By Sherman Smith | editor-in-chief
Good morning! The voters of Coldwater realized the entirely predictable consequences of their actions Wednesday when former Mayor Joe Ceballos was taken into ICE custody. As opinion editor Clay Wirestone puts it: You cannot negotiate with depravity.
We're also reporting on the Legislature's decision to deny judicial branch employees a pay raise, the reemergence of measles in Kansas, the CDC's assertion that hantavirus poses low risk, and the potential for World Cup fans to spread infectious disease.
Getty Images
OPINION
Former Kansas mayor sent to ICE detention as hatred of immigrants claims a victim close to home
By Clay Wirestone
You cannot negotiate with depravity.
You cannot ask it to be a little less depraved, just for a moment, to remember that we’re all just people here. Depravity has a mind of its own, a kind of sweeping inevitable darkness. You can run, but you cannot hide from its sickening logic.
Former Coldwater mayor Joe Ceballos has been taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He’s the green card holder who was charged for voting repeatedly — and illegally. Although he reached a plea deal on misdemeanor charges and hoped to remain in the country where he made his home for 50 years, Ceballos instead was caught up in the mass deportation that has torn apart American communities from coast to coast.
He will likely be sent back to Mexico, where he remains a citizen but has no connections.
You cannot negotiate with depravity.
Morgan Chilson/Kansas Reflector
Denial of raises to 2,000 Kansas judicial branch workers may complicate retention, hiring
TOPEKA — Leaders of the state court system say a decision by the 2026 Kansas Legislature to deny salary increases to all 2,000 employees in the judicial branch will exacerbate hiring and retention challenges.
While justices, judges and court personnel in Kansas received nothing to help cope with inflation in the fiscal year starting July 1, all 165 members of the Legislature received an automatic 4.4% raise after their compensation was nearly doubled two years ago. The Legislature authorized 10% salary increases for some of their legislative branch employees.
At conclusion the annual session, House and Senate negotiators also produced a bill with 1% across-the-board pay raises for executive branch employees. Judicial branch workers got nothing.
Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight
Measles reemerges in Kansas with Osage County case, exposure at Topeka church
TOPEKA — Measles, once thought successfully eradicated in the United States, returned to Kansas with a confirmed case Tuesday in an Osage County resident, health officials said.
The individual acquired the disease outside the state and “we do not have measles spreading in Kansas at this time,” the Osage County Health Department and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment said in a release.
Also Tuesday, a Topeka area church and the Shawnee County Health Department reported a measles exposure.
Risk low of hantavirus spread, CDC officials say
WASHINGTON — Officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday the risk of a member of the general public contracting hantavirus remains low despite several passengers on a cruise ship becoming infected with the disease.
Local health officials prepare for influx of World Cup fans
Health officials from the U.S. cities hosting the 2026 FIFA World Cup say they are preparing to deal with infectious diseases, heat-related illness, and an array of other health threats when millions of fans, many of them from overseas, come to watch the games.
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.