
Blaise Mesa
Reporter, Kansas City BeaconBlaise Mesa is based in Topeka, where he covers the Legislature and state government for the Kansas City Beacon. He previously covered social services and criminal justice for the Kansas News Service. He also worked as a reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal.
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As Missouri lawmakers prepare to debate a counter offer to keep the Royals and Chiefs in Kansas City, economists say Kansas’ proposal to use STAR bonds may not be financially feasible. “You are not going to generate enough net revenue to cover one of the facilities, let alone two,” one expert says.
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A state law prevents companies like Evergy from being sued if police place cameras on the utility poles they own. Some Kansas lawmakers worry that expands police powers too much.
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With elder abuse cases in Kansas on the rise, investigators are taking on three times the number of cases they can adequately manage. The state says it can't release data on caseloads but advocates say metrics for evaluating elder abuse are lacking.
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Kansas schools now have $10 million in state funding to use AI to detect guns. But ZeroEyes, one of the few companies offering this service, has sent police false alerts before — and it won't say how often.
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Kansas lawmakers made passing property tax relief their top priority this session. But now that it's over, Republicans and Democrats alike are frustrated by a lack of action.
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The Kansas Department of Transportation said that federal steel and aluminum tariffs, which are already in place, are going to make it more expensive to work. Another wave of tariffs are expected on April 2.
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Kansas currently has a merit-based system that doesn’t let voters have more say in the process.
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Unlike in past years, Republicans currently have enough votes to override Gov. Laura Kelly's veto and ban gender-affirming health care for minors. But Democrats and the ACLU says it violates Kansans' constitutional rights.
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Although noncitizens don’t vote and aren’t eligible for federal social services programs, they still use resources in the community. Because Census results are used to allocate federal and state resources, smaller counted populations mean less money for municipalities and states.
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The "Second Look Act" in the 2024 Kansas legislative session would resentence eligible inmates after a certain amount of time in prison. It doesn’t guarantee their release, just another look at the length of their sentence.