By Sherman Smith | editor-in-chief
Good morning! The state fair crowds lived up to expectations as we covered this year’s raucous debates for U.S. Senate and governor. Columnist Max McCoy, meanwhile, has more on the drama surrounding Emporia’s data center.
Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector
Clamorous crowd dominates first Kansas U.S. Senate debate between Marshall, Hamilton
HUTCHINSON — Incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall and the Rev. Adam Hamilton, a Democrat, confronted a raucous crowd Saturday defending their stances on tariffs, the war in Iran and partisan politics.
The two major party candidates running for U.S. Senate appeared in their first post-primary debate together in front of hundreds of people who filled the bleachers at the Kansas State Fair.
The scales of attendance at times tilted in Hamilton’s favor, as people booed, jeered and heckled Marshall’s answers.
Jill Hummels for Kansas Reflector
In scorching Kansas State Fair debate, governor candidates fight over taxes, data centers, vouchers
HUTCHINSON — Candidates for governor engaged in a veritable bare-knuckle brawl when they took the stage Saturday at the Kansas State Fair for a debate punctuated by the chants and jeers of an enthusiastic crowd of dueling supporters.
Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson, the Republican nominee, and state Sen. Cindy Holscher, the Democratic nominee, largely sidestepped pointed questions from a news media panel as they argued over who was more extreme and how to make life affordable for state residents.
Max McCoy/Kansas Reflector
OPINION
Who bankrolls Emporia’s data center bid is the $3 million question. The answer is sought in court.
By Max McCoy
Thank God for open courts.
Secrecy has been a hallmark of the data center assault on rural America, and few subjects have been as secret — or as enigmatic — as the money behind the proposed “digital campus” for my town of Emporia, at the edge of the Flint Hills in east central Kansas. The stakes are enormous, and the fight over a thousand recently annexed and largely pastoral acres at the western edge of the city is representative of a conflict taking place just about everywhere.
Trump plan to limit mail voting hinders Democrats more than GOP, analysis finds
President Donald Trump has, at times, justified his campaign against mail-in voting in explicitly partisan terms, claiming Republicans’ electoral chances hinge on whether the practice is allowed.
A new analysis from a Democratic-aligned voting rights group, shared first with States Newsroom, shows he may be right: Eliminating mail-in voting would be more disruptive to Democratic voters than Republicans.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Kansas Reflector staff will participate in the following free public forums.
3 p.m. Sept. 26, Washburn Library in Topeka. Opinion editor Clay Wirestone will participate in the panel “Why UPK: University Press of Kansas Celebrates 80 Years.” Host: Kansas Book Festival.
2 p.m. Sept. 27, Red Rocks Visitor Center in Emporia. Host: Red Rocks.
7 p.m. Sept. 29, Raven Book Store in Lawrence. Book release event for opinion editor Clay Wirestone’s “Opinionated.” Editor-in-chief Sherman Smith will moderate.
6 p.m. Oct. 12, Riverbank Brewing in Council Grove. Opinion editor Clay Wirestone talks about his book and the latest news. Host: Flint Hills Books.
5:30 p.m. Oct. 19, Frank Carlson Library in Concordia. Host: NCK Voters.
6 p.m. Dec. 3, Prairie Star Restaurant in Manhattan. Host: League of Women Voters of Manhattan and Riley County.
If you're interested in having us talk in your town, email Sherman Smith at [email protected].
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