Wyandotte County

By JOHN MILBURN

Associated Press Writer

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Estimates for Kansas tax collections for the remainder of the state’s fiscal year are cut by $235 million as forecasters see continued weakness in the economy.

The reductions Thursday mean Kansas government will have 4.2 percent fewer tax dollars to finance services than previously estimated in April. Kansas began its fiscal year July 1.

Gov. Mark Parkinson says the news is a challenge, but manageable. He renewed his promise to legislators that he will balance the state budget by the time the 2010 session begins in January.

For the first time in its history the Johnson County Community College is extending health benefits to domestic partners as well as legal spouses.

College officials said the application deadline for claiming these benefits ended recently and seven employees signed up their domestic partners. Five of the seven were same-sex partners.

That’s a benefit that employees at the state’s six universities don’t get.

The marketing folks for Schlitterbahn Vacation Village have said for several weeks now that the Kansas City, Kan., attraction will open its waterpark sometime in June.

So what are we to make of this recently released schedule? (Click on the attachment below. Be sure to expand the jpeg picture file.)

The schedule, you'll see, seems to imply that the waterpark may not open until July 1.  But Schlitterbahn officials are still saying they're on track to open sometime in June.

Here's how marketing director Chris Ozimek explained things in an e-mail sent this afternoon: 

Republicans are criticizing U.S. Rep. Dennis Moore, a Lenexa Democrat, for voting Wednesday against a provision allowing visitors to national parks and refuges to carry loaded and concealed weapons.

Dennis Moore“Dennis Moore is clearly out-of-touch not only with his duties as a public servant, but also with his constituents’ interests and values,” said Ken Spain, communications director for the National Republican Congressional Committee.

It's no secret that both Kansas senators dislike the possibility that Guantanamo detainers might be transferred to a prison at Fort Leavenworth.

Now, one of those U.S. senators, Republican Pat Roberts, wants to hear from the public on the issue.

He is holding a public meeting at 5:30 p.m. May 27 at the Leavenworth Riverfront Community Center, 123 S. Esplanade St.

Roberts, a former Marine, visited Guantanamo Bay in 2005 when he was Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

The state of Kansas is begging its citizens not to bring firewood into the state from Missouri or any other state where the dreaded emerald ash borer has been found.

The metallic green beetle arrived first in Michigan in 2002, probably in the wood of shipping crates. Experts estimate the borers have killed 40 million ash trees in southeastern Michigan and millions more in the eight other states where they have been found.

They were found in southeast Missouri last year. Adult beetles nibble on ash leaves and cause no major damage. But the larvae feed on the inner bark of trees and disrupt water and nutrient flow, killing the trees.

Lawmakers believe the Kansas Legislature may have to cut a lot more state spending_ including dollars for public education_ when they return to Topeka in a couple of weeks.

Sen. Karin BrownleeSen. David Wysong“My best guess is we’ll have to cut $200 million more from the budget,” said Sen. Karin Brownlee, an Olathe Republican. “I think K-through-12 will have to absorb some of that.”

Brownlee’s comments were made during the “Let’s Talk Issues” cable television program broadcast Wednesday.

TOPEKA | The Kansas Senate wants to limit the number of sexually violent predators on transitional or conditional release from prison to eight in any one Kansas county.

The upper chamber unanimously approved the bill_ SB 310_ Thursday. It now goes to the House for consideration.

Sen. Pat Apple (R-Louisburg) introduced the legislation after learning of state’s intention to place all sexually violent predators assigned to a transition house on the Osawatomie State Hospital campus.

By CARL MANNING

Associated Press Writer

TOPEKA — A proposed Senate bill would ban smoking in most places in Kansas, but even its chief supporter concedes it faces an uncertain future.

Mary Pilcher CookRay MerrickThe bill bans smoking in most public places, including restaurants, bars and retail stores, along with workplaces and any government building.

The ban also applies within 10 feet of any doorway, window or air intake for any place where smoking is banned.

A Cerner executive from Overland Park was chosen over the weekend to lead the Kansas Republican Party over the next two years.

Amanda Adkins, 34, will assume her new duties immediately.

Amanda Adkins“I am excited about the opportunities and challenges the 2010 election represents," she said. "In order to build upon the success we had in Kansas during 2008, we must generate new ideas rooted in the vision of our core Republican principles of economic growth and development, small government, and the core family values that drive people to the polls."

Biographical Information

Officials with Wyandotte County's Unified Government fear that Gov. Kathleen Sebelius's proposed budget could strip $4 million to $5 million from their 2009 budget.

Unified Government lobbyist Mike Taylor, who is expected to brief local officials on the budget issues this evening, said the bulk of the loss could come from money the state owes the city from a machinery and equipment tax that was repealed in 2006. As part of the repeal, the state agreed to gradually phase out the tax so local governments would not experience large and immediate losses.

The Unified Government was supposed to receive a $3.2 million reimbursement from the state in February. But with the state facing a 2010 budget deficit that could exceed $1 billion, that reimbursement could be delayed or completely taken off the table, Taylor said.

     Joe Reardon announced this afternoon that he will seek a second term as mayor and CEO of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kan.

    With the announcement, Reardon became the first person to file for the county’s highest elected post. If more than two candidates file for the municipal election, a March 3 primary will whittle the field down to two. The general election is April 7. The filing deadline is Jan. 27 at noon.

  TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Gov. Kathleen Sebelius' decision not to seek a job in Washington fuels speculation that she's planning to run for the Senate in 2010.

Kathleen SebeliusKansas Democratic Party Chairman Larry Gates says, “I think it's absolutely back on the table.”

Sebelius isn't giving any hints about her plans.

She was mentioned repeatedly as a potential Cabinet appointee for President-elect Barack Obama.

But earlier this month, she asked to be taken out of consideration for a job.

Sebelius said she has to focus on the state's budget crisis.

But many Democrats consider her their best potential candidate for the Senate in 2010.

Sen. Chris Steineger is a fiscally conservative Democrat who has often risen in the Kansas Senate to criticize this or that spending proposal.

Chris SteinegerHis budget credentials were bolstered by a coveted seat on the Senate Ways and Means Committee, maybe the most important job in the Senate because that committee decides how to spend billions of state dollars every year.

As lawmakers approach a new session, Steineger can be expected to continue his assaults on excessive spending on the Senate floor, but he won’t be doing it from a chair in the powerful Ways and Means Committee.

He won't be a Kansas senator for much longer, but that's not preventing Mark Gilstrap from taking one last shot at the party that rejected him earlier this year: He's registering as a Republican.

In the August Democratic primary, Gilstrap lost to fellow Wyandotte Countian Kelly Kultala in his bid for re-election to the state's 5th District Senate seat. Kultala's campaign relied heavily on claims that Gilstrap's voting record was more Republican than Democrat. She even won endorsements from Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley. Kultala went on to defeat Republican Steve Fitzgerald in the general election.

In a release today from the Kansas Republican Party, Gilstrap announced that his family's 160-year history as Democrats had come to an end.

A fight is brewing among the nine Kansas Democrats that make up the party's Senate caucus.

Chris SteinegerAnthony HensleySen. Chris Steineger, a Kansas City, Kan., Democrat, is criticizing Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, a Topeka Democrat, and said Friday he is seriously considering a challenge to Hensley's leadership position.

"Under Anthony's leadership, we've gone from 13 seats down to nine despite having good candidates and a lot of money," he said.

By MARK WIEBE

The Kansas City Star

Off and on throughout the year, Wyandotte

County’s Unified Government has grappled with

imposing an indoor smoking ban in Kansas City,

Kan.—the largest city in the metropolitan area

without one.

It has conducted a survey, held a work session,

hosted two public hearings and delayed a vote.

On Thursday, during an unprecedented meeting

with elected officials from Edwardsville and

Kansans who registered to vote when they got their driver’s license may be in for a surprise when they show up to vote Tuesday.

Elections officials said 75 people in Johnson County say they registered to vote between Aug. 25 and Oct. 20 but were not on the rolls when they tried to vote in advance.

Brian Newby, Johnson County election commissioner, said registrations taken at state drivers’ license offices between those dates were sent to the Secretary of State’s office in Topeka. They were then forwarded electronically to county election offices.

Newby said there appeared to be a glitch in getting all those registrations forwarded from Topeka.

The Wyandotte County District Attorney is investigating an allegation that Democrat Kelly Kultala, a candidate for the 5th District Senate seat, may have violated the Kansas voter intimidation law.

But one of Kultala's chief supporters, Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, is crying foul, alleging that Republican Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh's request for an investigation amounted to a "political hatchet job."

District Attorney Jerome Gorman confirmed with  Prime Buzz this morning that he received the letter from Thornburgh on Oct. 22 and that he has asked the Sheriff's Department to look into the matter. Gorman, a Democrat, did not share the letter, but the campaign of Kultala's opponent, Republican Steve Fitzgerald, did.

Kansas state Rep. Mike Peterson, a Kansas City, Kan., Democrat, is corked because of the lack of Saturday advance voting in Wyandotte County. (JoCo, meanwhile, has it).

He's also upset that the county only has one site for advance voting compared to the four in Johnson County.

The result: Fewer Democrats will vote, Peterson said today. That will undermine support for Democrats such as Dennis Moore, Jim Slattery and Nancy Boyda.

"That is totally unfair," he said.

He thinks the shortcomings in the voting system are intentional.

But election commissioner Bruce Newby counters that advance voting is available from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday thru Friday at the commission office in downtown KCK. The office simply lacks the money and staff to offer Saturday advance voting or add satellite offices, he said.