By Sherman Smith | editor-in-chief
Good morning! I am hitting the road this week to lead conversations in Wichita and Emporia about the Aug. 4 vote on a constitutional amendment to elect Kansas Supreme Court justices. I’ll also be in Park City for a town hall discussion about our work at the Kansas Reflector. Details are in the calendar below.
And thank you to everyone who donated during our fundraising drive last week. Your contributions make our work possible, as well as the work of contributors like Max McCoy, whose column appears below.
Max McCoy/Kansas Reflector
OPINION
The Red Legs sought border war-inspired bloodshed, officials say. Let’s not repeat that history.
By Max McCoy
Last month 25-year-old Lake Ethan Roberts stood at the edge of a rock quarry near Richmond, Missouri, and lit the fuse of a crude explosive device of his own design, according to federal authorities.
Then he tossed it in the quarry.
The device was made from a plastic single-serving “shooter” bottle filled with black powder, a fuse threaded through a hole in the aluminum cap, and had steel BBs wrapped around it with duct tape, recounts a federal affidavit.
The device exploded with a presumably satisfying bang, injuring no one but proving the design. The quarry was 25 miles east of Kansas City, Missouri, where Roberts lived.
Roberts tossed a second device, which also exploded. Then Roberts walked down into the quarry and gathered up the pieces, one of which had only partially detonated, its duct-taped BBs still clinging to the plastic. He said, according to the affidavit, that he might be able to improve the design by using a glass bottle instead of plastic.
With Roberts at the quarry were two other individuals.
Ritenour Co-Care Food Pantry
More Americans are hungry in the face of federal cuts, rising grocery prices
Families are facing rising grocery prices at the same time that many of the most vulnerable are losing access to the nation’s largest food assistance program, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. More than 4 million Americans lost SNAP benefits between February 2025 and this February, according to analyses of the most recent federal data. The numbers are expected to increase as states whittle the rolls further as required by the broad tax and spending law President Donald Trump signed last summer, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Since the fall, states and counties that administer SNAP have been notifying residents who rely on food stamps that they must meet new work requirements or lose their food assistance. The federal tax and spending law ended exemptions to work requirements for older adults, homeless people, veterans and some rural residents, among others. The changes will put more pressure on states, likely leading to further benefit cuts as they reevaluate eligibility and begin paying for more program costs. The new rules also will further stress the already-stretched charitable food system.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Kansas Reflector staff will participate in the following free public forums.
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.
1 p.m. July 11, South Branch Library in Kansas City, Kansas. Opinion editor Clay Wirestone joins a panel discussion: "Elected vs Appointed: Inform Your Choice." Hosts: Voter Rights Network of Wyandotte County, Advocates for Immigrant Rights and Reconciliation, the League of Women Voters of Johnson County, and El Centro.
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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