By Sherman Smith | editor-in-chief
Good morning!
Max McCoy/Kansas Reflector
OPINION
As data center debate heats up this Kansas town, answers — and trust — become harder to find
By Max McCoy
One thousand seven hundred and forty dollars.
That’s the amount Jay Vehige paid the city of Emporia for an open records request in early July.
Like many Emporia residents, Vehige wanted answers about how long the city had known about a proposed hyperscale data center before the project was announced June 2. The city voted the next day to annex 1,000 acres of predominantly rural land just west of town for the project, setting off a political chain reaction that is still rending this community of 25,000 on the edge of the Flint Hills in east-central Kansas.
Nearly two months later, Vehige is still waiting for his answers.
“I wanted to see the story behind this,” Vehige told me.
Join the club, friend.
Getty Images
Trump has widened scope of anti-immigrant policy in second term
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Treasury’s recent proposed regulation to limit refunds for certain tax credits based on immigration status is the latest move by the Trump administration to restrict noncitizens’ access to federal benefits.
In President Donald Trump’s return to the White House, he has employed a governmentwide approach to fulfilling his immigration agenda that includes not only the central campaign promise of mass deportations, but curtailing what few federal benefits some immigrants had.
Those actions include pushing out foreign-born workers from the trucking industry, barring noncitizens from accessing government-subsidized housing even for families that include U.S. citizens, and pressuring banks to restrict immigrants’ access to opening accounts or borrowing money.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Kansas Reflector staff will participate in the following free public forums.
3 p.m. Sept. 26, Washburn Library in Topeka. Opinion editor Clay Wirestone will participate in the panel “Why UPK: University Press of Kansas Celebrates 80 Years.” Host: Kansas Book Festival.
2 p.m. Sept. 27, Red Rocks Visitor Center in Emporia. Host: Red Rocks.
7 p.m. Sept. 29, Raven Book Store in Lawrence. Book release event for opinion editor Clay Wirestone’s “Opinionated.” Editor-in-chief Sherman Smith will moderate.
6 p.m. Oct. 12, Riverbank Brewing in Council Grove. Opinion editor Clay Wirestone talks about his book and the latest news. Host: Flint Hills Books.
6 p.m. Dec. 3, Prairie Star Restaurant in Manhattan. Host: League of Women Voters of Manhattan and Riley County.
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 daily 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.