Tim Carpenter
Reporter, Kansas ReflectorTim Carpenter has reported on Kansas for 35 years. He covered the Capitol for 16 years at the Topeka Capital-Journal and previously worked for the Lawrence Journal-World and United Press International. He has been recognized for investigative reporting on Kansas government and politics. He won the Kansas Press Association's Victor Murdock Award six times. The William Allen White Foundation honored him four times with its Burton Marvin News Enterprise Award. The Kansas City Press Club twice presented him its Journalist of the Year Award and more recently its Lifetime Achievement Award. He earned an agriculture degree at Kansas State University and grew up on a small dairy and beef cattle farm in Missouri. He is an amateur woodworker and drives Studebaker cars.
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3rd District Rep. Sharice Davids took in $906,000 during the most recent reporting period, while former Attorney General Derek Schmidt raised $430,000 in his campaign for the 2nd District.
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Formed in the 1870s, Nicodemus was settled by formerly enslaved residents fleeing the central bluegrass region of Kentucky. Only a handful of structures survive from the town, which has been designed a National Historic Site.
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New laws passed by the GOP-led Kansas Legislature will change rules for pornographic websites, overhaul civil asset forfeiture, and ban public universities from requiring diversity pledges.
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The offer would be available to all professional sports franchises ready to build stadiums costing at least $1 billion. Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said the state would develop a “competitive” count if Kansas stepped forward with a package.
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Ahead of Tuesday's special legislative session, the deal between Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly and the GOP leaders of the Kansas Senate and House would collapse the personal income tax structure to a two-rate system. Kelly previously vetoed a single-tier flat tax plan, calling it too expensive.
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Kelly, the second-term Democrat, proposed several tax plans to the Republican-led Legislature during the regular 2024 session. She vetoed three bills passed by the Legislature that would have shed more than $500 million annually in state revenue.
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The bill crafted by Republican Rep. Steven Howe wouldn’t apply to private or parochial colleges and universities in Kansas. Originally, the financial penalty was $100,000 per offense. Critics say the measure is vague and violates academic freedom.
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The bill would authorize people to sue doctors and others who help someone obtain an abortion, but even anti-abortion groups say the bill has "zero" chance of surviving this year's legislative session.
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The existing Ad Astra plate, anchored by the state seal with a light blue background, was released in 2008 under Gov. Sam Brownback. But many of those embossed plates have deteriorated and become difficult for law enforcement to read.
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The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said more than two-dozen states, including Kansas, failed to conduct renewal assessments properly and consequently disenrolled too many people. Officials say that Medicaid expansion — which GOP lawmakers in Kansas have repeatedly blocked — would have protected some of the patients.