Independent candidates. Forget the cookies. College athletics. Sternberg museum. OpenAI lawsuit. K-State president.

By Sherman Smith | editor-in-chief

TOPEKA — The November election will determine whether two independent candidates’ refusal to stand with Democrats or Republicans earns them a Kansas House seat.

Jack Geiger, an organic farmer and self-described former “conservative Democrat” from Brown County, is running against incumbent Republican Rep. Sean Willcott to represent a north-central district that includes Brown and Nemaha counties, and portions of Jackson and Atchison counties.

Lex Goff, a Wellington resident who graduated high school in May, is running against four-term incumbent Republican Rep. Bill Rhiley to represent the district south of Wichita in Sumner County and part of Cowley County.

By Clay Wirestone

Everyone was chattering about cookies late last week.

Specifically, political pundits and their online fans were discussing U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, apparently stiffing a local bakery back in 2020. A bill of $678.75 went unpaid. Marshall finally reimbursed the small business owner, no doubt hoping to make the viral story go away.

But another report emerged on Friday, a thoroughly researched and damning account by Kansas Reporter editor-in-chief Sherman Smith and MS NOW’s Matt Fuller. It might have been overshadowed by the cookie caterwauling, but it shouldn’t have been.

TOPEKA — The Kansas Board of Regents amended policy to require officials at the six state universities to notify the higher education board’s leadership of discussions about partnerships between intercollegiate athletic departments and private equity or venture capital firms.

Text in the policy regarding disclosure of “material discussions” likely to lead to proposed agreements was left intentionally vague, but the rule required university officials at some juncture to notify the Board of Regents’ CEO and the board’s chair. In addition, the policy says all contracts and agreements between a university athletic department or athletic-affiliated corporation and entities engaged in private equity or venture capital must be approved by the Board of Regents before implementation.

TOPEKA — A private foundation offered to match contributions dollar-for-dollar up to $1 million for benefit of the financially struggling Sternberg Museum of Natural History at Fort Hays State University.

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird and counterparts from three other states announced plans Wednesday to sue OpenAI in state courts, alleging ChatGPT harmed children and violated each state’s consumer fraud act.

TOPEKA — Kansas State University president Richard Linton agreed Tuesday to take his academic career full circle by accepting an appointment to lead his alma mater, Virginia Tech University.

WASHINGTON — The Social Security Administration announced on Wednesday that recipients will receive a 3.6% increase in benefits in 2027.

Inflation grew to a 3.7% annual rate in September, according to an Oct. 14 report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, up from 3.4% in August.

WASHINGTON — The No Kings movement that has brought millions to the streets across the United States three times since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term is staging its next event at the polls.

Kansas Reflector opinion editor Clay Wirestone spent years researching and writing about mid-century opinion writers in Kansas, culminating in a book, “Opinionated: Kansas Journalists Who Proved Why Commentary Matters — Then and Now,” which was released Sept. 29.

In conversation with Kansas Reflector editor-in-chief Sherman Smith, Wirestone explores his writing process, explains his voice as an opinion writer and offers insight into the evolution of opinion writing in Kansas and beyond.

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