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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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The federal subsidy can provide hundreds of dollars a month to help pay for the costs of child care. But only 12% of eligible Kansas families received the benefits — in part because many people still don't know it exists.
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STAR bonds, or sales tax and revenue bonds, pay for tourist attractions and then use the sales taxes collected at those attractions to pay off the construction debt. But Kansas has a mixed record on STAR bond projects, and the state has never used them to subsidize an NFL or MLB team before.
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A survey of Kansas high schools and major universities failed to find an instance where someone was turned away from a sport because of the 2023 law. But it may have had a chilling effect discouraging transgender athletes from trying out in the first place.
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A bill to require insurance companies to cover the cost of advanced breast cancer screenings for all Kansans failed to pass this year, but advocates say they will try again in 2025.
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Humans opened a Pandora’s box by moving plants, animals and fungi around the planet where they didn’t live before. Some of those species become so successful in their new surroundings that they crowd out others. Come along on a hunt for rogue Bradford pears, meet the teens turning cityscapes into butterfly havens and learn how to turn invasive plants into delicious food.
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A Kansas judge went against a foster care agency’s recommendation when she placed a girl with a foster parent rather than her grandparents. Critics say the case represents chronic problems with Kansas' heavily privatized foster care system and lack of state oversight.
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Missouri’s first legal sale of cannabis came in early February 2023. Kansas residents could immediately drive over and buy it legally, but risked arrest and prosecution if they brought their joints or gummies across the state line.
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Substance abuse contributes to around 13% of Kansas children entering foster care. Now, Kansas is testing a new Family Treatment Court in rural counties that will help parents complete addiction treatment and reunite with their kids.
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The credit is designed to encourage small businesses to offset costs for their employees and get money shaved off their state tax bill as a reward, but advocates say the Kansas hasn’t done a great job spreading the word.
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Foster youth are more likely to be unemployed, food insecure or homeless. They're the focus of an EPA grant program with a specific goal of training a workforce capable of cleaning up polluted brownfield sites — unused, polluted plots of land.