By Anna Kaminski | reporter
Good morning, and happy Friday!
Significant changes to Medicaid — the publicly-funded health insurance for people with low incomes — are expected to put new pressures on states, healthcare providers and those who depend on the coverage. Families and individuals are already feeling caught up in unpredictable and confusing changes, at times when they’re dealing with significant health crises.
Join healthcare policy experts from KFF and journalists from States Newsroom (Kansas Reflector’s parent organization) who cover these issues at the state and national level for an in-depth discussion on the impacts that federal funding cuts, work requirements and state policy are having on healthcare in the U.S. They’ll explain the latest developments and discuss the political debate around these changes. Audience Q&A to follow.
Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector
Investigator for public defense office says Salina police and prosecutor fabricated perjury charge
SALINA — A day before he retired in March 2025, deputy prosecutor Rick James emailed three Salina police officers about “Bunce the Clown.”
Micah Bunce was a former city cop now working for the public defender’s office. A few months earlier, Bunce had testified in support of a woman who was caught with a meth pipe in her bra, saying police had field tests that could have determined whether the pipe contained “Shazzle,” street slang for a kind of bath salts, as she claimed.
Police officers disputed Bunce’s testimony.
Seth Tupper/South Dakota Searchlight
ACLU, League of Women Voters allege Kansas statute clashes with federal voting rights law
TOPEKA — The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas and League of Women Voters of Kansas put the secretary of state on notice of a potential lawsuit alleging a new election-related state statute conflicts with federal election law.
A notice letter sent by the ACLU, on behalf of the LWV, to Secretary of State Scott Schwab asserted provisions of House Bill 2437 were potentially not compliant with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. The bill was designed to rapidly remove ineligible voters from registration rolls and restrict the use of voter registration websites.
Eric Thomas for Kansas Reflector
OPINION
Only seven World Cup teams remain — and two of them call Kansas home
By Eric Thomas
Pull out your map of North America. Now, stick pins where the eight remaining World Cup teams stayed and practiced as they prepared for the tournament’s quarterfinal matches.
Teams in Boston and Greensboro? Yes, two for the east coast. A couple of squads on the west coast in Washington state and San Diego? True. Plus the Spanish team in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The isolated pins scatter from coast to coast.
Add to those five locations the twin pins in Kansas City.
Virtual, home-schooled Kansas students enrolled in public school activities up 154%
TOPEKA — The number of virtual and non-public school students taking part in public school activities across Kansas jumped 154% in the past three years after a 2023 law forced school districts to allow participation, an audit found.
The law requires school districts to let middle and high school students who attend school virtually or are home-schooled participate in all activities overseen by the Kansas State High School Activities Association. Those include most sports, as well as music, drama, cheer, speech and debate, and others.
Republicans in Congress struggle with internal squabbles as time runs out on 2026
WASHINGTON — Republicans are campaigning to keep control of Congress for another two years, but their message about being the “grown-ups” in the room keeps getting overshadowed by public feuds that have sidetracked work on major legislation.
After enacting large swaths of their agenda during the last year and a half, GOP lawmakers can’t seem to agree on what comes next, with senators openly debating each other on social media and a group of far-right House lawmakers blocking work on the floor, forcing the speaker to send them home early for the Fourth of July break. The
US Olympian canoeist pleads not guilty to charges of damaging Reflecting Pool
WASHINGTON — The former U.S Olympian charged with damaging a section of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool pleaded not guilty during a brief court hearing Thursday and was released on his own recognizance.
D.C. Superior Court Associate Judge Carmen Guerricagoitia McLean, who is presiding over the felony case against David C. Hearn, scheduled a status hearing for Aug. 5. McLean was nominated by President Barack Obama and, when that nomination expired, by President Donald Trump.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Kansas Reflector staff will participate in the following free public forums.
1 p.m. July 11, South Branch Library in Kansas City, Kansas. Opinion editor Clay Wirestone joins a panel discussion: "Elected vs Appointed: Inform Your Choice." Hosts: Voter Rights Network of Wyandotte County, Advocates for Immigrant Rights and Reconciliation, the League of Women Voters of Johnson County, and El Centro.
6:30 p.m. July 14, Morrill Public Library in Hiawatha. Editor Sherman Smith will lead a discussion with opinion editor Clay Wirestone, Natalie Haag and Kevin Hill on the proposed constitutional amendment to elect Kansas Supreme Court justices. Host: Brown County United.
11 a.m. July 23, as a Kansas Reflector subscriber, enjoy early registration for a public policy briefing from KFF and States Newsroom: Medicaid and the Road Ahead — spending cuts, work requirements and what's next for states, providers and families.
5:30 p.m. July 23, Emporia Arts Center. 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.
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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