Government censorship. Surging waitlist. Data centers. Superintendent arrested. Beef imports.

By Sherman Smith | editor-in-chief

By Eric Thomas

When I read the headline, something told me that it referred to one of my former University of Kansas journalism students.

“Pentagon fires Stars and Stripes editor, publisher and reporter”

And so it did.

Lara Korte, a 2019 University of Kansas graduate of the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications, was fired Friday from the military publication “Stars and Stripes.” After she and her editor appeared on CBS News, the Pentagon fired both on the same day.

Korte said the notice she received labeled her broadcast comments as “insubordination.”

TOPEKA — Kansas legislators object to diversion of $24 million to disability services for the frail elderly and people with brain injuries that had been earmarked for benefit of Kansans with intellectual or developmental disabilities stuck for years on a bloated waiting list.

During an interim legislative hearing at the Capitol, the administration of Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly was accused of misappropriating the Medicaid dollars. One Republican House member used salty language to underscore frustration with how funding was deployed, while a GOP senator argued executive branch officials should be fired. Democratic legislators were dumbfounded bureaucratic obstacles hadn’t been resolved by state and federal officials.

TOPEKA — Rep. Brooklynne Mosley never gets a clear answer when she asks proponents of data centers how closely they want to live near one.

That’s because “everyone thinks it’s going to be in someone else’s backyard,” she said.

Across the state, fights are erupting in communities where residents’ concerns about water and electricity usage, noise and air pollution, and the threat of artificial intelligence are met with promises of construction jobs and lucrative property tax collections.

Mosley, a Lawrence Democrat, and Rep. Alexis Simmons, a Topeka Democrat, appeared on the Kansas Reflector podcast to talk about why they embrace the grassroots uprising against data centers — and the political consequences for doing so.

TOPEKA — A west-central Kansas school superintendent faces 10 charges including misuse of public funds, contributing to child misconduct by encouraging commission of a felony, and witness intimidation.

TOPEKA — Kansas ranchers and their representatives in the U.S. Senate responded with skepticism to President Donald Trump’s plan to ease tariffs on beef imports for 90 days in an attempt to moderate domestic grocery prices through the midterm election in November.

WASHINGTON — With just over two months until the November midterms, the U.S. Supreme Court gave way Monday for President Donald Trump to have a hand in regulating mail-in ballots nationwide, a voting method he has falsely claimed is rife with corruption since he lost the 2020 presidential election.

WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security is planning to drastically increase the fee for hiring high-skilled foreign workers within the United States to $100,000, according to a preview of a proposed rule published Monday.

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