By Anna Kaminski | reporter
Good morning, and happy Friday!
A Democrat has not held U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall’s seat in nearly 100 years. Nine Kansans think they can buck the trend, and the latest to try is Adam Hamilton. I covered his candidacy announcement Thursday morning at a public park in Prairie Village, where I overheard a throng of supporters chattering about the energy Hamilton could bring to the race. Only time will tell.
Former Kansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Lawton Nuss explains the personal and statewide significance of Law Day, which falls on May 1. Senior reporter Tim Carpenter breaks down how Kansas’ U.S. representatives voted on the farm bill.
Have a good weekend.
Anna Kaminski/Kansas Reflector
Kansas pastor enters U.S. Senate race as Democrat, wants to give Roger Marshall an early retirement
PRAIRIE VILLAGE — A Kansas City-area pastor will run for U.S. Senate as “an independent-minded Democrat,” putting to bed months of speculation that he would challenge U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall as an independent.
Adam Hamilton, founding member and senior pastor of United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, announced his campaign Thursday, but he began exploring a bid in February. Since then, Hamilton, 61, said he has become more and more confident that “things are just not right in our country.”
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OPINION
From Eisenhower to today: Why Law Day still matters for Kansans and our country
By Lawton Nuss
Each year on May 1, our nation celebrates Law Day. It is a time reserved to reflect on a defining trait of our nation: We are governed by laws, not by individuals. In fact, since 1787, the preamble to our Constitution has reminded us that a principal purpose of our founders was to “establish Justice.”
As a former chief justice of the Kansas Supreme Court, for me Law Day obviously has great meaning. But it is additionally significant for me because it was established by my fellow Kansan, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, whose hometown of Abilene is only 23 miles from my own.
Gary Stone of Nebraska Extension/University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Kansas’ four members of U.S. House vote to endorse farm bill legislation
TOPEKA — The three Republicans and one Democrat representing Kansas in the U.S. House voted Thursday for a five-year farm bill expanding federal subsidies to crop producers and reducing food aid programs for low-income families.
US House passes ‘skinny’ farm bill that keeps big GOP cuts to food assistance
The U.S. House approved, 224-200, a five-year farm bill Thursday as members of Congress attempt to update major agriculture and nutrition policy after three years of extensions.
The bill would authorize subsidy and nutrition assistance programs through fiscal 2031. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated an earlier version of the bill would not meaningfully affect discretionary federal spending over an 11-year window, and would add $162 million in mandatory spending over the next six years.
Three shutdowns later, Trump signs bill that finishes funding the government
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed a bill Thursday that will fund almost every agency in the Department of Homeland Security for the next five months, ending the shutdown that began in mid-February.
Many states unsure how to implement new Medicaid work requirements, KFF survey finds
WASHINGTON — State officials say they need more information from the Trump administration before they can fully implement new requirements for Medicaid, according to a survey released Thursday by KFF and the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Kansas Reflector staff will participate in the following free public forums.
7 p.m. May 11, Books & Brews, Riverbank Brewing in Council Grove. Hosts: Flint Hills Books and Riverbank Brewing.
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?"
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].
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