By Clay Wirestone | opinion editor
Good morning! Time to burrow into the day’s news with important politics and higher education stories. We then add civil rights coverage and the latest from Washington, D.C., for a heady mixture indeed. Let us commence.
Photo illustration by Anna Kaminski / Kansas Reflector
Kansas U.S. House, U.S. Senate members to defend incumbencies against 25 challengers
TOPEKA — Thirty candidates are running in August to represent Kansas in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate, including 12 who are seeking to unseat Republican incumbent U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall.
Of the 30 people who filed to run for federal elected office with the Kansas Secretary of State by the noon deadline Monday, 20 are running as Democrats.
Sitting Republicans in the U.S. House — Rep. Tracey Mann of the 1st District, Rep. Derek Schmidt of the 2nd District, and Rep. Ron Estes of the 4th District — are all running for reelection. So is Democratic U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids of the 3rd District.
A scroll of candidates from across the state will compete on Aug. 4 to get a spot on voters’ ballots in the Nov. 3 election. Many are running for elected office for the first time.
Tim Carpenter / Kansas Reflector
Kansas Board of Regents testing appeal of streamlined, reduced-credit bachelor’s degrees
TOPEKA — The Kansas Board of Regents plans to vote in mid-June on a proposal authorizing the six state universities to offer students the option of earning undergraduate degrees by completing as little as 90 credit hours of classes rather than the traditional minimum of 120 credit hours.
Sherman Smith / Kansas Reflector
Kansas has invalidated some transgender Kansans’ driver’s licenses — but not all
LAWRENCE — After Jamie Miller underwent irreversible gender-affirming surgery and obtained a court order in 2014 recognizing her female gender, her driver’s license was invalidated under a new Kansas law.
But not all transgender Kansans’ driver’s licenses have been invalidated.
What people say in public and what they do in private can differ. Let’s help others all the time.
OPINION
By Rebecca Phillips
Growing up, I had a middle school and high school teacher who used to always talk about what really mattered was what we did when no one was looking. He said we could talk the talk, but he asked if we could walk the walk.
Trump administration dumps $1.77B ‘anti-weaponization’ fund
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has scrapped plans to use nearly $1.8 billion in taxpayer dollars to pay people who believe they were wrongly prosecuted by the Justice Department — a proposal that halted work on legislation to fund immigration and deportation activities.
States face tight timeline as feds unveil new Medicaid work requirement rules
The federal government released new guidance this week on how states should roll out the Medicaid work requirements that will affect healthcare coverage for millions of Americans.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Kansas Reflector staff will participate in the following free public forums.
6:30 p.m. June 12, Kansas Museum of History in Topeka. Opinion editor Clay Wirestone will join a panel discussion: "From the Desk of William Allen White: What Can Journalism Today Learn from the Sage of Emporia?"
5:30 p.m. June 16, Bradbury Alumni Center at Washburn University in Topeka. Editor-in-chief Sherman Smith will lead a discussion on the proposed constitutional amendment to elect Kansas Supreme Court justices. Host: Kansas Appleseed. Register here.
6 p.m. June 24, Groover Labs in Wichita. Editor-in-chief Sherman Smith will lead a discussion on the proposed constitutional amendment to elect Kansas Supreme Court justices. Host: Kansas Appleseed. Register here.
6 p.m. June 25, Clint Bowyer Community Building in Emporia. Editor-in-chief Sherman Smith will lead a discussion on the proposed constitutional amendment to elect Kansas Supreme Court justices. Host: Kansas Appleseed. Register here.
7 p.m. June 27, Park City Senior Center. Host: Park City Community Pride.
2 p.m. Sept. 27, Red Rocks Visitor Center in Emporia. Host: Red Rocks.
If you're interested in having us talk in your town, email Sherman Smith at [email protected].
Thanks for reading Read & Reflect. Did you know our weekend digest is also free? Sign up here. And if you enjoyed today’s edition, please forward to a friend. Increasing our readership helps us cover more news.