Jason and I retreated to the ICU waiting room to talk about his mother’s precipitous decline. Moments earlier the attending physician had spoken of her imminent death. “Six to 12 hours—maybe,” he said. I wanted…

Dennis Pyle didn’t spoil the 2022 gubernatorial election for Kansas Republicans. But he did come awfully close. Pyle, you might remember, is the conservative state senator from Hiawatha who ran as an independent candidate against…

I was sitting in our apartment in Glendale, California, but I may as well have been on another planet that day in 1993. My grandmother, helping me with a sixth-grade report, was vividly recalling the…

Governor Laura Kelly rolled out her proposed budget Jan. 11 for the 2025 fiscal year. Her priorities include an array of strategic initiatives including cuts to property and sales taxes, expansion of Medicaid, and increased…

I’m the office nerd when it comes to sports, which can be pretty isolating.  I never played team sports growing up and as a family I don’t remember following any professional teams. It just wasn’t…

Rural Kansas communities are critical to the future of our state. We know that for our communities to thrive, rural Kansans require core services to raise a family — access to early childhood services, high…

Humans cannot live on politics alone. That was my conclusion after a week that included ludicrous legislating, powerful poetry and sad news from my hometown of El Dorado. Yes, Kansas legislative leaders pandered to the…

Relief is the immediate feeling in the wake of the Iowa caucuses by those involved: the frozen press corps, the campaigns trying to crack a hardheaded lot, and we residents who could use a respite…

My daughter Louise and her family were under a boil water advisory in Topeka from Tuesday through Thursday because of a broken pipe at its water treatment plant. “It’s scary how we take clean water…

A recent Gallup survey showed a record-high 43 percent of Americans see themselves as politically  independent. And a record-low identified as Democrat, 27 percent, matching Republican identification at 27 percent.  Kansans are also declaring independence.…