
By Sherman Smith | editor-in-chief
Good morning! We're reporting on a dubious website, the breakaway Catholic sect in St. Marys, a U.S. Senate candidate's views on "a rigged system," the Democratic gubernatorial debate, uncertainty about the source of the cyclospora outbreak, and the assertion that ICE officers will wear body cameras during traffic stops.

Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector
OPINION
Pushing judicial amendment, Kansas GOP officials cite anonymous website tied to high-profile lawyer
By Clay Wirestone
William Allen White changed his mind very publicly. Once an ardent anti-populist — the equivalent of a conservative today — he eventually embraced the progressive cause — more or less a modern political liberal.
What White didn’t do was obscure his identity or opinions. He proudly credited himself as editor and publisher of The Emporia Gazette. His name was emblazoned on dozens of books and on the Gazette masthead besides.
That’s why I find it peculiar to find White misquoted by an anonymous website that long surfaced as the first result of Google searches about the Kansas judicial selection amendment. The “Kansas Information Network” includes no names or email addresses. It offers scant content beyond a lengthy page about potentially voting for state Supreme Court justices.

Grace Hills for Kansas Reflector
What to know about the excommunicated Catholic sect known as SSPX and its ties to Kansas
One of the most sweeping excommunications in worldwide Catholic history is concentrated in the small, northeast Kansas town of St. Marys, where the ultra traditionalist sect Society of St. Pius X has built a huge church and taken over local politics.
In early July, the Vatican declared that priests, deacons, bishops, and lay people who formally adhere to the teachings of the Society of St. Pius X, or SSPX, are excommunicated.
SSPX has been at odds with the Vatican for decades, after it was founded in opposition to the Catholic Church’s move toward modernization.

Morgan Chilson/Kansas Reflector
Kansas Army vet running for U.S. Senate slams ‘rigged system,’ ‘political insiders’
TOPEKA — A U.S. Army veteran and outspoken critic of Republican incumbent U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall has focused his campaign for the U.S. Senate by approaching issues from a veteran’s perspective as he competes with 10 other Democratic candidates in the Aug. 4 primary.
Noah Taylor said he is running a campaign grounded in grassroots support, and he pledged to take no corporate PAC money. In social media videos and ads, Taylor has taken swings at “big corporations and the Epstein class,” a “rigged system” and “political insiders” as he speaks on the war in Iran, high gas prices and floundering rural health systems.
Kansas Democratic candidates for governor trade barbs over Chiefs deal in TV debate
WICHITA — Democrats Curt Skoog, Cindy Holscher and Ethan Corson share their views on a looming budget problem and the deal to bring the Chiefs across state lines during a gubernatorial debate.
FDA: Taylor Farms iceberg lettuce sample produced a false positive for cyclospora
WASHINGTON — A top U.S. Food and Drug Administration official said Monday that a false positive report for the parasite cyclospora from a Taylor Farms iceberg lettuce sample does not change the basis for an ongoing agency investigation.
ICE officers to wear body cameras at traffic stops, White House border czar says
WASHINGTON — In the wake of two fatal shootings in Texas and Maine, U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement officers will wear “at least one body camera” during traffic stops, Tom Homan, the president’s border czar, said over the weekend.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Kansas Reflector staff will participate in the following free public forums.
5:30 p.m. July 23, Emporia Arts Center. 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.
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].
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