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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Following Derek Schmidt's narrow loss to Gov. Laura Kelly, the Kansas GOP will flex its organizational muscle by invoking provisions of the party’s “loyalty clause” to oust from party committees any Republican lawmakers who signed a candidate petition for independent Dennis Pyle.
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Supermajorities in the House and Senate mean Republicans have greater opportunity to block or impose laws on taxation, abortion, education, budgets, guns, medical or recreational marijuana and health care, including Kelly’s quest to expand eligibility for Medicaid.
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Kansans approved an amendment that allows county sheriffs to be elected and recalled, while an amendment to allow a legislative majority to revoke executive orders is narrowly failing with 99% of precincts reporting.
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Republicans in the Kansas Legislature this year fell short of overriding Gov. Laura Kelly's veto of a measure blocking transgender people from taking part in athletic teams designated for girls or women. Schmidt urged the Legislature to pass the same bill again.
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Anti-abortion activists failed to raise the money necessary for a statewide recount of the Aug. 2 abortion amendment, which was overwhelmingly rejected by voters. But they did gather enough funds to conduct a ballot-by-ballot review in Johnson, Shawnee, Douglas and six other populous counties.
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Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat, is seeking a second term in a campaign requiring she display bipartisan appeal. Derek Schmidt, who spent the past dozen years as the state's attorney general, secured the GOP nomination.
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Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly vetoes transgender sports ban, parental bill of rights touted by RepublicansThe Democratic governor also vetoed bills that would raise the barrier to eligibility for food stamps and broaden COVID-19 lawsuit immunity for health providers.
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The bill would legalize the prescription of off-label COVID medications like ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, and mandate child care facilities and K-12 public schools to accept — without inquiry or scrutiny — the religious objection of parents or guardians to vaccination of their children.
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Kansas hospital and public health leaders urged Gov. Laura Kelly to take action, citing the wave of health workers sidelined by COVID-19 and the influx of seriously ill patients.
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Gardner Edgerton superintendent made a $425,000 exit deal before conservative school board took overSuperintendent Pam Stranahan was given a $425,000 severance package by the Gardner Edgerton school board before its newly-elected conservative majority could take office in January. Incoming board members were eager to fire Stranahan over her COVID-19 decisions.