By Sherman Smith | editor-in-chief
Good Morning! We're reporting on plans for a new transmission line through the tallgrass prairie, a Kansan's ties to the liberation of a Nazi concentration camp (81 years ago today), an effort to reshape the public school funding formula, the failed attempt to gerrymander U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids out of office, and the latest from Washington.
Morgan Chilson/Kansas Reflector
Kansas landowners push back on power line project as regulators cite reliability needs
TOPEKA — Kansas utility regulators are weighing the benefits and costs of approving construction of a $493 million transmission line that would travel through four southwest counties.
Multiple Kansas landowners protested the line’s construction and route during nearly three days of hearings in March at the Kansas Corporation Commission, which will make a decision on the proposal by May 13. They contend the line will disrupt agricultural activities, harm the environment and offer few benefits for Kansans.
Utility officials said the line is necessary to provide electricity stability for Kansas, as well as 13 other member states in the Southwest Power Pool. Rapid growth in energy usage and grid challenges that occurred during 2021 Winter Storm Uri require improvements to the grid, they said.
U.S. Army/Library of Congress
OPINION
Follow the breadcrumbs: Lessons from a forgotten Nazi concentration camp, liberated 81 years ago
By Scott Campbell
The soldiers didn’t need directions. They followed the bodies.
In late April 1945, as troops from the 358th Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Army’s 90th Division pushed into the wooded hills of far eastern Bavaria, they came upon a grim trail leading away from a place few Americans had heard of then or since: Flossenbürg, a Nazi concentration camp near the Czech border.
What they found would stay with them for the rest of their lives.
Anna Kaminski/Kansas Reflector
Kansas policymakers lag on updating public school funding formula
TOPEKA — A Kansas task force is running out of time to craft a new public school funding formula, which the Legislature and the state’s next governor must agree upon before the current framework expires.
Previous plans have violated the state constitution, per Kansas Supreme Court decisions, for failing to provide equitable and adequate funding.
U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids celebrates end of GOP bid to gerrymander Kansas congressional districts
U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids expressed appreciation Wednesday to Kansans who objected to the effort by President Donald Trump to pressure state lawmakers into gerrymandering the political map to make it easier for Republican candidates to win election in all four Kansas congressional districts.
For the fifth time, a vote in the US Senate to limit Trump’s war in Iran falls short
Senate Republicans, and one Democrat, maintained their support for President Donald Trump’s war in Iran, after blocking for the fifth time a resolution that would force the president to seek congressional authorization for further action in the Middle East.
Trump’s ‘dummymandering’ leaves US House remap in stalemate after Virginia vote
The race by each party to redraw U.S. House districts in their favor could be headed for a draw after Tuesday’s big win for Democrats in Virginia, though major shifts are still possible before crucial midterm elections in November.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Kansas Reflector staff will participate in the following free public forums.
11 a.m. April 25, West Wyandotte Public Library in Kansas City, Kansas. Opinion editor Clay Wirestone joins a panel discussion on the constitutional amendment to elect Kansas Supreme Court justices.
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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