‘Brazen offenses’ at Statehouse. Sotomayor apologizes. Iran war critiques.

By Clay Wirestone | opinion editor

TOPEKA — Two Kansas medical professionals sat for an hour at an early morning committee hearing in mid-March, waiting their turn to speak out against a bill. One drove two hours to attend.

Neither got a chance to talk.

Instead, the committee only heard from proponents. Committee chairwoman Sen. Beverly Gossage, R-Eudora, said retired nurse Kelly Sommers and her colleague weren’t on the list to testify, even though Sommers has emails notifying the committee she would be there to speak in person.

“It was horrible. How do the same people, telling the same old stories, get all of the attention and nobody is talking about the opposition and why there is opposition,” said Sommers, former executive director of the Kansas State Nurses Association. “This is the first time that has ever happened to me.”

Republican leaders in the Legislature this year repeatedly ignored traditional legislative practices designed to solicit public input, taking away Kansans’ opportunities to be heard. The results, according to frustrated Democrats and advocates, are disenfranchised constituents and poorly written bills.

LAWRENCE — U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor formally apologized for critiquing a colleague while speaking in Kansas last week, admitting her remarks were “inappropriate” and “hurtful.”

Sotomayor insinuated fellow Justice Brett Kavanaugh didn’t know working class people and, therefore, couldn’t understand the ramifications of his decision in the pivotal case that allowed federal immigration officers in California to continue stopping people based on race, ethnicity, native language, location and occupation. However, she did not mention Kavanaugh by name.

TOPEKA — As the military’s lead logistics planner for a hypothetical war with Iran, Chris Carmichael reached a simple conclusion.

“You really shouldn’t start a war with Iran,” he said.

The primary reason: the Strait of Hormuz.

TOPEKA — U.S. Army veteran Corey Schramm’s three deployments to Iraq left him with post-traumatic stress disorder that consumption of drugs and alcohol couldn’t mitigate.

By Eric Thomas

Whether you are watching the Super Bowl on TV, scrolling make-up tutorials on Instagram or listening to a technology podcast, you are being fed advertising for artificial intelligence.

As the midterms approach, Republican and Democratic election officials are split over a powerful federal computer program at the center of President Donald Trump’s quest to expose noncitizen voters and compile lists of voting-age Americans.

WASHINGTON — Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. testified before Congress on Thursday that he’s not pleased with how spending cuts to programs that help lower-income Americans afford food will affect his efforts to bolster healthy eating habits. 

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty on Thursday filed criminal charges against an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer for allegedly brandishing his service weapon at two people during Operation Metro Surge in what she said was a first-of-its-kind case in the country.

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.