new South Central Regional Mental Health Hospital in Wichita, KS, $5 million SGF was added to state-aid for behavioral beds at local hospitals, and $37 million SGF was added to fund contract nursing staff at Larned and Osawatomie State Hospitals.Fifth and final was state employee pay. $33 million SGF was added to cover portions of a 2.5 percent salary increase for executive branch employees and $3.3 million SGF was added for a similar increase to judicial branch employees’s salaries, as requested by the Judicial Branch.HOUSE FLOOR ACTION The first week of the 2026 Session saw the Kansas House of Representatives introduce 52 bills, on topics ranging from public libraries to hunting. Below is a sample of three bills from those introduced this week. First is House Bill (HB) 2421. This piece of legislation would strictly limit the use of personal wireless electronic devices by students during school hours in both public and accredited nonpublic schools in Kansas. Second is HB 2458, which would require that property taxes and public bonds be approved by elected officials within certain tax jurisdictions. Third and last is HB 2470, which would grant municipalities in Kansas greater freedom in designating neighborhood revitalization districts.COMMITTEE HAPPENINGSHouse Appropriations (HAPP) held its first committee meeting this session on Thursday, January 15, 2026. As usual there were committee staff introductions and a welcome for new and returning committee members. However, this year the committee also worked and passed out nine agency budget reports for fiscal years 2026 and 2027, a first for me during my time in the legislature.The first three of these budgets came from the General Government Budget Subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Barbara Wasinger, R-Hays. These were the Office of Administrative Hearings, Pooled Money Investment Board, and the Public Disclosure Committee (previously named the State Ethics Commission). Said budget reports drew several questions from members regarding the agencies’ performance metrics and full-time employee positions (FTEs).The latter six budgets came from the Agriculture &amp; Natural Resources Budget Subcommittee, chaired by Representative Lisa Moser. These were the Board of Accountancy, Board of Veterinary Examiners, Citizen’s Utility Ratepayer Board, Kansas Corporation Commission, Kansas Department of Credit Unions, and the Office of State Bank Commissioner. Discussion on these budgets involved the same topics of concern.It is a distinct honor to serve as your representative for the 109th Kansas House District and the state of Kansas. Please contact me with your thoughts, concerns, and questions. I always appreciate hearing from the residents of the 109th House District and others from the state of Kansas, as well.Contact My Office Representative Troy L. Waymaster 300 SW&nbsp;10th Street Topeka,&nbsp;Kansas&nbsp;66612 troy.waymaster@house.ks.gov <a href="https://www.kslegislature.gov/li/">www.kslegislature.org</a>

WAYMASTER: From the Dome to Home, Jan. 20, 2026

During the 1960s there was an oil boom in Morrow County, Ohio where we grew up, and either there were no regulations on anything or no one followed them, because oil rigs appeared on tiny patches of ground barely big enough to contain the equipment, and the drilling rigs were so thick and close together, that at night the countryside looked like the Emerald City. 

A company drilled a well on our place and told Dad they hit oil, but one morning we awoke to find everything gone, oil tank and oil included, without him ever seeing a cent.

 The area was left a mess, with lengths of oil well pipe, huge wooden timbers and chunks of steel cable laying everywhere in the weeds. The oil company never came back to clean up their mess, but Dad had decided to get something for our trouble in case they did, so he hooked onto several long well-casing pipes and drug them to a fencerow behind the barn.

One of our favorite winter pastimes was rabbit hunting. We didn’t have a dog so we’d just wonder through the woods and along fencerows looking for tracks and rootin’ through weed and briar patches to kick out rabbits hiding therein. 

One snowy Saturday afternoon we departed on a rabbit hunting excursion that followed our usual route, starting behind the barn and turning right at the end of a short pasture, then following a drainage ditch that was overgrown on both sides with all manner of briars, blackberries and other stellar rabbit hiding places. 

Several inches of soft snow made for slow going, but the snow made rabbit tracks show up like chocolate chips in pancakes.&nbsp;The drainage ditch ran for a couple hundred yards and where it ended against the next fencerow was where the highjacked oil well pipes resided.

&nbsp;Rabbit tracks littered the ground all around the pipes; one pipe in particular had a highway of tracks going into one end but none going out the other. A quick glance inside showed complete darkness, telling us Brer Rabbit was certainly holed up inside. Eureka!

But it seemed terribly unsportsman-like, even to us, just to shoot him in the pipe, not to mention a complete waste of tasty rabbit meat, so how would we get him out? 

Surely pounding on the outside of the pipe would get him moving. With Ralph standing near one end, his old 12-gauge cannon at the ready, I proceeded to jump around on the pipe. I tapdanced, kicked, beat and pounded all up anddown one end of the pipe, but nothing. 

Since we couldn’t actually see him in there, maybe he was facing the other direction, we thought, so we traded ends and tried again; still nothing. Somewhere we found a long stick of some sort that reached part way through the pipe. While Ralph stood on guard, I poked and prodded from both ends, but still nothing! Curses! We were getting nowhere! 

Then suddenly I had a two-word epiphany that would solve our problem -John Deere!

We hiked back to the barn, started the old JD 3010 with a loader on front and headed through the snow back to the pipe. As we chugged along, we could almost taste the freshly fried rabbit, as surely no cottontail alive could keep its footing inside an oil well pipe with one end hoisted toward the sky. 

I swung the tractor around in front of the offending pipe, slid the loader bucket beneath it and lifted it a few feet in the air, all the while awaiting the thunder of Ralph’s old 12-gauge as Brer came sliding out the other end. 

Nothing. So I hoisted the pipe even higher, and still nothing. What? Had we found a bionic bunny with 4-wheel drive? 

I dropped the pipe back into the snow, pulled it away from the fence and slid the bucket under the other end. This would surely do it, we figured. 

Once again, I raised the pipe, awaiting the roar of the 12-gauge, and once again, nothing. I tried it all. Jerking the pipe up and down, dropping it onto the ground with a thud, even sticking one loader tine into the end and whipping it up and down like a symphony conductor’s baton, all with the same results…nothing!

&nbsp;If ol’ Brer was in there, I suppose by then he was either dead or passed out from fright. It was about then the realization hit us that whatever was blocking the pipe might not be a rabbit, but a clod of dirt dad scooped up when he dragged the pipe to its new home, a nest of some sort or maybe a dead possum. 

Lucky for us it was not a skunk! I have a friend that was bit by a skunk that came sliding out of an irrigation pipe. Anyway, whatever was in there was either inanimate or dead and was not going to taste real good fried, so we accepted defeat and moved on.

Guys stake down old barrels in lakes as lairs for catfish, often noodling big flatheads out of them during the summer. Maybe we should have looked into renting out our oil well pipes to neighbors as “cottontail condos,” accepting a bunny or two each year as payment. 

With all the forgotten, left-behind oil well pipes there must have been in that county, we could have had dozens, perhaps hundreds of cottontail condo rentals. We could have become real estate moguls while we were still in high school! Yup, I can see it all now: Cottontail Condos, the full taste of the wild for only half the work! 

Steve can be contacted by email at stevenrgilliland@gmail.com.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/11/1574696211722.png" alt="Steve Gilliland. Courtesy photo" />
 <figcaption>Steve Gilliland. Courtesy photo</figcaption>
 </figure>By STEVE GILLILAND During the 1960s there was an oil boom in Morrow County, Ohio where we grew up, and either there were no regulations on anything or no one followed them, because oil rigs appeared on tiny patches of ground barely big enough to contain the equipment, and the drilling rigs were so thick and close together, that at night the countryside looked like the Emerald City. A company drilled a well on our place and told Dad they hit oil, but one morning we awoke to find everything gone, oil tank and oil included, without him ever seeing a cent. The area was left a mess, with lengths of oil well pipe, huge wooden timbers and chunks of steel cable laying everywhere in the weeds. The oil company never came back to clean up their mess, but Dad had decided to get something for our trouble in case they did, so he hooked onto several long well-casing pipes and drug them to a fencerow behind the barn.One of our favorite winter pastimes was rabbit hunting. We didn’t have a dog so we’d just wonder through the woods and along fencerows looking for tracks and rootin’ through weed and briar patches to kick out rabbits hiding therein. One snowy Saturday afternoon we departed on a rabbit hunting excursion that followed our usual route, starting behind the barn and turning right at the end of a short pasture, then following a drainage ditch that was overgrown on both sides with all manner of briars, blackberries and other stellar rabbit hiding places. Several inches of soft snow made for slow going, but the snow made rabbit tracks show up like chocolate chips in pancakes.&nbsp;The drainage ditch ran for a couple hundred yards and where it ended against the next fencerow was where the highjacked oil well pipes resided.&nbsp;Rabbit tracks littered the ground all around the pipes; one pipe in particular had a highway of tracks going into one end but none going out the other. A quick glance inside showed complete darkness, telling us Brer Rabbit was certainly holed up inside. Eureka! But it seemed terribly unsportsman-like, even to us, just to shoot him in the pipe, not to mention a complete waste of tasty rabbit meat, so how would we get him out? Surely pounding on the outside of the pipe would get him moving. With Ralph standing near one end, his old 12-gauge cannon at the ready, I proceeded to jump around on the pipe. I tapdanced, kicked, beat and pounded all up anddown one end of the pipe, but nothing. Since we couldn’t actually see him in there, maybe he was facing the other direction, we thought, so we traded ends and tried again; still nothing. Somewhere we found a long stick of some sort that reached part way through the pipe. While Ralph stood on guard, I poked and prodded from both ends, but still nothing! Curses! We were getting nowhere! Then suddenly I had a two-word epiphany that would solve our problem -John Deere!We hiked back to the barn, started the old JD 3010 with a loader on front and headed through the snow back to the pipe. As we chugged along, we could almost taste the freshly fried rabbit, as surely no cottontail alive could keep its footing inside an oil well pipe with one end hoisted toward the sky. I swung the tractor around in front of the offending pipe, slid the loader bucket beneath it and lifted it a few feet in the air, all the while awaiting the thunder of Ralph’s old 12-gauge as Brer came sliding out the other end. Nothing. So I hoisted the pipe even higher, and still nothing. What? Had we found a bionic bunny with 4-wheel drive? I dropped the pipe back into the snow, pulled it away from the fence and slid the bucket under the other end. This would surely do it, we figured. Once again, I raised the pipe, awaiting the roar of the 12-gauge, and once again, nothing. I tried it all. Jerking the pipe up and down, dropping it onto the ground with a thud, even sticking one loader tine into the end and whipping it up and down like a symphony conductor’s baton, all with the same results…nothing!&nbsp;If ol’ Brer was in there, I suppose by then he was either dead or passed out from fright. It was about then the realization hit us that whatever was blocking the pipe might not be a rabbit, but a clod of dirt dad scooped up when he dragged the pipe to its new home, a nest of some sort or maybe a dead possum. Lucky for us it was not a skunk! I have a friend that was bit by a skunk that came sliding out of an irrigation pipe. Anyway, whatever was in there was either inanimate or dead and was not going to taste real good fried, so we accepted defeat and moved on.Guys stake down old barrels in lakes as lairs for catfish, often noodling big flatheads out of them during the summer. Maybe we should have looked into renting out our oil well pipes to neighbors as “cottontail condos,” accepting a bunny or two each year as payment. With all the forgotten, left-behind oil well pipes there must have been in that county, we could have had dozens, perhaps hundreds of cottontail condo rentals. We could have become real estate moguls while we were still in high school! Yup, I can see it all now: Cottontail Condos, the full taste of the wild for only half the work! Continue to Explore Kansas Outdoors!Steve can be contacted by email at stevenrgilliland@gmail.com.

Explore Kansas Outdoors: Farm kid rabbit hunting

TOPEKA — The Kansas Bankers Association (KBA) today issued a statement expressing strong opposition to a proposed 10% cap on credit card interest rates. The KBA also reaffirmed its opposition to a credit card payment routing mandate that would weaken the safety, security and control consumers count on when utilizing their credit cards.

“A government-imposed interest rate price cap of 10% would eliminate credit card access for millions of Americans and thousands of Kansans,” states Doug Wareham, KBA’s President &amp; CEO. While mandating an interest rate ceiling on credit cards might sound appealing to some, the fact is implementing this type of price control will not benefit most consumers but will in turn devastate families and small businesses that rely upon and value having access to the benefits of a credit card. Simply put, the implementation of government price controls will force banks to tighten their credit card lending standards and severely limit consumer access to the safe and reliable credit cards we all rely upon in our everyday lives.

“KBA also encourages Congress to once again reject the so-called Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA), which was recently reintroduced by Senator Richard Durbin (D-Illinois) and Senator Roger Marshall, (R-Kansas). The CCCA is more big-government interference with our free market system in the form of a credit card routing mandate being championed by large corporate retailers and merchants that want to control who processes your credit card. This mandate, commonly known as the Durbin-Marshall Amendment, is another misguided proposal that will leave consumers and small business owners with fewer options and few financial benefits from their credit cards. The Durbin-Marshall Amendment would weaken credit card security, devastate credit card reward programs and remove the consumer’s choice regarding what credit card network processes their credit card payments. KBA strongly encourages Congress to oppose government interference in the credit card marketplace.”

The Kansas Bankers Association is a statewide organization dedicated to advancing the interests of Kansas banks and the communities they serve. We advocate for sound public policy, strong consumer protections, and a vibrant banking system that fosters economic growth.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2026/1/1768595456140.jpeg" alt=" " />
 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure>TOPEKA — The Kansas Bankers Association (KBA) today issued a statement expressing strong opposition to a proposed 10% cap on credit card interest rates. The KBA also reaffirmed its opposition to a credit card payment routing mandate that would weaken the safety, security and control consumers count on when utilizing their credit cards.“A government-imposed interest rate price cap of 10% would eliminate credit card access for millions of Americans and thousands of Kansans,” states Doug Wareham, KBA’s President &amp; CEO. While mandating an interest rate ceiling on credit cards might sound appealing to some, the fact is implementing this type of price control will not benefit most consumers but will in turn devastate families and small businesses that rely upon and value having access to the benefits of a credit card. Simply put, the implementation of government price controls will force banks to tighten their credit card lending standards and severely limit consumer access to the safe and reliable credit cards we all rely upon in our everyday lives.“KBA also encourages Congress to once again reject the so-called Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA), which was recently reintroduced by Senator Richard Durbin (D-Illinois) and Senator Roger Marshall, (R-Kansas). The CCCA is more big-government interference with our free market system in the form of a credit card routing mandate being championed by large corporate retailers and merchants that want to control who processes your credit card. This mandate, commonly known as the Durbin-Marshall Amendment, is another misguided proposal that will leave consumers and small business owners with fewer options and few financial benefits from their credit cards. The Durbin-Marshall Amendment would weaken credit card security, devastate credit card reward programs and remove the consumer’s choice regarding what credit card network processes their credit card payments. KBA strongly encourages Congress to oppose government interference in the credit card marketplace.”The Kansas Bankers Association is a statewide organization dedicated to advancing the interests of Kansas banks and the communities they serve. We advocate for sound public policy, strong consumer protections, and a vibrant banking system that fosters economic growth.

OPINION: Kansas bankers oppose government interference in credit card marketplace

The months after Christmas until mid-to late March are the most difficult of the year in my opinion. 

Spring and summer have always warmed my heart as well as my back as I bend over tomato plants in the garden or flowers growing in their beds. Over time, I learned to love fall with all its color and pre-frigid weather symphonies despite knowing what comes next.

 However, winter is a struggle. It requires effort to celebrate long nights and colorless days.&nbsp;Years ago, an unexpected visitor brightened our lives and gave me a happy memory.

While gazing at our dusty, forlorn yard, wondering how it would survive continued drought, a small brown creature, looking a great deal like a moving piece of bark circling the trunk of our elm, caught my eye. It started at the bottom and moved corkscrew-like up the tree to the suet basket where it stopped to noodle the fatty, seed-laden glob. After feeding, it continued spiraling upward.

At first glance, I thought our newcomer was an out-of-season wren, but it didn’t fly or feed like a wren. It was small and colored much like summer wrens, but I’d never seen those birds maneuver around a tree the way this little guy did while picking delicately with a down-curved bill into bark crevices.

I called in reinforcement — my husband — and we dashed for the bird book and binoculars. I don’t do so well with binocs, so I scanned pages while my other half noted the creature’s long prop-like tail, mottled wing feathers, and unique bobbing flight, much like a woodpecker’s.

After eliminating all possible wrens, we found our fellow on the same page nuthatches occupy. That ID seemed timely as it shared the tree with several of those upside-down crawling avians throughout the morning. 

While nuthatches maneuvered the world in reverse, the brown creeper circled the trunk, poked into nooks and crannies, snacked on suet, and then bobbed beyond our sight. 

According to my bird book, this newcomer is a “common but inconspicuous small woodland bird.” On an internet site, one writer stated, "His head, which is as the sentient handle to a very delicate instrument, is moved with such science, such dentistry, that one feels and appreciates each turn of it."

 The article itself fascinated me as the author published his work in 1948 in a Smithsonian Museum publication. Apparently, brown creepers’ charms include the fact it’s rarely seen with movements so artful one can’t help but fall under its spell.

For two weeks, we made certain the suet basket was filled, even making an emergency stop in Hays when I accidentally bought a seed block instead of suet for the cage-like feeding station. Our visitor rewarded us with frequent returns to that aged elm.

Though temps required me to wear a coat outside, and our trees stood leafless in a yard dry and dusty, my days brightened. I looked forward to seeing that brown creeper sharing our tree with hordes of nuthatches, juncos, flickers, woodpeckers, and a growing flock of chickadees.

Watching this tiny bird charmed away my wintry blues. I only have to think about that memory to brighten the present.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2026/1/1768322930272.jpeg" alt="Brown Creeper. Photo by Pixabay" />
 <figcaption>Brown Creeper. Photo by Pixabay</figcaption>
 </figure>By KAREN MADORIN The months after Christmas until mid-to late March are the most difficult of the year in my opinion. Spring and summer have always warmed my heart as well as my back as I bend over tomato plants in the garden or flowers growing in their beds. Over time, I learned to love fall with all its color and pre-frigid weather symphonies despite knowing what comes next. However, winter is a struggle. It requires effort to celebrate long nights and colorless days.&nbsp;Years ago, an unexpected visitor brightened our lives and gave me a happy memory.While gazing at our dusty, forlorn yard, wondering how it would survive continued drought, a small brown creature, looking a great deal like a moving piece of bark circling the trunk of our elm, caught my eye. It started at the bottom and moved corkscrew-like up the tree to the suet basket where it stopped to noodle the fatty, seed-laden glob. After feeding, it continued spiraling upward.At first glance, I thought our newcomer was an out-of-season wren, but it didn’t fly or feed like a wren. It was small and colored much like summer wrens, but I’d never seen those birds maneuver around a tree the way this little guy did while picking delicately with a down-curved bill into bark crevices.I called in reinforcement — my husband — and we dashed for the bird book and binoculars. I don’t do so well with binocs, so I scanned pages while my other half noted the creature’s long prop-like tail, mottled wing feathers, and unique bobbing flight, much like a woodpecker’s.After eliminating all possible wrens, we found our fellow on the same page nuthatches occupy. That ID seemed timely as it shared the tree with several of those upside-down crawling avians throughout the morning. While nuthatches maneuvered the world in reverse, the brown creeper circled the trunk, poked into nooks and crannies, snacked on suet, and then bobbed beyond our sight. Certhia Americana was our welcome guest.According to my bird book, this newcomer is a “common but inconspicuous small woodland bird.” On an internet site, one writer stated, "His head, which is as the sentient handle to a very delicate instrument, is moved with such science, such dentistry, that one feels and appreciates each turn of it." The article itself fascinated me as the author published his work in 1948 in a Smithsonian Museum publication. Apparently, brown creepers’ charms include the fact it’s rarely seen with movements so artful one can’t help but fall under its spell.For two weeks, we made certain the suet basket was filled, even making an emergency stop in Hays when I accidentally bought a seed block instead of suet for the cage-like feeding station. Our visitor rewarded us with frequent returns to that aged elm.Though temps required me to wear a coat outside, and our trees stood leafless in a yard dry and dusty, my days brightened. I looked forward to seeing that brown creeper sharing our tree with hordes of nuthatches, juncos, flickers, woodpeckers, and a growing flock of chickadees.Watching this tiny bird charmed away my wintry blues. I only have to think about that memory to brighten the present.Karen Madorin is a retired teacher, writer, photographer, outdoors lover, and sixth-generation Kansan.

MADORIN: Brown Creeper therapy

By STEVE GILLILAND Explore Kansas Outdoors

I thought of this story the other day, and decided it needed telling.

One cold, frosty December morning a couple winters ago, I slowly steered my pickup into the midst of several weathered old hay bales, and stepped out into the crisp, pre-dawn air. 

With the full moon illuminating the landscape like a spotlight and the frost making everything underfoot crunch like cornflakes, slipping in to our deer blind unnoticed this morning would be like trying to slip into the house past Mom when I was a kid and had stayed out past curfew. 

It was the last Saturday of deer rifle season and my heart was not really in it. I gathered my gear and began the short trek that would take me through a stretch of soybean stubble, across a small grassy meadow, down a creek bank and up the other side to the blind. 

To the right of our blind lay a small woodlot that was a popular bedding area for the local deer, so my goal was to slip in quietly and catch early morning browsers as they left the area to feed.

I crossed the stubble field and as I entered the meadow, I began hearing a strange quiet sort of popping sound -&nbsp; kind of like one of those kids' push toys that pops a ping pong ball around inside as its pushed across the floor. 

At first, I thought it was my insulated coveralls rubbing tufts of frosted grass as I walked, but that couldn’t be, because the moonlight was so bright, I could sidestep everything noisy. Or maybe it was just my old arthritic joints cracking and popping like Jiffy Pop popcorn with every step, but I stood still for awhile and the sound still continued. Baffled at what I heard, but figuring I was making who-knows-what kind of noise because of my Bull-in-a-China-Closet syndrome, I strode onward.

I’d taken just a couple more steps when an enormous eruption somewhere in front of me stopped me cold. I instinctively reeled backwards, and starring skyward, found the bright moonlit sky filled with the huge black shapes of wild turkeys, looking for all the world like beach balls with wings as they scattered to the four winds. 

Then it hit me that many times I had heard hen turkeys make that familiar quiet popping sound as they milled around me during turkey hunts. For anyone who has never seen or heard wild turkeys come down from a roost in the morning, it’s about the loudest, most awkward and unscripted event you’ll ever witness, and that’s when they’re not spooked! 

When the dust settled, the moonlight revealed numerous more roosted in the trees all around me. 

I remember starring at all those black shapes in the trees and thinking “This ain't gonna end well,” when, like shots from a Roman candle, every few seconds another group would leave their perches and scatter in a different direction. 

And finally, as if any deer were still left in this part of the township, the last group set sail and glided right through the middle of the very woodlot I’d hoped would produce a deer for me that morning! 

Every fiber of my being told me “Just go back home to bed; you tried but your hunt is surely ruined for the morning,” but I regained my composure, readjusted my now warm wet shorts, and continued on anyway.

Our blind was a trailer with a camper shell on top that had two sliding windows in front. The insides of all the windows were frosted over, which we were used to, but as I tried to slide open the two front windows, I found them frozen shut (well, of course they were.) I found an ice scraper and placing it sideways against one of the windows, I preceded to rap on it with my fist until one-at-a-time both&nbsp;windows broke free and slid open.

&nbsp;As things stood then, any living thing not spooked from the property by the turkey explosion, or rousted from the area by the eerie hulking figure strolling about in the bright moonlight was surely driven from the territory by the sound of a jackhammer being run from inside our hunting blind.

At that point, I might as well have stood on top of the trailer and sung the Star-Spangled Banner at the top of my lungs as the sun came up, or built a roaring fire in the middle of the stubble field and danced around it to the beat of a thousand native drums; it would have made little difference in the outcome of my Saturday morning deer hunt. 

A couple hours later as I walked to the truck, my once-wet shorts now frozen and crunching with every step, I had to take solace that sometimes all the caution in the world just can’t outwit Mother Nature.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/11/1574696211722.png" alt="Steve Gilliland. Courtesy photo" />
 <figcaption>Steve Gilliland. Courtesy photo</figcaption>
 </figure>By STEVE GILLILAND Explore Kansas Outdoors I thought of this story the other day, and decided it needed telling.One cold, frosty December morning a couple winters ago, I slowly steered my pickup into the midst of several weathered old hay bales, and stepped out into the crisp, pre-dawn air. With the full moon illuminating the landscape like a spotlight and the frost making everything underfoot crunch like cornflakes, slipping in to our deer blind unnoticed this morning would be like trying to slip into the house past Mom when I was a kid and had stayed out past curfew. It was the last Saturday of deer rifle season and my heart was not really in it. I gathered my gear and began the short trek that would take me through a stretch of soybean stubble, across a small grassy meadow, down a creek bank and up the other side to the blind. To the right of our blind lay a small woodlot that was a popular bedding area for the local deer, so my goal was to slip in quietly and catch early morning browsers as they left the area to feed.I crossed the stubble field and as I entered the meadow, I began hearing a strange quiet sort of popping sound -&nbsp; kind of like one of those kids' push toys that pops a ping pong ball around inside as its pushed across the floor. At first, I thought it was my insulated coveralls rubbing tufts of frosted grass as I walked, but that couldn’t be, because the moonlight was so bright, I could sidestep everything noisy. Or maybe it was just my old arthritic joints cracking and popping like Jiffy Pop popcorn with every step, but I stood still for awhile and the sound still continued. Baffled at what I heard, but figuring I was making who-knows-what kind of noise because of my Bull-in-a-China-Closet syndrome, I strode onward.I’d taken just a couple more steps when an enormous eruption somewhere in front of me stopped me cold. I instinctively reeled backwards, and starring skyward, found the bright moonlit sky filled with the huge black shapes of wild turkeys, looking for all the world like beach balls with wings as they scattered to the four winds. Then it hit me that many times I had heard hen turkeys make that familiar quiet popping sound as they milled around me during turkey hunts. For anyone who has never seen or heard wild turkeys come down from a roost in the morning, it’s about the loudest, most awkward and unscripted event you’ll ever witness, and that’s when they’re not spooked! When the dust settled, the moonlight revealed numerous more roosted in the trees all around me. I remember starring at all those black shapes in the trees and thinking “This ain't gonna end well,” when, like shots from a Roman candle, every few seconds another group would leave their perches and scatter in a different direction. And finally, as if any deer were still left in this part of the township, the last group set sail and glided right through the middle of the very woodlot I’d hoped would produce a deer for me that morning! Every fiber of my being told me “Just go back home to bed; you tried but your hunt is surely ruined for the morning,” but I regained my composure, readjusted my now warm wet shorts, and continued on anyway.Our blind was a trailer with a camper shell on top that had two sliding windows in front. The insides of all the windows were frosted over, which we were used to, but as I tried to slide open the two front windows, I found them frozen shut (well, of course they were.) I found an ice scraper and placing it sideways against one of the windows, I preceded to rap on it with my fist until one-at-a-time both&nbsp;windows broke free and slid open.&nbsp;As things stood then, any living thing not spooked from the property by the turkey explosion, or rousted from the area by the eerie hulking figure strolling about in the bright moonlight was surely driven from the territory by the sound of a jackhammer being run from inside our hunting blind.At that point, I might as well have stood on top of the trailer and sung the Star-Spangled Banner at the top of my lungs as the sun came up, or built a roaring fire in the middle of the stubble field and danced around it to the beat of a thousand native drums; it would have made little difference in the outcome of my Saturday morning deer hunt. A couple hours later as I walked to the truck, my once-wet shorts now frozen and crunching with every step, I had to take solace that sometimes all the caution in the world just can’t outwit Mother Nature.Steve can be contacted by email at stevenrgilliland@gmail.com.

Explore Kansas Outdoors: Doomed from the start

By MARK JOSLYN Insight Kansas Political polarization grabs headlines. But it’s not the whole story.&nbsp;

Majorities in&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/hiddencommonground/2019/12/05/hidden-common-ground-americans-divided-politics-seek-civility/4282301002/">both</a>&nbsp;parties believe there is more common ground than the news media and political leaders suggest. They report&nbsp;having constructive conversations with those holding opposing political views, and despite differences, say they’ve often worked together to address community challenges. Majorities in&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/696494/americans-show-consensus-democracy-related-matters.aspx">both</a>&nbsp;parties also agree on fundamental democratic principles and overwhelmingly&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.electionsafety.org/snapshot-three">oppose</a>&nbsp;election violence. They believe their parties should never tolerate officials who back groups promoting&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2025/10/30/what-americans-want-and-expect-from-party-leaders/">violence</a>&nbsp;against the other party.

Majorities in both parties think workers should&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.dataforprogress.org/blog/2024/4/26/voters-think-its-time-to-raise-the-minimum-wage">earn</a>&nbsp;at least the federal minimum wage, that government should&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://navigatorresearch.org/creating-a-nationwide-paid-leave-program-and-bolstering-medicares-negotiating-power-are-overwhelmingly-popular/">establish</a>&nbsp;a national paid family and medical leave program, that companies should&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.rff.org/publications/reports/climate-insights-2024-american-climate-policy-opinions/">limit</a>&nbsp;greenhouse gas emissions, that immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://americasvoice.org/press_releases/new-gallup-immigration-polling-americans-remain-strongly-supportive-of-immigration-and-citizenship-want-reform-over-broken-status-quo/">children</a>&nbsp;should have a pathway to citizenship, and that campaign spending should have limits.

<a target="_blank" href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2023/09/19/how-americans-view-proposals-to-change-the-political-system/">Supermajorities</a>&nbsp;endorse term and age limits across all three branches of government. They&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/652523/americans-endorse-early-voting-voter-verification.aspx">support</a>&nbsp;photo ID and citizenship verification to vote, alongside measures to make voting more convenient.

Even on issues presented as hopelessly divided, common ground exists. Both&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://apnorc.org/projects/support-for-legal-abortion-remains-strong/">parties</a>&nbsp;support abortion access when a mother’s health is at risk, when there are lethal fetal abnormalities, or in cases of rape or incest. At the same time, 80 percent of Americans agree that abortion should be illegal in the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/321143/americans-stand-abortion.aspx">final</a>&nbsp;trimester.&nbsp;Nine in ten say&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/507230/fewer-say-sex-relations-morally-acceptable.aspx">birth control</a>&nbsp;is morally acceptable and want government to safeguard access to contraception.&nbsp; More than two-thirds say having access to&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/05/13/americans-overwhelmingly-say-access-to-ivf-is-a-good-thing/#:~:text=An%20April%20Pew%20Research%20Center,%2C%20while%2022%25%20are%20unsure.">in vitro</a>&nbsp;fertilization is a good thing, while majorities of each party favor government&nbsp; protecting access and requiring insurance to cover costs.&nbsp;

Guns produce agreement as well. About 90 percent&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2023/04/Fox_April-21-24-2023_Cross-Tabs_April-27-Release.pdf">favor</a>&nbsp;requiring criminal background checks on all gun buyers. Both parties favor background checks at private gun shows,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/220637/americans-widely-support-tighter-regulations-gun-sales.aspx">support</a>&nbsp;a 30-day waiting period after purchase, raising the legal buying age, and confiscating guns from people deemed a danger to themselves and others. And when&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/1645/guns.aspx#:~:text=This%20is%20consistent%20with%20the,kept%20as%20they%20are%20now.">asked</a>&nbsp;whether handgun possession should be banned by law, 80 percent said no.

<a target="_blank" href="https://www.fhsu.edu/docking/Kansas-Speaks/2025-kansas-speaks-report_final-10-27-20251.pdf">Polls</a>&nbsp;show similar cross-party agreement in Kansas. Majorities in both parties back Medicaid expansion, legal marijuana, and higher taxes on cigarettes and alcohol. They agree that women, not politicians, should make their own choices about abortion, and that legal migrants fuel economic growth.

Kansans agree on affordable childcare, saying it strengthens the economy, removes a major barrier to women’s progress, and deserves federal action to expand access.&nbsp;Both sides favor increasing the state's minimum wage and consider postsecondary education a wise investment for students and the state.&nbsp; 

These examples reveal a very different story than the headlines.&nbsp;The story is about connection and collaboration, not conflict and cancellation.&nbsp;This new year offers a chance to embrace that story and rediscover the common ground in our politics.&nbsp; &nbsp;

Dr. Mark Joslynis a professor of political science at the University of Kansas.&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/10/1761067718839.png" alt="Mark Joslyn. Courtesy photo" />
 <figcaption>Mark Joslyn. Courtesy photo</figcaption>
 </figure>By MARK JOSLYN Insight Kansas Political polarization grabs headlines. But it’s not the whole story.&nbsp;Majorities in&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/hiddencommonground/2019/12/05/hidden-common-ground-americans-divided-politics-seek-civility/4282301002/">both</a>&nbsp;parties believe there is more common ground than the news media and political leaders suggest. They report&nbsp;having constructive conversations with those holding opposing political views, and despite differences, say they’ve often worked together to address community challenges. Majorities in&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/696494/americans-show-consensus-democracy-related-matters.aspx">both</a>&nbsp;parties also agree on fundamental democratic principles and overwhelmingly&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.electionsafety.org/snapshot-three">oppose</a>&nbsp;election violence. They believe their parties should never tolerate officials who back groups promoting&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2025/10/30/what-americans-want-and-expect-from-party-leaders/">violence</a>&nbsp;against the other party. Majorities in both parties think workers should&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.dataforprogress.org/blog/2024/4/26/voters-think-its-time-to-raise-the-minimum-wage">earn</a>&nbsp;at least the federal minimum wage, that government should&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://navigatorresearch.org/creating-a-nationwide-paid-leave-program-and-bolstering-medicares-negotiating-power-are-overwhelmingly-popular/">establish</a>&nbsp;a national paid family and medical leave program, that companies should&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.rff.org/publications/reports/climate-insights-2024-american-climate-policy-opinions/">limit</a>&nbsp;greenhouse gas emissions, that immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://americasvoice.org/press_releases/new-gallup-immigration-polling-americans-remain-strongly-supportive-of-immigration-and-citizenship-want-reform-over-broken-status-quo/">children</a>&nbsp;should have a pathway to citizenship, and that campaign spending should have limits.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2023/09/19/how-americans-view-proposals-to-change-the-political-system/">Supermajorities</a>&nbsp;endorse term and age limits across all three branches of government. They&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/652523/americans-endorse-early-voting-voter-verification.aspx">support</a>&nbsp;photo ID and citizenship verification to vote, alongside measures to make voting more convenient.Even on issues presented as hopelessly divided, common ground exists. Both&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://apnorc.org/projects/support-for-legal-abortion-remains-strong/">parties</a>&nbsp;support abortion access when a mother’s health is at risk, when there are lethal fetal abnormalities, or in cases of rape or incest. At the same time, 80 percent of Americans agree that abortion should be illegal in the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/321143/americans-stand-abortion.aspx">final</a>&nbsp;trimester.&nbsp;Nine in ten say&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/507230/fewer-say-sex-relations-morally-acceptable.aspx">birth control</a>&nbsp;is morally acceptable and want government to safeguard access to contraception.&nbsp; More than two-thirds say having access to&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/05/13/americans-overwhelmingly-say-access-to-ivf-is-a-good-thing/#:~:text=An%20April%20Pew%20Research%20Center,%2C%20while%2022%25%20are%20unsure.">in vitro</a>&nbsp;fertilization is a good thing, while majorities of each party favor government&nbsp; protecting access and requiring insurance to cover costs.&nbsp;Guns produce agreement as well. About 90 percent&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2023/04/Fox_April-21-24-2023_Cross-Tabs_April-27-Release.pdf">favor</a>&nbsp;requiring criminal background checks on all gun buyers. Both parties favor background checks at private gun shows,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/220637/americans-widely-support-tighter-regulations-gun-sales.aspx">support</a>&nbsp;a 30-day waiting period after purchase, raising the legal buying age, and confiscating guns from people deemed a danger to themselves and others. And when&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/1645/guns.aspx#:~:text=This%20is%20consistent%20with%20the,kept%20as%20they%20are%20now.">asked</a>&nbsp;whether handgun possession should be banned by law, 80 percent said no.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.fhsu.edu/docking/Kansas-Speaks/2025-kansas-speaks-report_final-10-27-20251.pdf">Polls</a>&nbsp;show similar cross-party agreement in Kansas. Majorities in both parties back Medicaid expansion, legal marijuana, and higher taxes on cigarettes and alcohol. They agree that women, not politicians, should make their own choices about abortion, and that legal migrants fuel economic growth.Kansans agree on affordable childcare, saying it strengthens the economy, removes a major barrier to women’s progress, and deserves federal action to expand access.&nbsp;Both sides favor increasing the state's minimum wage and consider postsecondary education a wise investment for students and the state.&nbsp; These examples reveal a very different story than the headlines.&nbsp;The story is about connection and collaboration, not conflict and cancellation.&nbsp;This new year offers a chance to embrace that story and rediscover the common ground in our politics.&nbsp; &nbsp;Dr. Mark Joslynis a professor of political science at the University of Kansas.&nbsp;

Insight Kansas: Rediscovering common ground

By STEVE GILLILAND Explore Kansas Outdoors

The first year I trapped beavers in Kansas was a terribly dry year, yet I found a rogue stretch of river just north of where I live that still held water; lots of water! There were holes in this stretch too deep for me to wade into with chest waders, yet from there the river turned east, and was bone dry as far as the eye could see. In this deep portion was a colony of beavers and that morning I had just caught the first one.

When I watch hunting shows where a hunter harvests a big animal high up in the mountains, I often wonder if he had considered all the extra work it’s was gonna’ take to get it packed out of there. Along those same lines, I don’t know what I was thinking when I set that trap. It was a challenge just to get to, let along tote anything out that I might catch. So, picture this; my wife (who is at least a head shorter) and I standing in the middle of the dry river bed, she about 6 feet in front of me, with an 8-foot tree limb between us on our shoulders. Trussed up with a rope and dangling precariously from that limb hung a 50-pound beaver. This was my wife’s idea and at first I had scoffed. But aside from the fact that we must have looked like 2 natives hauling a dead monkey from the jungle for dinner, it worked pretty well.

Telling you we were 300 yards from our pickup doesn’t begin to give you the whole picture. For starters, the first 50 yards included a short trek along the dry river bed then straight up a deer trail to the bank 10 feet above. After a much-needed break, we followed that same deer trail through an obstacle course of briars and downed tree limbs for another 50 yards to the edge of an alfalfa field, took another breather and then untrussed the beaver and literally drug it and ourselves the final 200 yards through the alfalfa to the truck.

River beavers usually dig large den holes into the bank with the entrance below the water line. Wading along the river can often locate the dens, but this wasn’t an option here since the water was so deep. The only way to catch these beavers was to place traps to take advantage of the creature’s movements and social behaviors. Beavers are very territorial and mark their boundaries by building mounds of mud and debris on the bank called castor mounds. They scent these mounds with secretion from glands at the base of their tail called “castor glands.” Other beavers that travel through the area stop and place their scent on these mounds too, so the resident adults are always checking these to see if any intruders are present. I found one of those mounds that didn’t appear to be used anymore, and “spiced” it up with some lure to make the residents believe they needed to check it again, and one of them soon found himself dangling from the tree limb between Joyce and I.

Trapping, like hunting and fishing, is a harvest. With this stretch of river being one of very few holding water enough for beavers that year their population could easily have grown out of control. The landowner had already complained to me about them dropping trees across his electric fence. I caught 3 beavers from that short stretch of river; certainly&nbsp;not enough to hurt there population much, or for my wife’s fur coat, but maybe enough to keep them out of trouble with their landlord!

Steve can be contacted by email at stevenrgilliland@gmail.com.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/11/1574696211722.png" alt="Steve Gilliland. Courtesy photo" />
 <figcaption>Steve Gilliland. Courtesy photo</figcaption>
 </figure>By STEVE GILLILAND Explore Kansas OutdoorsThe first year I trapped beavers in Kansas was a terribly dry year, yet I found a rogue stretch of river just north of where I live that still held water; lots of water! There were holes in this stretch too deep for me to wade into with chest waders, yet from there the river turned east, and was bone dry as far as the eye could see. In this deep portion was a colony of beavers and that morning I had just caught the first one.When I watch hunting shows where a hunter harvests a big animal high up in the mountains, I often wonder if he had considered all the extra work it’s was gonna’ take to get it packed out of there. Along those same lines, I don’t know what I was thinking when I set that trap. It was a challenge just to get to, let along tote anything out that I might catch. So, picture this; my wife (who is at least a head shorter) and I standing in the middle of the dry river bed, she about 6 feet in front of me, with an 8-foot tree limb between us on our shoulders. Trussed up with a rope and dangling precariously from that limb hung a 50-pound beaver. This was my wife’s idea and at first I had scoffed. But aside from the fact that we must have looked like 2 natives hauling a dead monkey from the jungle for dinner, it worked pretty well.Telling you we were 300 yards from our pickup doesn’t begin to give you the whole picture. For starters, the first 50 yards included a short trek along the dry river bed then straight up a deer trail to the bank 10 feet above. After a much-needed break, we followed that same deer trail through an obstacle course of briars and downed tree limbs for another 50 yards to the edge of an alfalfa field, took another breather and then untrussed the beaver and literally drug it and ourselves the final 200 yards through the alfalfa to the truck.River beavers usually dig large den holes into the bank with the entrance below the water line. Wading along the river can often locate the dens, but this wasn’t an option here since the water was so deep. The only way to catch these beavers was to place traps to take advantage of the creature’s movements and social behaviors. Beavers are very territorial and mark their boundaries by building mounds of mud and debris on the bank called castor mounds. They scent these mounds with secretion from glands at the base of their tail called “castor glands.” Other beavers that travel through the area stop and place their scent on these mounds too, so the resident adults are always checking these to see if any intruders are present. I found one of those mounds that didn’t appear to be used anymore, and “spiced” it up with some lure to make the residents believe they needed to check it again, and one of them soon found himself dangling from the tree limb between Joyce and I.Trapping, like hunting and fishing, is a harvest. With this stretch of river being one of very few holding water enough for beavers that year their population could easily have grown out of control. The landowner had already complained to me about them dropping trees across his electric fence. I caught 3 beavers from that short stretch of river; certainly&nbsp;not enough to hurt there population much, or for my wife’s fur coat, but maybe enough to keep them out of trouble with their landlord!Steve can be contacted by email at stevenrgilliland@gmail.com.

Explore Kansas Outdoors: Beaver on a stick

By BILL FIANDER Insight Kansas

It’s a New Years question etched in dichotomous reflection as we find ourselves thinking back and looking ahead at the same time. A conundrum summed up by When Harry Met Sally’s Harry Burns (aka Billy Crystal) “Does that mean we should forget old acquaintances? Or does it mean that if we happened to forget them, we should remember them, which is not possible because we already forgot ‘em?”

As we reflect on Kansas political affairs circa 2025, these four notable “acquaintances” caught my eye as maybe something we should have forgotten.

· Property Tax Cuts (cough) – The Kansas Legislature leadership had made property tax cuts the first, second, and third priority of the 2025 session. By the end of the session, they had saved a $200,000 homeowner $35 in property taxes and passed the largest income tax cut since Brownback. Furthermore, any future budget savings are dedicated to lowering income taxes until it hits 4%. Gov. Laura Kelly proclaimed this switcheroo the “kiss of death for the Kansas budget”. Meanwhile, a November legislative post audit found substantial underfunding of counties for mandated state services like elections, law enforcement, and motor vehicle registration which Counties primarily funded with…you guessed it…property taxes.

· Gerrymander Fever – Was there a more undemocratic contagion threatening the sovereignty of states than the presidentially induced re-districting for partisan control of the U.S. House? Kansas statehouse legislative leaders – Ty Masterson and Dan Hawkins – caught the fever boldly proclaiming their desire to gerrymander Kansas’ only Democratic congressional representative (Sharice Davids) out of existence in a special session. The fever was broken by a handful of inoculated GOP House members only to be petulantly banished by Hawkins to the political equivalent of Siberia. But Masterson, a GOP candidate for governor, has vowed to rally a veto-proof supermajority in 2026. Gov. Kelly says its unpopular with Kansans.

· Town Hall Flex – The federal government wasn’t the only thing shut down in 2025. In March, videos surfaced of U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall ending his own town hall early in Oakley after calling the crowd “one of the rudest audiences I’ve ever had” and being pressed on health care for veterans in light of massive DOGE cuts. Sen. Marshall didn’t answer. He walked out. Town halls are not political rallies. It’s one of the few&nbsp;chances our elected officials in Washington get to face the people they serve. Listening is their job. Contrast this with Kelly’s People’s Budget listening tour which drew mockery from Speaker Hawkins. Marshall is up for re-election in 2026. Hawkins is running for Insurance Commissioner.

· Farm Blues – It’s been a rough 2025 for the Kansas farmer. First, DOGE put USAID and Food for Peace through the woodchipper, decimating wheat farmer exports without warning. Thanks to Sen. Moran, Food for Peace was re-appropriated $1.2 billion in 2026. Secondly, farmers became entangled in President Trump’s tariff/trade wars. China finally resumed soybean and sorghum commitments late this fall which is important to Kansas as the leading sorghum-producing state ($1.1 billion in exports). A $12 billion federal bridge payment for farmers softened these self-inflicted “market disruptions” but stands as a conspicuous indictment of federal ag policies and the first of more bailouts.

Let’s raise a cup of kindness to these “acquaintances” and in the words of Sally Albright (aka Meg Ryan), “…remember that we forgot them.” Or would like to.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/9/1757520322866.jpeg" alt="Bill Fiander, Washburn University, is a university lecturer in Kansas specializing in public administration, urban planning, and state/local government. Photo by Megan Martin&nbsp;&nbsp;" />
 <figcaption>Bill Fiander, Washburn University, is a university lecturer in Kansas specializing in public administration, urban planning, and state/local government. Photo by Megan Martin&nbsp;&nbsp;</figcaption>
 </figure>By BILL FIANDER Insight KansasShould old acquaintance be forgot?It’s a New Years question etched in dichotomous reflection as we find ourselves thinking back and looking ahead at the same time. A conundrum summed up by When Harry Met Sally’s Harry Burns (aka Billy Crystal) “Does that mean we should forget old acquaintances? Or does it mean that if we happened to forget them, we should remember them, which is not possible because we already forgot ‘em?”Got it?As we reflect on Kansas political affairs circa 2025, these four notable “acquaintances” caught my eye as maybe something we should have forgotten.· Property Tax Cuts (cough) – The Kansas Legislature leadership had made property tax cuts the first, second, and third priority of the 2025 session. By the end of the session, they had saved a $200,000 homeowner $35 in property taxes and passed the largest income tax cut since Brownback. Furthermore, any future budget savings are dedicated to lowering income taxes until it hits 4%. Gov. Laura Kelly proclaimed this switcheroo the “kiss of death for the Kansas budget”. Meanwhile, a November legislative post audit found substantial underfunding of counties for mandated state services like elections, law enforcement, and motor vehicle registration which Counties primarily funded with…you guessed it…property taxes.· Gerrymander Fever – Was there a more undemocratic contagion threatening the sovereignty of states than the presidentially induced re-districting for partisan control of the U.S. House? Kansas statehouse legislative leaders – Ty Masterson and Dan Hawkins – caught the fever boldly proclaiming their desire to gerrymander Kansas’ only Democratic congressional representative (Sharice Davids) out of existence in a special session. The fever was broken by a handful of inoculated GOP House members only to be petulantly banished by Hawkins to the political equivalent of Siberia. But Masterson, a GOP candidate for governor, has vowed to rally a veto-proof supermajority in 2026. Gov. Kelly says its unpopular with Kansans.· Town Hall Flex – The federal government wasn’t the only thing shut down in 2025. In March, videos surfaced of U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall ending his own town hall early in Oakley after calling the crowd “one of the rudest audiences I’ve ever had” and being pressed on health care for veterans in light of massive DOGE cuts. Sen. Marshall didn’t answer. He walked out. Town halls are not political rallies. It’s one of the few&nbsp;chances our elected officials in Washington get to face the people they serve. Listening is their job. Contrast this with Kelly’s People’s Budget listening tour which drew mockery from Speaker Hawkins. Marshall is up for re-election in 2026. Hawkins is running for Insurance Commissioner.· Farm Blues – It’s been a rough 2025 for the Kansas farmer. First, DOGE put USAID and Food for Peace through the woodchipper, decimating wheat farmer exports without warning. Thanks to Sen. Moran, Food for Peace was re-appropriated $1.2 billion in 2026. Secondly, farmers became entangled in President Trump’s tariff/trade wars. China finally resumed soybean and sorghum commitments late this fall which is important to Kansas as the leading sorghum-producing state ($1.1 billion in exports). A $12 billion federal bridge payment for farmers softened these self-inflicted “market disruptions” but stands as a conspicuous indictment of federal ag policies and the first of more bailouts.Let’s raise a cup of kindness to these “acquaintances” and in the words of Sally Albright (aka Meg Ryan), “…remember that we forgot them.” Or would like to.Happy New Year!Michael Smith is a professor of political science at Emporia State University.

Insight Kansas: Remembering a forgetful year in Kansas politics

Anyone using cell phones gets reminded of events you’d rather forget. Recently, the US Weather Service shared a post regarding a severe ice storm that shut down our region 18 years ago. That triggered memories of cold, dark days and nights, dogs and us mummified in blankets, and how much I appreciated lineman by the time power kicked back on.

The historical report explained this storm that snapped thousands of poles and downed electric lines arrived on December 10, 2007. Though some argued the one in 2005 was much worse, I won’t join that disagreement. However, if anyone wants to praise linemen, I’ll gratefully stand in line.

I do recollect knowing that frigid storm headed our way and feeling glad I’d fully stocked cupboards and fridge. At the time, we lived several miles in the country on caliche and dirt roads. Once the storm began, I was glad we prepared. In short time, weighted branches snapped and shattered while lights flickered. Walking outside to feed critters was more than a notion and required careful steps in heavy-duty shoe treads.

Our three dogs who normally loved roaming our acres contentedly remained inside except for essential potty breaks. For the next few days their job changed from running coyotes off the property to sharing body heat with us.

Being optimists, we expected a short-lived event, but insistent warnings encouraged us to prep for multiple powerless days. I thought of Little House on the Prairie life as I dug candles, lanterns, flashlights, and matches out of cupboards and filled our bathtub so we’d have water to flush the toilet should power go out. Yep, folks on well water without generators have concerns townies don’t. I laid extra blankets at end of the bed, expecting we’d need them.

Unfortunately, the weatherman wasn’t wrong. This front deposited heavy ice across a broad region shutting down power, roads, services, and normal life. I can’t imagine how electric company dispatchers felt as callers without power flooded phone lines. Families were forced to warm and feed themselves without setting the house on fire or carbon-monoxiding themselves. While we had candles, lanterns, and flashlights, some didn’t.

As hours passed and temps dropped, I added clothing layers. Still chilly, I’d urge two big dogs and a terrier to crawl under my lap quilt to generate more heat. We started the storm with the thermostat at a comfortable 68. By the third day without electricity, it dropped into the 40s with a continuing downward spiral. The whole time, I wondered how linesmen working outside held up under frigid conditions. So many depended on them, including their own loved ones.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/12/1767020125179.jpeg" alt="Courtesy photo" />
 <figcaption>Courtesy photo</figcaption>
 </figure>By KAREN MADORINAnyone using cell phones gets reminded of events you’d rather forget. Recently, the US Weather Service shared a post regarding a severe ice storm that shut down our region 18 years ago. That triggered memories of cold, dark days and nights, dogs and us mummified in blankets, and how much I appreciated lineman by the time power kicked back on.The historical report explained this storm that snapped thousands of poles and downed electric lines arrived on December 10, 2007. Though some argued the one in 2005 was much worse, I won’t join that disagreement. However, if anyone wants to praise linemen, I’ll gratefully stand in line.I do recollect knowing that frigid storm headed our way and feeling glad I’d fully stocked cupboards and fridge. At the time, we lived several miles in the country on caliche and dirt roads. Once the storm began, I was glad we prepared. In short time, weighted branches snapped and shattered while lights flickered. Walking outside to feed critters was more than a notion and required careful steps in heavy-duty shoe treads.Our three dogs who normally loved roaming our acres contentedly remained inside except for essential potty breaks. For the next few days their job changed from running coyotes off the property to sharing body heat with us.Being optimists, we expected a short-lived event, but insistent warnings encouraged us to prep for multiple powerless days. I thought of Little House on the Prairie life as I dug candles, lanterns, flashlights, and matches out of cupboards and filled our bathtub so we’d have water to flush the toilet should power go out. Yep, folks on well water without generators have concerns townies don’t. I laid extra blankets at end of the bed, expecting we’d need them.Unfortunately, the weatherman wasn’t wrong. This front deposited heavy ice across a broad region shutting down power, roads, services, and normal life. I can’t imagine how electric company dispatchers felt as callers without power flooded phone lines. Families were forced to warm and feed themselves without setting the house on fire or carbon-monoxiding themselves. While we had candles, lanterns, and flashlights, some didn’t.As hours passed and temps dropped, I added clothing layers. Still chilly, I’d urge two big dogs and a terrier to crawl under my lap quilt to generate more heat. We started the storm with the thermostat at a comfortable 68. By the third day without electricity, it dropped into the 40s with a continuing downward spiral. The whole time, I wondered how linesmen working outside held up under frigid conditions. So many depended on them, including their own loved ones.Day 4 meant diminishing flushing water with a thermostat edging the thirties. Thoughts of freezing pipes alarmed shivering brain cells. Though worrying doesn’t raise temps, 3 dogs warmed me when the light over sink flickered and brightened the room. I shouted for joy hearing the furnace kick on.While our immediate issues were resolved, power company employees faced months of hard labor in extreme conditions. Since that experience, I’m profoundly grateful for those working in extreme conditions so we have power. They are heroes!

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