Forecasters say Kansans could be looking at a $1 billion deficit 18 months from now

State heads into budget crisis without a plan

Kansas is headed for a financial disaster, but nobody's sure yet exactly what to do about it.

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said Wednesday she ordered state agencies to trim their budgets in light of a likely budget deficit of $137 million in fiscal year 2009.

It's the governor's second such effort to rein in spending. Earlier this year, Sebelius asked state agencies and departments to pare their 2009 budgets by two percent and their 2010 budgets by five percent. [ Read more...]

New across-the-board cuts not going to be enough to stave off huge shortfalls

Looming deficits force education funding cuts or a tax increase

While Gov Sebelius has said she doesn't want to dip into education funding to deal with the financial problems facing the Kansas Government's budget, it looks like that may be necessary.

Rep Arlen Siegfied, R-Olathe, and chair of the federal and state affairs committee, said there would be only one other route to take if education funding cuts are not made to make up for the $136 million deficit - a tax increase.

"Higher education and K-12 is over 60 percent of the budget so we are going to have to look at everything - including education - and anyone who tells you is different is saying we are going to have a huge tax increase," Siegfreid told Kansas Liberty. "And I for one am certainly not for that." [ Read more...]

Companies that threatened to work against Karl Peterjohn's election now say the new commissioner has nothing to do with local business problems

Wichita firms announce layoffs and job 'reductions'

wo of Wichita’s major aircraft companies announced job cut backs yesterday - but at least they weren't blaming the layoffs on the election of new Sedgwick County commissioner Karl Peterjohn.

Cessna and Hawker Beechcraft both announced they would be downsizing due to the economy’s decline.

Last month, Cessna was among local businesses - and the Wichita chamber of commerce - who said Peterjohn's election could drive away jobs. According to a local newspaper, the companies threatened to spend "thousands of dollars" fighting Peterjohn because of his insistence that tax increases be approved by taxpayers. The companies later backed off their claims. The current round of layoffs was announced even before the votes were counted. [ Read more...]

ELECTION NEWS

Analysis: If she ends up in Washington instead of Topeka, Sebelius will be the winner in yet another election, says Phil LaCerte

Kansas bucks Democratic trend in Tuesday's election

How will Tuesday’s election results affect Kansas?

It may be too early to say definitively, but at first glance, the election here may be as interesting as the national results. Here’s a breakdown of some important developments. [ Read more...]

No news about the voting totals for retention of judges is no surprise to some.

Retention vote counts - retained!

In most counties, voting on the retention of judges is the only way Kansans have of registering their opinion of the men and women who are chosen as judicial nominees by closed-door selection commissions dominated by lawyers. The governor appoints judges from the names given to her by the commissions.

Supreme Court justices are chosen the same way and also have to face retention votes. This year, Eric Rosen and Lee Johnson were on the ballot.

They don't have much to worry about.[ Read more...]

Pro-life groups said incumbent had protected late-term abortionist Dr. George Tiller

Wichita DA's race commanded attention on the national stage

Right-to-life groups said a victory by the radically pro-abortion Barack Obama will mark a dark day in the nation's history.

And while the focus of the pro-life community is on the match-up between Obama and John McCain, a slice of its attention also was being directed toward what normally would be an obscure race for the position of Wichita District Attorney.

In that campaign, incumbent Nola Foulston was opposed by Republican candidate Mark Schoenhofer. [ Read more...]

Second time a Star staffer has been found registered illegally since last June.

Website alleges Star publisher is registered to vote in both Kansas and Missouri

A website dedicated to exposing election fraud is reporting that Kansas City Star Publisher Mark Zieman is registered to vote in both Kansas and Missouri.

Election Journal, a non-partisan vote-monitoring site, reported Zieman is registered in Kansas City, Mo., as Gregory M. Zieman. The site reports that Rhonda Chriss Lokeman, a Star columnist and wife of Zieman, is registered at the same Kansas City, Mo., address.

It adds that a G. Mark Zieman also is registered to vote in Overland Park, in Ward 5, Precinct 4, at the same address as his daughter. [ Read more...]

Libertarian and Reform party standard-bearers spoke out.

Third-party candidates and their positions

Kansas Liberty asked third-party candidates running for the U.S. Senate and for Congressional seats about their views on topics that many of the major-party candidates wouldn't touch, including illegal immigration as well as a few other hot-button issues.

We received responses from the following candidates: [ Read more...]

Comment: Once you learn where money comes from, you start to notice where it goes. Bill Wyckoff, our Main Street Money man, explains how the lesson can be taught, a coin at a time.

The Dime Kitty lesson

It seems today that everyone wants the government to give them something such as more stimulus money, supposedly to help out the economy.

It constantly does amaze me that many have no idea where this money is coming from. We know it doesn’t grow on trees, it’s not laid in the form of a golden egg, and I’ve not yet been able to find the pot at a rainbow’s end. Well the truth is we borrow it and have no idea how to pay it back.

I remember as a child placing dimes in a saving folder. The bank had these “kitties” for kids which had a kitten printed on them and they were similar to the same folders the March of Dimes used years ago. [ Read more...]

The Week on the Web

Marco Polo Didn't Go There - but Rolf Potts, Kansas' unofficial traveling man, probably did. Later this month, Potts will turn up to do readings from his new book - the title is the Marco Polo tag at the top of this item - in the Bay Area. The San Jose Mercury News cornered Potts for a Q&A, and out of it came a boost for the Sunflower set:

My home base is in Kansas now, and I couldn't be happier. I still travel for much of each year, but I love having a place to go home to. And one thing I've learned from traveling is how much family is a part of people's happiness everywhere you go. So my intention to live close to my family is actually an extension of what I learned on the road.

The statehouse fix. One of the Kansas Liberty items above reveals Gov. Kathleen Sebelius isn't willing to touch education spending in order to balance the budget. And a John Hanna AP piece in Forbes says she isn't willing to mess with the statehouse renovation budget either. Rumor has it Sebelius soon will be offered a ticket out of town by the new Obama administration in payment for her non-stop campaigning for the Democrats the last few months. The moment she closes the door in Topeka, the state budgetary house of cards will collapse, leaving Parkinson to do the dirty work of either making the cuts or imposing the tax increases necessary to pay for the governor's spending.

Whoops are back. Every year, a flock of whooping cranes, one of the world's rarest bird species, migrates from Canada to the Gulf Coast down the Central Flyway - and right over Kansas. Environment News Service covers the event:

Currently, officials at [two] sites are reporting the presence of whoopers. Cheyenne Bottoms staff reported eight birds on November 4, and an undetermined number of birds has been reported at Quivira, as well as another small group several miles south.

If you want your kids to see some of the rarest birds on the planet, follow that flock.

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