Podcasts about kansas reflector

Kansas Reflector opinion editor Clay Wirestone, reporter Anna Kaminski and editor in chief Sherman Smith talk about three recent examples where lawmakers have hidden their work from public scrutiny or directed animus toward journalists.

At the end of six weeks worth of session, the Kansas Legislature is barreling ahead at high speed with each chamber passing a bevy of bills. Kansas Reflector staff take stock of where legislators have ended up with a compressed schedule and tensions flaring.

#podcast #Michigan #Politics #news #DanaNessel #ProgressivePolitics #Progressives #Democrats #Agriculture #Farming #Economics #WorkingClass #CorporateGreed #CorporateCorruption #ElonMusk #Trump #Republicans #MAGA #USAID #LeftOfLansing Here's the Left of Lansing "Friday Short" for February 14, 2025. President Elon Musk and Dear Leader Trump are selling-out America's farmers, and all of rural America. With Dear Leader's crippling tariffs, and President Musk's gutting of government agencies, such as USAID, America's farmers are feeling the pain caused by this unelected billionaire and the puppet President.  They're doing all of this out in the open for everyone to see, but it's up to all of us to open our eyes to see it happening. Please, subscribe to the podcast, download each episode, and give it a good review if you can! leftoflansing@gmail.com Left of Lansing is now on YouTube as well! leftoflansing.com NOTES: "With Trump and Musk driving U.S. policy, Kansas farmers have been played for suckers." By Ben Palin of the Kansas Reflector (via Michigan Advance). "Weather agency caught in Musk's crosshairs." By Arianna Skibell of Politico "Michigan AG Nessel leads multistate suit seeking injunction against Elon Musk, DOGE." By Beth LeBlanc of The Detroit News

The Bloody Benders were a family of serial killers active in Labette County, Kansas, from 1871 to 1873. Consisting of John Bender Sr., his wife Elvira (or Almira), their son John Jr., and daughter Kate, they operated a small inn and general store on the Osage Trail, which was frequented by travelers. The family would invite guests to sit at a table with their backs against a curtain, where they would be struck from behind with a hammer, usually by John Sr. or John Jr., while distracted by Kate, who was known for her beauty and purported spiritualist abilities.   After the murder, the victims' throats were slit, and their bodies were buried in an orchard or thrown into a well on the property. The Benders are believed to have killed between 11 to 20 people, with the actual number uncertain due to the frontier's sparse record-keeping.   The family's crimes came to light after the disappearance of Dr. William York in 1873, whose brother, a prominent state senator, organized a search. When authorities arrived at the Bender homestead, the family had already vanished. The property was searched, revealing several bodies, confirming the grim suspicions.   The Benders' fate remains a mystery; stories range from them being lynched by vigilantes, escaping to other parts of the country or even abroad, or changing identities. Their story has since become a legendary tale in American folklore.   Sources: Nadel, D. (2024, July 19). The bloody benders: the family that wasn't. HubPages. https://discover.hubpages.com/education/The-Bloody-Benders-The-Family-That-Wasnt Sep 25, 1952, page 8 - The Wichita Beacon at Newspapers.com. (n.d.). https://www.newspapers.com/image/720215261/?match=1&terms=bloody%20benders McCoy, M. (2021, October 31). A mysterious murder site has a new owner. He's looking for answers about the Bloody Benders. Kansas Reflector. https://kansasreflector.com/2021/10/31/a-mysterious-murder-site-has-a-new-owner-hes-looking-for-answers-about-the-bloody-benders/   Join The Dark Oak Discussion: Patreon The Dark Oak Podcast Website Facebook Instagram Twitter TikTok Youtube This episode of The Dark Oak was created, researched, written, recorded, hosted, edited, published, and marketed by Cynthia and Stefanie of Just Us Gals Productions with artwork by Justyse Himes and Music by Ryan Creep

This episode was originally published on The Murder Sheet's main feed on January 17, 2025.The Cheat Sheet is The Murder Sheet's segment breaking down weekly news and updates in some of the murder cases we cover. In this episode, we'll talk about cases from Kansas, Oklahoma, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Indiana. On this week's episode we used information from:WISH-TV's recent coverage of the disappearance of Marina Boelter: https://www.wishtv.com/news/bloomfield-woman-missing-2014/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter_WISHNews8We also accessed reporting from the Journal and Courier, the Tipton County Tribune, the Associated Press, the Herald Times, and the Call Leader through Newspapers.com. If you have information on the Boelter disappearance, call Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana at 317-262-8477 or state police Detective Kent Rohfling at 812-332-4411.The Oklahoman's reporting on the murders of Veronica Butler and Jillian Kelley: https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/2024/12/18/gods-misfits-oklahoma-murder-trial-witness-testimony-tifany-adams/77059269007/A great opinion piece from the Kansas Reflector on the God's Misfits and the murders of Veronica Butler and Jillian Kelley: : https://kansasreflector.com/2024/05/05/a-fifth-misfit-is-accused-of-murdering-two-kansas-women-last-year-he-declared-extremist-beliefs/KWCH's reporting on the murders of Veronica Butler and Jillian Kelley: ​​https://www.kwch.com/2024/09/12/court-document-reveals-how-2-kansas-mothers-killed-over-custody-dispute-died/KJRH's reporting on the murders of Veronica Butler and Jillian Kelley: https://www.kjrh.com/news/local-news/enraged-family-fills-courtroom-as-gods-misfits-appear-in-court#google_vignetteTrib Live's 's reporting on the kidnapping and murder of Jaime Feden: https://triblive.com/local/valley-news-dispatch/oakmont-native-sentenced-to-life-in-kidnapping-killing-of-bethel-park-woman/The Pittsburgh Post Gazette's reporting on the kidnapping and murder of Jaime Feden: https://www.post-gazette.com/news/crime-courts/2024/08/03/john-chapman-murder-jaime-feden-sentence-bethel-park-las-vegas/stories/202408030061WTRF's reporting on the kidnapping and murder of Jaime Feden: https://www.wtrf.com/wheeling/just-an-hour-from-wheeling-man-kidnapped-girlfriend-drove-to-nevada-desert-suffocated-her-pretend-to-be-her-and-lived-at-her-residence/?utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_source=facebook.comCBS Pittsburgh's broadcast on KDKA's report with Jaime Feden: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXwMnXq1k00Associated Press' reporting on the kidnapping and murder of Jaime Feden: https://apnews.com/general-news-e68504d32fc52ae86dc9e74e5d2e7a94CJ Online's reporting on the sentencing of Amber Peery: https://www.cjonline.com/story/news/crime/2024/12/03/kansas-mom-amber-peery-in-deadly-girl-scouts-crash-sentenced-to-prison/76732510007/The Change.org petition for Peery: https://www.change.org/p/we-ask-for-mercy-on-behalf-of-amber-peeryPre-order our book on Delphi here: https://bookshop.org/p/books/shadow-of-the-bridge-the-delphi-murders-and-the-dark-side-of-the-american-heartland-aine-cain/21866881?ean=9781639369232Or here: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Shadow-of-the-Bridge/Aine-Cain/9781639369232Or here: https://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Bridge-Murders-American-Heartland/dp/1639369236Join our Patreon here! https://www.patreon.com/c/murdersheetSupport The Murder Sheet by buying a t-shirt here: https://www.murdersheetshop.com/Send tips to murdersheet@gmail.com.The Murder Sheet is a production of Mystery Sheet LLC.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Kansas Reflector opinion editor Clay Wirestone leads a discussion with editor in chief Sherman Smith, senior reporter Tim Carpenter and reporter Anna Kaminski on what to expect in the annual legislative session that begins Jan. 13.

Peggy Lowe, the reporter and voice behind “Overlooked,” KCUR's investigative podcast into disgraced Kansas City, Kansas, police detective Roger Golubski, appears on the Kansas Reflector podcast to talk about Golubski's past, upcoming trial, and the second season of “Overlooked.” 

Haley Kottler appears on Kansas Reflector podcast to talk about a new report from Kansas Appleseed that examines the benefit of providing universal free meals in public schools, and how schools and lawmakers could unlock more resources to combat child hunger.

Kansas Reflector staff sort through the ruby red results in this year's election, and what they mean for the Legislature, State Board of Education, and national politics.

This episode was originally published on The Murder Sheet's main feed on October 11, 2024.The Cheat Sheet is The Murder Sheet's segment breaking down weekly news and updates in some of the murder cases we cover. In this episode, we'll talk about cases from Arkansas, Minnesota, Kansas and TennesseeView the the Morgan Nick Press conference broadcast by 5News: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqUIya9tZ_MRead the Tennessean's coverage of the Nashville district attorney recording people in his office: https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/davidson/2024/09/25/nashville-district-attorney-glenn-funk-slammed-state-comptroller/75375271007/Read the Nashville Post's coverage of the Nashville district attorney recording people in his office:https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/legal/legal-notes-comptroller-says-special-prosecutor-should-review-actions-of-nashville-da/article_9d9a9de6-7cda-11ef-8709-b7aab5c8c962.htmlRead more about the new law on felony murder in Minnesota at Fox 9: https://www.fox9.com/news/prosecutor-fighting-new-minnesota-law-aiding-abetting-murderRead more about the new law on felony murder in Minnesota at the Minnesota Reformer: https://minnesotareformer.com/2023/11/15/minnesota-lawmakers-changed-felony-murder-laws-which-could-mean-the-release-of-prisoners/Read more about the Kansas judge who was found to have violated the rights of a defendant in the Kansas Reflector:https://kansasreflector.com/2024/09/27/kansas-supreme-court-says-trial-judge-violated-constitutional-right-of-murder-defendant/Consider donating to those impacted by the recent hurricanes: https://www.redcross.org/donate/dr/hurricane-helene.html/Support The Murder Sheet by buying a t-shirt here: https://www.murdersheetshop.com/Send tips to murdersheet@gmail.com.The Murder Sheet is a production of Mystery Sheet LLC.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Richard Muma earned his doctorate 20 years ago before climbing the ranks at Wichita State University, becoming president in 2020. Now, an investigation by Kansas Reflector senior reporter Tim Carpenter has found dozens of instances where Muma copied someone else's work into his doctoral dissertation without adequate attribution. Carpenter joins editor in chief Sherman Smith to talk about the story and how he reported it.

Abortion access in Kansas remains at the forefront of state politics, with the 2024 election a little more than a month away. Kansas Women Attorneys for Freedom are at the forefront of this issue. Two members of the group, Adina Morse and Nicole Revenaugh join the Kansas Reflector podcast to talk about their priorities.

Kansas Reflector opinion editor Clay Wirestone hosts a conversation with editor in chief Sherman Smith, senior reporter Tim Carpenter and intern Grace Hills on the multitude of stories that emerged from the primary election — from the 2nd District congressional races to incumbents losing Statehouse races and implications for November.

Rachel sat down for a chat with Devon Heinen, a journalist with States Newsroom who principally writes for the Tennessee Lookout . States Newsroom has created State Capitol level coverage with sites like Missouri Independent, Iowa Capitol Dispatch, Kansas Reflector, and more. Listeners of our shows often hear us cite to these sources because they have proven themselves to be quality journalism that takes the work of reporting facts with context seriously. Devon is no exception to that rule.Learn more about Devon: http://www.devonheinen.com/articles.htmlArticle: http://www.devonheinen.com/images/2024-Heinen-AL-Reflector-Diane-Derzis-Story.pdf @TheHeartlandPOD on Twitter and ThreadsCo-HostsAdam Sommer @Adam_Sommer85 (Twitter) @adam_sommer85 (Threads)Rachel Parker @msraitchetp (Threads) Sean Diller (no social)The Heartland Collective - Sign Up Today!JOIN PATREON FOR MORE - AND JOIN OUR SOCIAL NETWORK!“Change The Conversation”Outro Song: “The World Is On Fire” by American Aquarium http://www.americanaquarium.com/

Rachel sat down for a chat with Devon Heinen, a journalist with States Newsroom who principally writes for the Tennessee Lookout . States Newsroom has created State Capitol level coverage with sites like Missouri Independent, Iowa Capitol Dispatch, Kansas Reflector, and more. Listeners of our shows often hear us cite to these sources because they have proven themselves to be quality journalism that takes the work of reporting facts with context seriously. Devon is no exception to that rule.Learn more about Devon: http://www.devonheinen.com/articles.htmlArticle: http://www.devonheinen.com/images/2024-Heinen-AL-Reflector-Diane-Derzis-Story.pdf @TheHeartlandPOD on Twitter and ThreadsCo-HostsAdam Sommer @Adam_Sommer85 (Twitter) @adam_sommer85 (Threads)Rachel Parker @msraitchetp (Threads) Sean Diller (no social)The Heartland Collective - Sign Up Today!JOIN PATREON FOR MORE - AND JOIN OUR SOCIAL NETWORK!“Change The Conversation”Outro Song: “The World Is On Fire” by American Aquarium http://www.americanaquarium.com/

Kansas legislators returned to Topeka for a special session originally meant just to tackle a tax cut plan. But an incentive package for the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals ended up getting more attention. Kansas Reflector reporters Tim Carpenter and Alison Kite break down the one-day special session, and the build up to it, in a conversation with opinion editor Clay Wirestone.

Mifepristone remains legal after major Supreme Court ruling | Trump lackey running for Michigan's state supreme court | Nebraska's competing abortion petitions | Kansas Farmers Faced With Major Water Shortage | South Carolina Ripe For Full Abortion Ban | Missouri begins major project to improve Interstate 70 | Indiana musician hitting the scene in a big waySHOW NOTESMifepristone remains legal after major Supreme Court rulinghttps://missouriindependent.com/2024/06/13/breaking-u-s-supreme-court-rejects-attempt-to-limit-access-to-abortion-pill/Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote the opinion in the united ruling from the Supreme Court, with Justice Clarence Thomas writing a concurring opinion.“Plaintiffs are pro-life, oppose elective abortion, and have sincere legal, moral, ideological, and policy objections to mifepristone being prescribed and used by others,” Kavanaugh wrote.The four anti-abortion medical organizations and four anti-abortion doctors who originally brought the lawsuit against mifepristone have protections in place to guard against being forced to participate in abortions against their moral objections, he noted.“Not only as a matter of law but also as a matter of fact, the federal conscience laws have protected pro-life doctors ever since FDA approved mifepristone in 2000,” Kavanaugh wrote. “The plaintiffs have not identified any instances where a doctor was required, notwithstanding conscience objections, to perform an abortion or to provide other abortion-related treatment that violated the doctor's conscience.”“Nor is there any evidence in the record here of hospitals overriding or failing to accommodate doctors' conscience objections,” he added.Trump lackey running for Michigan's state supreme courthttps://michiganadvance.com/briefs/deperno-announces-michigan-supreme-court-run-amid-election-related-criminal-charges/Matt DePerno, a Republican lawyer who ran for Michigan Attorney General in 2022 with the support of former President Donald Trump, is running for the state's supreme court while facing charges for reportedly tampering with voting machines after the 2020 presidential election. Michigan's 4-3 Democratic majority state supreme court is falling short of doing its duty, Deperno said in an emailed statement to Michigan Advance.“After watching the abuse of our legal system both here in Michigan, as well as across the country, it is clear that the Michigan Supreme Court needs members that are committed to following the constitution and rule of law,” DePerno said. “Activist judges, prosecutors, and attorney generals are using their power to prosecute their political enemies. This has to stop.  And that is why I am running for Supreme Court.”Nebraska's competing abortion petitionshttps://nebraskaexaminer.com/2024/06/13/sorting-through-nebraskas-abortion-ballot-initiatives/Nebraska voters who want to weigh in this November on the future of abortion in the state have three petitions to consider signing.One group that is circulating petitions wants to make abortion a state constitutional right. Two other groups circulating petitions both oppose abortion. But their petitions approach the path to further restrictions differently.Organizers of all three petition initiatives have until July 3 to turn in signatures from 10% of Nebraska registered voters, or about 123,000 people, to the Secretary of State's Office. Of those, signatures are required from at least 5% of registered voters in at least 38 counties.Kansas Farmers Faced With Major Water Shortagehttps://kansasreflector.com/2024/06/13/time-for-a-reckoning-kansas-farmers-brace-for-water-cuts-to-save-ogallala-aquifer/After 50 years of studies, discussions and hand-wringing about the aquifer's decline, the state is demanding that local groundwater managers finally enforce conservation. But in this region where water is everything, they'll have to overcome entrenched attitudes and practices that led to decades of overpumping.“It scares the hell out of me,” farmer Hugh Brownlee said at a recent public meeting in the district on the changes to come.Last year, Kansas lawmakers passed legislation squarely targeting the Southwest Kansas Groundwater Management District, which spans a dozen counties. Unlike the two other Kansas districts that sit atop the crucial aquifer, this one has done little to enact formal conservation programs that could help prolong the life of the aquifer. The new law aims to force action.South Carolina Ripe For Full Abortion Banhttps://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jun/13/south-carolina-abortion-banThe right to legal abortion in South Carolina is in a “dire” condition, said the state senator Penry Gustafson, who lost her seat on Tuesday to a primary challenger prepared to vote to ban abortion at conception.Gustafson is one of five female lawmakers dubbed the “sister senators” who blocked legislation to outlaw abortion from the point of conception in the state. The three Republicans among them – Gustafson, Sandy Senn and Katrina Shealy – each drew male primary challengers who competed for conservative primary voters seeking more restrictive abortion access.Missouri begins major project to improve Interstate 70https://www.missourinet.com/2024/06/13/shovels-come-out-to-break-ground-on-missouris-historic-i-70-expansion/A groundbreaking ceremony was held today to celebrate the start of construction for the Improve I-70 project, which will widen the interstate to at least three lanes each in both directions from St. Louis to Kansas City.Construction on the $2.8 billion Improve I-70 Program is set to begin in July. The first phase of the project begins in mid-Missouri, with the interchanges of U.S. Route 63 in Columbia and U.S. Route 54 in Kingdom City.Gov. Mike Parson was on hand to commemorate the occasion. One of his top priorities throughout his tenure has been to improve Missouri's infrastructure system.“What we're doing in infrastructure in this state is going to set us apart from many, many other states and it's just, for the future of our state, I can't even explain how much of an impact it's going to have. But it's fun. It's exciting to finish up your term on a high note like this,” he told reporters.Indiana musician hitting the scene in a big wayhttps://www.stephenwilsonjr.com/Stephen Wilson Jr. is a singer/songwriter from rural Southern Indiana. Self-described as “Death Cab For Country,” Stephen Wilson Jr. draws upon indie rock, grunge and country to create a distinct sound that is influenced by artists as diverse as The National, Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp and Nirvana.​Wilson was raised by a single father who was a boxer and had him boxing from age seven through adulthood as an Indiana State Golden Gloves finalist. The self-taught guitarist moved to Nashville to pursue a degree in Microbiology at MTSU, where he started indie rock band AutoVaughn after finishing his degree. After five years of touring the world as lead guitarist with AutoVaughn, Wilson turned his creative focus toward songwriting and singing. After the band, Wilson relied back on his education where he worked for several years as an R&D scientist at Mars until signing a publishing deal with BMG Nashville in 2016. His songs were soon recorded by acts like Caitlyn Smith, Brothers Osborne, Old Dominion, MacKenzie Porter, Sixpence None the Richer and Leigh Nash.SOURCES: Missouri Independent, The Guardian, Michigan Advance, Nebraska Examiner, Kansas Reflector, Missourinet.com, Stephenwilsonjr.com @TheHeartlandPOD on Twitter and ThreadsCo-HostsAdam Sommer @Adam_Sommer85 (Twitter) @adam_sommer85 (Threads)Rachel Parker @msraitchetp (Threads) Sean Diller (no social)The Heartland Collective - Sign Up Today!JOIN PATREON FOR MORE - AND JOIN OUR SOCIAL NETWORK!“Change The Conversation”Outro Song: “The World Is On Fire” by American Aquarium http://www.americanaquarium.com/

Mifepristone remains legal after major Supreme Court ruling | Trump lackey running for Michigan's state supreme court | Nebraska's competing abortion petitions | Kansas Farmers Faced With Major Water Shortage | South Carolina Ripe For Full Abortion Ban | Missouri begins major project to improve Interstate 70 | Indiana musician hitting the scene in a big waySHOW NOTESMifepristone remains legal after major Supreme Court rulinghttps://missouriindependent.com/2024/06/13/breaking-u-s-supreme-court-rejects-attempt-to-limit-access-to-abortion-pill/Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote the opinion in the united ruling from the Supreme Court, with Justice Clarence Thomas writing a concurring opinion.“Plaintiffs are pro-life, oppose elective abortion, and have sincere legal, moral, ideological, and policy objections to mifepristone being prescribed and used by others,” Kavanaugh wrote.The four anti-abortion medical organizations and four anti-abortion doctors who originally brought the lawsuit against mifepristone have protections in place to guard against being forced to participate in abortions against their moral objections, he noted.“Not only as a matter of law but also as a matter of fact, the federal conscience laws have protected pro-life doctors ever since FDA approved mifepristone in 2000,” Kavanaugh wrote. “The plaintiffs have not identified any instances where a doctor was required, notwithstanding conscience objections, to perform an abortion or to provide other abortion-related treatment that violated the doctor's conscience.”“Nor is there any evidence in the record here of hospitals overriding or failing to accommodate doctors' conscience objections,” he added.Trump lackey running for Michigan's state supreme courthttps://michiganadvance.com/briefs/deperno-announces-michigan-supreme-court-run-amid-election-related-criminal-charges/Matt DePerno, a Republican lawyer who ran for Michigan Attorney General in 2022 with the support of former President Donald Trump, is running for the state's supreme court while facing charges for reportedly tampering with voting machines after the 2020 presidential election. Michigan's 4-3 Democratic majority state supreme court is falling short of doing its duty, Deperno said in an emailed statement to Michigan Advance.“After watching the abuse of our legal system both here in Michigan, as well as across the country, it is clear that the Michigan Supreme Court needs members that are committed to following the constitution and rule of law,” DePerno said. “Activist judges, prosecutors, and attorney generals are using their power to prosecute their political enemies. This has to stop.  And that is why I am running for Supreme Court.”Nebraska's competing abortion petitionshttps://nebraskaexaminer.com/2024/06/13/sorting-through-nebraskas-abortion-ballot-initiatives/Nebraska voters who want to weigh in this November on the future of abortion in the state have three petitions to consider signing.One group that is circulating petitions wants to make abortion a state constitutional right. Two other groups circulating petitions both oppose abortion. But their petitions approach the path to further restrictions differently.Organizers of all three petition initiatives have until July 3 to turn in signatures from 10% of Nebraska registered voters, or about 123,000 people, to the Secretary of State's Office. Of those, signatures are required from at least 5% of registered voters in at least 38 counties.Kansas Farmers Faced With Major Water Shortagehttps://kansasreflector.com/2024/06/13/time-for-a-reckoning-kansas-farmers-brace-for-water-cuts-to-save-ogallala-aquifer/After 50 years of studies, discussions and hand-wringing about the aquifer's decline, the state is demanding that local groundwater managers finally enforce conservation. But in this region where water is everything, they'll have to overcome entrenched attitudes and practices that led to decades of overpumping.“It scares the hell out of me,” farmer Hugh Brownlee said at a recent public meeting in the district on the changes to come.Last year, Kansas lawmakers passed legislation squarely targeting the Southwest Kansas Groundwater Management District, which spans a dozen counties. Unlike the two other Kansas districts that sit atop the crucial aquifer, this one has done little to enact formal conservation programs that could help prolong the life of the aquifer. The new law aims to force action.South Carolina Ripe For Full Abortion Banhttps://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jun/13/south-carolina-abortion-banThe right to legal abortion in South Carolina is in a “dire” condition, said the state senator Penry Gustafson, who lost her seat on Tuesday to a primary challenger prepared to vote to ban abortion at conception.Gustafson is one of five female lawmakers dubbed the “sister senators” who blocked legislation to outlaw abortion from the point of conception in the state. The three Republicans among them – Gustafson, Sandy Senn and Katrina Shealy – each drew male primary challengers who competed for conservative primary voters seeking more restrictive abortion access.Missouri begins major project to improve Interstate 70https://www.missourinet.com/2024/06/13/shovels-come-out-to-break-ground-on-missouris-historic-i-70-expansion/A groundbreaking ceremony was held today to celebrate the start of construction for the Improve I-70 project, which will widen the interstate to at least three lanes each in both directions from St. Louis to Kansas City.Construction on the $2.8 billion Improve I-70 Program is set to begin in July. The first phase of the project begins in mid-Missouri, with the interchanges of U.S. Route 63 in Columbia and U.S. Route 54 in Kingdom City.Gov. Mike Parson was on hand to commemorate the occasion. One of his top priorities throughout his tenure has been to improve Missouri's infrastructure system.“What we're doing in infrastructure in this state is going to set us apart from many, many other states and it's just, for the future of our state, I can't even explain how much of an impact it's going to have. But it's fun. It's exciting to finish up your term on a high note like this,” he told reporters.Indiana musician hitting the scene in a big wayhttps://www.stephenwilsonjr.com/Stephen Wilson Jr. is a singer/songwriter from rural Southern Indiana. Self-described as “Death Cab For Country,” Stephen Wilson Jr. draws upon indie rock, grunge and country to create a distinct sound that is influenced by artists as diverse as The National, Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp and Nirvana.​Wilson was raised by a single father who was a boxer and had him boxing from age seven through adulthood as an Indiana State Golden Gloves finalist. The self-taught guitarist moved to Nashville to pursue a degree in Microbiology at MTSU, where he started indie rock band AutoVaughn after finishing his degree. After five years of touring the world as lead guitarist with AutoVaughn, Wilson turned his creative focus toward songwriting and singing. After the band, Wilson relied back on his education where he worked for several years as an R&D scientist at Mars until signing a publishing deal with BMG Nashville in 2016. His songs were soon recorded by acts like Caitlyn Smith, Brothers Osborne, Old Dominion, MacKenzie Porter, Sixpence None the Richer and Leigh Nash.SOURCES: Missouri Independent, The Guardian, Michigan Advance, Nebraska Examiner, Kansas Reflector, Missourinet.com, Stephenwilsonjr.com @TheHeartlandPOD on Twitter and ThreadsCo-HostsAdam Sommer @Adam_Sommer85 (Twitter) @adam_sommer85 (Threads)Rachel Parker @msraitchetp (Threads) Sean Diller (no social)The Heartland Collective - Sign Up Today!JOIN PATREON FOR MORE - AND JOIN OUR SOCIAL NETWORK!“Change The Conversation”Outro Song: “The World Is On Fire” by American Aquarium http://www.americanaquarium.com/

Kansas Reflector opinion editor Clay Wirestone talks with editor in chief Sherman Smith about an overstuffed veto session yielding drama aplenty — not that any of the drama was required — and the prospects of Gov. Laura Kelly calling lawmakers back for a special session to address tax cuts.

In a dramatic turn of events, the Kansas Reflector, a news affiliate of the non-profit States Newsroom, found itself at the center of a contentious battle with Facebook. Sherman Smith, the Editor-in-Chief of the Kansas Reflector, revealed the unfolding saga during an exclusive interview with Mike Blinder, Publisher of E&P Magazine. The saga began when Facebook rejected an editorial titled "When Facebook Fails, Local Media Matters Even More For Our Planet's Future," authored by Dave Kendall and published on the Kansas Reflector's website. The piece highlighted Facebook's rejection of Kendall's documentary on climate change as too divisive, emphasizing the importance of local media in disseminating crucial information. Shortly after attempting to share the editorial on Facebook, the Kansas Reflector faced a startling development. Facebook not only rejected the post but proceeded to remove all past posts linking to the Reflector's website. The platform deemed the Kansas Reflector a cybersecurity threat and contacted every individual who had interacted with the Kansas Reflector's page over the past four years, sending notifications labeling the site as “questionable,” prompting widespread confusion and concern among followers. Smith recounted a conversation with Facebook spokesperson Andy Stone, who acknowledged the platform's error in blocking the Kansas Reflector's posts. However, Stone's apology, delivered via Twitter instead of Facebook's own channels, raised eyebrows and underscored the lack of direct communication from the social media giant. Smith pressed Stone for further clarification on Facebook's actions and the potential implications for media outlets. Stone's response left Smith with lingering concerns about Facebook's accountability and transparency, particularly regarding its content moderation policies and the impact on journalistic integrity. The exchange highlighted the need for greater scrutiny of Facebook's role in shaping public discourse and its responsibility to uphold press freedom. Smith emphasized to Stone the widespread impact of Facebook's actions, reminding him that individuals who had interacted with the Kansas Reflector's page were told that Facebook deems their site as questionable. Smith highlighted the detrimental effect this had on the publication's reputation and audience trust. Despite raising these concerns, Stone expressed his inability to rectify the situation beyond his initial apology on X, leaving Smith and the Kansas Reflector team frustrated with the lack of concrete action or recourse. This exchange underscored the broader implications of Facebook's content moderation decisions and the challenges faced by media organizations in navigating such platforms while maintaining journalistic integrity. As the situation continues to unfold, Smith remains committed to keeping the public informed and holding Facebook accountable. He underscores the importance of transparency and urges Facebook to provide a credible explanation for its actions. The Kansas Reflector's battle with Facebook underscores the challenges facing media organizations in the digital age and raises critical questions about the power wielded by tech giants over the dissemination of news and information. As the story continues to evolve, it serves as a sobering reminder of the ongoing struggle to preserve press freedom and protect the public's right to access information.  

No Labels has No Candidates and is No More | One Suit, Two Suit, Red Suit Defamation Suit Filed against Missouri Lawmakers | Wisconsin Voters Restrict Themselves | Iowa State Senate Favors Chemical Creators over Citizens | Missouri House Speaker Investigation Continues | Tennessee woman sues over abortion access | Kansas Newspaper Raid Investigation Wrapping UpSOURCES: The Missouri Independent, KMBC news, Iowa Capital Dispatch, Kansas Reflector, St Louis Post-Dispatch, and The GuardianSHOW NOTES3 Missouri State Senators Suedhttps://missouriindependent.com/2024/04/04/three-missouri-state-senators-sued-for-defamation-over-posts-about-chiefs-parade-shooting/https://www.kmbc.com/article/olathe-kansas-man-wrongly-identified-as-chiefs-parade-shooter-sues-3-missouri-lawmakers/60388311Three Missouri Republicans – including one running for statewide office – are being sued for defamation over social media posts incorrectly identifying a Kansas man as an undocumented immigrant and the shooter at the Kansas City Chiefs' Super Bowl victory celebration.On Tuesday, Denton Loudermill of Olathe, Kansas, filed federal lawsuits against state Sens. Rick Brattin of Harrisonville, Denny Hoskins of Warrensburg and Nick Schroer of Defiance. Loudermill last week filed a similar complaint against U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee. The four lawsuits are almost identical in their allegations against, which involve the lawmakers using social media platforms to repost a photo of Loudermill in handcuffs shortly after the shooting. “The publication of the false representation that plaintiff was an ‘illegal alien' and a ‘shooter' was not made in good faith nor was it made by defendant with any legitimate interest in making or duty to make such assertions,” the lawsuit against Brattin states. Wisconsin Voters Vote To Limit Voting… No Seriouslyhttps://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/04/wisconsin-amendments-harmful-voting-elections?CMP=Share_iOSApp_OtherWisconsin voters enshrined in the state constitution on Tuesday two amendments that election officials and voting rights advocates worry will hurt election administration in the state.The first bans election offices from accessing private grants – a source of revenue that election officials relied on in 2020 to run elections during the pandemic and have since used to stock voting equipment in polling places.During the 2020 elections, election offices across the country – already chronically underfunded – accessed grants from the Center for Tech and Civic Life, a non-profit organization funded by Mark Zuckerberg, the Meta CEO, and his wife, Priscilla Chan. The grants were doled out with the explicit purpose of funding Covid-19 mitigation in polling places, and election offices used the money for things like personal protective equipment and to set up drive-through, contactless voting. Iowa Senate Says “Suck It Up” to folks hurt by mega corporation chemicalshttps://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2024/04/02/iowa-senate-votes-to-limit-lawsuits-over-roundup-other-farm-and-lawn-chemicals/A bill that would partially shield the maker of a widely used agricultural and lawn herbicide from lawsuits over its health effects was adopted by the Iowa Senate on Tuesday.Senate File 2412 would protect Bayer against claims it failed to warn people about the potential health effects of Roundup so long as its product is labeled as required by federal regulators.The legislation would apply to all domestic producers of herbicides and pesticides, but eliminating the failure-to-warn claims is part of Bayer's public strategy to “manage and mitigate the risks of Roundup litigation,” according to its website.The company hopes the U.S. Supreme Court decides that the claims are overruled by federal law, which the company predicts “could largely end the Roundup litigation.” But a federal appeals court rejected that argument in February.Bayer says about 167,000 lawsuits have been filed by people who claim their exposure to Roundup caused ailments such as cancer, often non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The herbicide has been used to kill weeds for about four decades. The litigation has cost the company billions of dollars.The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has said Roundup's primary ingredient, glyphosate, is not likely to cause cancer in humans and that it poses no health risks “when used in accordance with its current label.” But in 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer determined glyphosate is “probably carcinogenic to humans.”Missouri House Speaker Plocher, Now Candidate for Secretary of State, Narrows Focushttps://www.stltoday.com/news/local/government-politics/investigation-of-missouri-s-house-speaker-zeroes-in-on-lobbyist-aides-and-advisers/article_f77bc748-f203-11ee-8b90-d33ac8c58ed3.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitterAn investigation of the leader of the Missouri House appears to be focused on his efforts to steer an $800,000 state contract to a software vendor.Meeting for the seventh time since launching a probe into House Speaker Dean Plocher, the House Ethics Committee was expected to take closed-door testimony Wednesday from a handful of aides and advisers.If Plocher appears, it would mark his second time before the bipartisan panel, which has hired an investigator to conduct interviews and help prepare a report outlining any findings.Among those on the schedule is Rod Jetton, whom Plocher hired as his chief of staff last year as the scandal was unfolding. Jetton told the Post-Dispatch Wednesday he was not sure what information the committee wanted from him. Tennessee Woman Sues State Over Abortion Restrictionshttps://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/04/tennessee-abortion-ban?CMP=Share_iOSApp_OtherJanuary 2023, whenever Kathryn Archer took her young daughter out to the local playground in Nashville, Tennessee, strangers often noticed her visibly pregnant stomach and wanted to make small talk.“When are you due?” they would ask Archer. “Do you know if you're having a boy or a girl?” “Oh, I bet your daughter's so excited to be a big sister.”Archer did not know how to tell them the truth: in early January, Archer's fetus had been diagnosed with several serious anomalies that made a miscarriage likely. If Archer did give birth, her baby could only be treated with surgeries and lifelong help – pain that Archer was unwilling to put a newborn through. Without those surgeries, which the infant might not survive, Archer's baby would die shortly after birth.But due to Tennessee's near-total abortion ban, Archer could not terminate her pregnancy in her home state and, instead, had to wait more than three weeks for an appointment at an out-of-state abortion clinic.“I don't want to confide in a stranger that I'm having to get an abortion because my baby can't survive outside of my womb and I can't get the care that I need as soon as I need it,” Archer recalled thinking. “Those three weeks were really bizarre, challenging, painful – beyond what it needed to be.”Investigation Into Marion Co. Raid That Killed Former Publisher in Kansas Is Winding Uphttps://kansasreflector.com/2024/04/02/colorado-authorities-wrapping-up-investigation-into-marion-police-who-raided-kansas-newspaper/The Colorado Bureau of Investigation is nearly finished with its inquiry into potential criminal activity surrounding the raid on the Marion County Record last year and will turn over findings to special prosecutors later this month, state authorities said Tuesday.The announcement comes a day after the Marion County Record filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking damages for alleged violations of civil rights.Melissa Underwood, a spokeswoman for the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, said Riley County Attorney Barry Wilkerson and Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett would determine whether to file criminal charges against journalists, law enforcement officers or anyone else.  @TheHeartlandPOD on Twitter and ThreadsCo-HostsAdam Sommer @Adam_Sommer85 (Twitter) @adam_sommer85 (Post)Rachel Parker @msraitchetp (Threads) Sean Diller (no social)The Heartland Collective - Sign Up Today!JOIN PATREON FOR MORE - AND JOIN OUR SOCIAL NETWORK!“Change The Conversation”Outro Song: “The World Is On Fire” by American Aquarium http://www.americanaquarium.com/

No Labels has No Candidates and is No More | One Suit, Two Suit, Red Suit Defamation Suit Filed against Missouri Lawmakers | Wisconsin Voters Restrict Themselves | Iowa State Senate Favors Chemical Creators over Citizens | Missouri House Speaker Investigation Continues | Tennessee woman sues over abortion access | Kansas Newspaper Raid Investigation Wrapping UpSOURCES: The Missouri Independent, KMBC news, Iowa Capital Dispatch, Kansas Reflector, St Louis Post-Dispatch, and The GuardianSHOW NOTES3 Missouri State Senators Suedhttps://missouriindependent.com/2024/04/04/three-missouri-state-senators-sued-for-defamation-over-posts-about-chiefs-parade-shooting/https://www.kmbc.com/article/olathe-kansas-man-wrongly-identified-as-chiefs-parade-shooter-sues-3-missouri-lawmakers/60388311Three Missouri Republicans – including one running for statewide office – are being sued for defamation over social media posts incorrectly identifying a Kansas man as an undocumented immigrant and the shooter at the Kansas City Chiefs' Super Bowl victory celebration.On Tuesday, Denton Loudermill of Olathe, Kansas, filed federal lawsuits against state Sens. Rick Brattin of Harrisonville, Denny Hoskins of Warrensburg and Nick Schroer of Defiance. Loudermill last week filed a similar complaint against U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee. The four lawsuits are almost identical in their allegations against, which involve the lawmakers using social media platforms to repost a photo of Loudermill in handcuffs shortly after the shooting. “The publication of the false representation that plaintiff was an ‘illegal alien' and a ‘shooter' was not made in good faith nor was it made by defendant with any legitimate interest in making or duty to make such assertions,” the lawsuit against Brattin states. Wisconsin Voters Vote To Limit Voting… No Seriouslyhttps://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/04/wisconsin-amendments-harmful-voting-elections?CMP=Share_iOSApp_OtherWisconsin voters enshrined in the state constitution on Tuesday two amendments that election officials and voting rights advocates worry will hurt election administration in the state.The first bans election offices from accessing private grants – a source of revenue that election officials relied on in 2020 to run elections during the pandemic and have since used to stock voting equipment in polling places.During the 2020 elections, election offices across the country – already chronically underfunded – accessed grants from the Center for Tech and Civic Life, a non-profit organization funded by Mark Zuckerberg, the Meta CEO, and his wife, Priscilla Chan. The grants were doled out with the explicit purpose of funding Covid-19 mitigation in polling places, and election offices used the money for things like personal protective equipment and to set up drive-through, contactless voting. Iowa Senate Says “Suck It Up” to folks hurt by mega corporation chemicalshttps://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2024/04/02/iowa-senate-votes-to-limit-lawsuits-over-roundup-other-farm-and-lawn-chemicals/A bill that would partially shield the maker of a widely used agricultural and lawn herbicide from lawsuits over its health effects was adopted by the Iowa Senate on Tuesday.Senate File 2412 would protect Bayer against claims it failed to warn people about the potential health effects of Roundup so long as its product is labeled as required by federal regulators.The legislation would apply to all domestic producers of herbicides and pesticides, but eliminating the failure-to-warn claims is part of Bayer's public strategy to “manage and mitigate the risks of Roundup litigation,” according to its website.The company hopes the U.S. Supreme Court decides that the claims are overruled by federal law, which the company predicts “could largely end the Roundup litigation.” But a federal appeals court rejected that argument in February.Bayer says about 167,000 lawsuits have been filed by people who claim their exposure to Roundup caused ailments such as cancer, often non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The herbicide has been used to kill weeds for about four decades. The litigation has cost the company billions of dollars.The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has said Roundup's primary ingredient, glyphosate, is not likely to cause cancer in humans and that it poses no health risks “when used in accordance with its current label.” But in 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer determined glyphosate is “probably carcinogenic to humans.”Missouri House Speaker Plocher, Now Candidate for Secretary of State, Narrows Focushttps://www.stltoday.com/news/local/government-politics/investigation-of-missouri-s-house-speaker-zeroes-in-on-lobbyist-aides-and-advisers/article_f77bc748-f203-11ee-8b90-d33ac8c58ed3.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitterAn investigation of the leader of the Missouri House appears to be focused on his efforts to steer an $800,000 state contract to a software vendor.Meeting for the seventh time since launching a probe into House Speaker Dean Plocher, the House Ethics Committee was expected to take closed-door testimony Wednesday from a handful of aides and advisers.If Plocher appears, it would mark his second time before the bipartisan panel, which has hired an investigator to conduct interviews and help prepare a report outlining any findings.Among those on the schedule is Rod Jetton, whom Plocher hired as his chief of staff last year as the scandal was unfolding. Jetton told the Post-Dispatch Wednesday he was not sure what information the committee wanted from him. Tennessee Woman Sues State Over Abortion Restrictionshttps://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/04/tennessee-abortion-ban?CMP=Share_iOSApp_OtherJanuary 2023, whenever Kathryn Archer took her young daughter out to the local playground in Nashville, Tennessee, strangers often noticed her visibly pregnant stomach and wanted to make small talk.“When are you due?” they would ask Archer. “Do you know if you're having a boy or a girl?” “Oh, I bet your daughter's so excited to be a big sister.”Archer did not know how to tell them the truth: in early January, Archer's fetus had been diagnosed with several serious anomalies that made a miscarriage likely. If Archer did give birth, her baby could only be treated with surgeries and lifelong help – pain that Archer was unwilling to put a newborn through. Without those surgeries, which the infant might not survive, Archer's baby would die shortly after birth.But due to Tennessee's near-total abortion ban, Archer could not terminate her pregnancy in her home state and, instead, had to wait more than three weeks for an appointment at an out-of-state abortion clinic.“I don't want to confide in a stranger that I'm having to get an abortion because my baby can't survive outside of my womb and I can't get the care that I need as soon as I need it,” Archer recalled thinking. “Those three weeks were really bizarre, challenging, painful – beyond what it needed to be.”Investigation Into Marion Co. Raid That Killed Former Publisher in Kansas Is Winding Uphttps://kansasreflector.com/2024/04/02/colorado-authorities-wrapping-up-investigation-into-marion-police-who-raided-kansas-newspaper/The Colorado Bureau of Investigation is nearly finished with its inquiry into potential criminal activity surrounding the raid on the Marion County Record last year and will turn over findings to special prosecutors later this month, state authorities said Tuesday.The announcement comes a day after the Marion County Record filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking damages for alleged violations of civil rights.Melissa Underwood, a spokeswoman for the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, said Riley County Attorney Barry Wilkerson and Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett would determine whether to file criminal charges against journalists, law enforcement officers or anyone else.  @TheHeartlandPOD on Twitter and ThreadsCo-HostsAdam Sommer @Adam_Sommer85 (Twitter) @adam_sommer85 (Post)Rachel Parker @msraitchetp (Threads) Sean Diller (no social)The Heartland Collective - Sign Up Today!JOIN PATREON FOR MORE - AND JOIN OUR SOCIAL NETWORK!“Change The Conversation”Outro Song: “The World Is On Fire” by American Aquarium http://www.americanaquarium.com/

The Kansas Legislature has renewed its attack on transgender rights with a bill that would ban gender-affirming care for those who are younger than 18. A committee led by Rep. Brenda Landwher, a Wichita Republican, has advanced the bill — after debate on the issue was compromised by preferential treatment of out-of-state interests, transparency concerns, and misinformation from a pair of Republican lawmakers who are also physicians. On this podcast episode, we are elevating the voices of Kansans who have been stifled along the way. They are: Anthony Alvarez, a Loud Light fellow D.C. Hiegert, Legal Fellow for the ACLU of Kansas Iridescent Riffel, a co-chiar of Equality Kansas, and sometimes opinion contributor to Kansas Reflector

Flyover Friday, March 1, 2024A flyover from this weeks top heartland stories including:Texas Is On Fire | Colorado Oil Wells Are Not So Well | Missouri Meat Packing Ponds Stink | Kansas legislators behave like bullies | Texas AG Making Lists Of Undesirables SOURCES: The heartland collective, Missouri independent, Kansas Reflector, Colorado Sun, Associated Press, Advocate and journalist - Erin Reed's blog, Erin In the MorningEvery thing is bigger in Texas, Including The States Largest Ever WildFirehttps://apnews.com/article/texas-panhandle-fire-evacuations-cbbb6a279bef1bd020722ed48927114aSTINNETT, Texas (AP) — A dusting of snow covered a desolate landscape of scorched prairie, dead cattle and burned out homes in the Texas Panhandle on Thursday, giving firefighters brief relief in their desperate efforts to corral a blaze that has grown into the largest in state history.The Smokehouse Creek fire grew to nearly 1,700 square miles (4,400 square kilometers). It merged with another fire and is just 3% contained, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service.Gray skies loomed over huge scars of blackened earth in a rural area dotted with scrub brush, ranchland, rocky canyons and oil rigs. In Stinnett, a town of about 1,600, someone propped up an American flag outside of a destroyed home.Colorado Oil Well Eye Sores Subject of new law suithttps://coloradosun.com/2024/02/24/colorado-orphaned-oil-wells-cleanup-lawsuit/It is just one orphan well among an estimated 1,800 in Colorado, but a lawsuit filed in Adams County District Court contends it is part of a large, fraudulent scheme to dump old, played-out wells onto the state.Adams County leads the state in orphan wells with 318. “It is a serious concern for the county and a growing concern as the number keeps increasing incrementally,” said Gregory Dean, the county's oil and gas administrator.The lawsuit, in which McCormick and her husband, Ronald, are among the plaintiffs, focuses on Denver-based HRM Resources LLC, which was the recipient of hundreds of low-producing oil and gas wells from some of the state's largest operators.For Adams County, orphan wells have been a big problem. Since July 2021 there have been 75 leaks and spills from orphan wells and 92% of the orphan well sites checked by county oil and gas inspectors were out of compliance.The lawsuit is seeking monetary damages. HRM currently has no active wells, according to the Colorado Energy and Carbon Management database, and in the last four years produced the equivalent of 550 barrels of oil.The company has been financed by Los Angeles-based Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, which according to its website manages $34 billion in investments, many in niche areas including oil and gas fields. The company is mentioned but not named as a defendant.https://www.coloradoan.com/story/news/2017/05/02/cut-abandoned-gas-line-caused-firestone-home-explosion/309230001/In April 2017, in nearby FIRESTONE CO — A home explosion that killed two people was caused by unrefined natural gas that was leaking from a small abandoned pipeline from a nearby well, fire officials saidThe April 17 explosion in Firestone about 30 miles (48 kilometers) north of Denver happened when the odorless gas in the old line leaked into the soil and made its way into the home's basement, Ted Poszywak, chief of the Frederick-Firestone fire department, said Tuesday.Investigators do not know how or when the small pipe was cut. The house was within 200 feet (60 meters) of the well, and the pipeline was buried about 7 feet (2.1 meters) underground.Missouri Meatpacking Plant Lagoon Wretched Stenchhttps://missouriindependent.com/2024/02/29/missouri-house-bill-takes-aim-at-cesspool-of-meatpacking-sludge/Between Vallerie Steele, her seven siblings and their children, there's always a birthday or anniversary to celebrate on the family's southwest Missouri farm. The summer months are typically a parade of pool parties and barbecues.Until last year. The stench coming from the lagoon across the road from Steele's home has become unbearable. It holds waste Denali Water Solutions collects from meatpacking plants before spreading it as free fertilizer on farmers' properties. The smell from the “cesspool of rotting flesh” has forced the family inside, she said. “Nobody wants to eat a burger or a hot dog if it smells like rotten crap in the air,” Steele said in an interview with The Independent. “It's just disgusting.”She tried to stain her porch three times last summer but couldn't stand to be outside because of the smell. One of her sons was bullied at school because the stench of the lagoon clung to his clothes. Children at her younger son's combined elementary and middle school beg their teachers to stay inside during recess.“It literally burns your lungs, your chest,” she said. “I'm an ICU nurse — like, I know this isn't normal.”Steele leads a coalition of southwest Missouri residents fighting for more regulation of Denali's — and similar — lagoons. She implored state lawmakers last month to pass legislation meant to protect rural neighbors and impose more regulations on wastewater sludge haulers.And on Thursday, the Missouri House voted 151-2 to pass legislation that would require companies like Denali to have water pollution permits and follow certain design requirements for its facilities. Facilities like Denali's would have to be at least 1,000, 2,000 or 4,000 feet from the nearest public building or home depending on the size of the lagoon. And the state would have to establish sampling rules for the basins and require groundwater monitoring in hydrologically sensitive areas.Sponsored by state Reps. Ed Lewis, a Moberly Republican, and Dirk Deaton, a Noel Republican, the legislation now moves to the Missouri Senate for consideration. The House attached an emergency clause, meaning if it clears the Senate and is signed by the governor the new regulations would go into effect immediately. Kansas Lawmakers School Yard Bully Routine with LGBTQ+ personshttps://kansasreflector.com/2024/02/29/legislative-bullies-target-kansas-lgbtq-kids-for-harassment-with-anti-trans-bills/When Kansas GOP leaders consider three bills Thursday targeting transgender kids in the state, they might as well file into a local high school and line the hallways. From their posts, leaning arrogantly against lockers, they could yell slurs and throw elbows at beleaguered LGBTQ+ kids trying to make their way through the day.They're bullying our fellow Kansans.If lawmakers actually behaved like that at high school, they would face discipline and possibly suspension. In the Kansas Legislature, however, they will revel in news media coverage and behave as though they're protecting someone from something nefarious. You know, the same way a high school bully “protects” a target in P.E. class by shoving them to the floor.These lawmakers will profess to be concerned about gender-affirming care for those younger than 18. Here's the truth: They don't give a rip about gender-affirming care guidelines. If they did, they would listen to the bevy of medical experts, families and trans folks who explain the lifesaving necessity of this treatment.As American Academy of Pediatrics CEO Mark Del Monte put it, his group wants to “ensure young people get the reproductive and gender-affirming care they need and are seen, heard and valued as they are.”Forget expert opinion. These lawmakers want to harass and exclude kids who look and behave differently.They're bullies, no matter their age.Not To Be Outdone In Texas They Are Making Listshttps://www.erininthemorning.com/p/retaliation-texas-ag-paxton-demands?publication_id=994764&utm_campaign=email-post-title&r=1n4up&utm_medium=emailIn a legal filing Thursday, PFLAG (National sought to block a new demand from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton that would require the organization to identify its Texas transgender members, doctors who work with them, and contingency plans for anti-transgender legislation in the state. The civil investigative demand, issued on Feb. 5, calls for extensive identifying information and records from the LGBTQ+ rights organization. PFLAG, in its filing to block the demands, describes them as "retaliation" for its opposition to anti-transgender laws in the state and alleges that they violate the freedom of speech and association protections afforded by the United States and Texas constitutions.Founded in 1973, PFLAG is the first and largest organization dedicated to supporting, educating, and advocating for LGBTQ+ people and their families.The demands are extensive. The letter to PFLAG National demands "unredacted" information around claims made by Brian Bond, PFLAG's Chief Executive Officer, in a legal fight against the ban on gender-affirming care in the state. Bond's claims highlighted that PFLAG represents 1,500 members in Texas, many of whom are seeking contingency plans if SB14, the ban on gender-affirming care, takes effect.Per the lawsuit, PFLAG National states that it would be required to disclose Texas trans youth members, including "complete names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, jobs, home addresses, telephone numbers, [and] email addresses." It also states they would need to hand over documents and communications related to their medical care, hospitals outside the state, and "contingency plans" discussed among members for navigating the new laws on gender-affirming care in Texas.Learn more and support PFLAG at PFLAG.ORG @TheHeartlandPOD on Twitter and ThreadsCo-HostsAdam Sommer @Adam_Sommer85 (Twitter) @adam_sommer85 (Post)Rachel Parker @msraitchetp (Post) Sean Diller (no social)The Heartland Collective - Sign Up Today!JOIN PATREON FOR MORE - AND JOIN OUR SOCIAL NETWORK!“Change The Conversation”Outro Song: “The World Is On Fire” by American Aquarium http://www.americanaquarium.com/

Flyover Friday, March 1, 2024A flyover from this weeks top heartland stories including:Texas Is On Fire | Colorado Oil Wells Are Not So Well | Missouri Meat Packing Ponds Stink | Kansas legislators behave like bullies | Texas AG Making Lists Of Undesirables SOURCES: The heartland collective, Missouri independent, Kansas Reflector, Colorado Sun, Associated Press, Advocate and journalist - Erin Reed's blog, Erin In the MorningEvery thing is bigger in Texas, Including The States Largest Ever WildFirehttps://apnews.com/article/texas-panhandle-fire-evacuations-cbbb6a279bef1bd020722ed48927114aSTINNETT, Texas (AP) — A dusting of snow covered a desolate landscape of scorched prairie, dead cattle and burned out homes in the Texas Panhandle on Thursday, giving firefighters brief relief in their desperate efforts to corral a blaze that has grown into the largest in state history.The Smokehouse Creek fire grew to nearly 1,700 square miles (4,400 square kilometers). It merged with another fire and is just 3% contained, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service.Gray skies loomed over huge scars of blackened earth in a rural area dotted with scrub brush, ranchland, rocky canyons and oil rigs. In Stinnett, a town of about 1,600, someone propped up an American flag outside of a destroyed home.Colorado Oil Well Eye Sores Subject of new law suithttps://coloradosun.com/2024/02/24/colorado-orphaned-oil-wells-cleanup-lawsuit/It is just one orphan well among an estimated 1,800 in Colorado, but a lawsuit filed in Adams County District Court contends it is part of a large, fraudulent scheme to dump old, played-out wells onto the state.Adams County leads the state in orphan wells with 318. “It is a serious concern for the county and a growing concern as the number keeps increasing incrementally,” said Gregory Dean, the county's oil and gas administrator.The lawsuit, in which McCormick and her husband, Ronald, are among the plaintiffs, focuses on Denver-based HRM Resources LLC, which was the recipient of hundreds of low-producing oil and gas wells from some of the state's largest operators.For Adams County, orphan wells have been a big problem. Since July 2021 there have been 75 leaks and spills from orphan wells and 92% of the orphan well sites checked by county oil and gas inspectors were out of compliance.The lawsuit is seeking monetary damages. HRM currently has no active wells, according to the Colorado Energy and Carbon Management database, and in the last four years produced the equivalent of 550 barrels of oil.The company has been financed by Los Angeles-based Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, which according to its website manages $34 billion in investments, many in niche areas including oil and gas fields. The company is mentioned but not named as a defendant.https://www.coloradoan.com/story/news/2017/05/02/cut-abandoned-gas-line-caused-firestone-home-explosion/309230001/In April 2017, in nearby FIRESTONE CO — A home explosion that killed two people was caused by unrefined natural gas that was leaking from a small abandoned pipeline from a nearby well, fire officials saidThe April 17 explosion in Firestone about 30 miles (48 kilometers) north of Denver happened when the odorless gas in the old line leaked into the soil and made its way into the home's basement, Ted Poszywak, chief of the Frederick-Firestone fire department, said Tuesday.Investigators do not know how or when the small pipe was cut. The house was within 200 feet (60 meters) of the well, and the pipeline was buried about 7 feet (2.1 meters) underground.Missouri Meatpacking Plant Lagoon Wretched Stenchhttps://missouriindependent.com/2024/02/29/missouri-house-bill-takes-aim-at-cesspool-of-meatpacking-sludge/Between Vallerie Steele, her seven siblings and their children, there's always a birthday or anniversary to celebrate on the family's southwest Missouri farm. The summer months are typically a parade of pool parties and barbecues.Until last year. The stench coming from the lagoon across the road from Steele's home has become unbearable. It holds waste Denali Water Solutions collects from meatpacking plants before spreading it as free fertilizer on farmers' properties. The smell from the “cesspool of rotting flesh” has forced the family inside, she said. “Nobody wants to eat a burger or a hot dog if it smells like rotten crap in the air,” Steele said in an interview with The Independent. “It's just disgusting.”She tried to stain her porch three times last summer but couldn't stand to be outside because of the smell. One of her sons was bullied at school because the stench of the lagoon clung to his clothes. Children at her younger son's combined elementary and middle school beg their teachers to stay inside during recess.“It literally burns your lungs, your chest,” she said. “I'm an ICU nurse — like, I know this isn't normal.”Steele leads a coalition of southwest Missouri residents fighting for more regulation of Denali's — and similar — lagoons. She implored state lawmakers last month to pass legislation meant to protect rural neighbors and impose more regulations on wastewater sludge haulers.And on Thursday, the Missouri House voted 151-2 to pass legislation that would require companies like Denali to have water pollution permits and follow certain design requirements for its facilities. Facilities like Denali's would have to be at least 1,000, 2,000 or 4,000 feet from the nearest public building or home depending on the size of the lagoon. And the state would have to establish sampling rules for the basins and require groundwater monitoring in hydrologically sensitive areas.Sponsored by state Reps. Ed Lewis, a Moberly Republican, and Dirk Deaton, a Noel Republican, the legislation now moves to the Missouri Senate for consideration. The House attached an emergency clause, meaning if it clears the Senate and is signed by the governor the new regulations would go into effect immediately. Kansas Lawmakers School Yard Bully Routine with LGBTQ+ personshttps://kansasreflector.com/2024/02/29/legislative-bullies-target-kansas-lgbtq-kids-for-harassment-with-anti-trans-bills/When Kansas GOP leaders consider three bills Thursday targeting transgender kids in the state, they might as well file into a local high school and line the hallways. From their posts, leaning arrogantly against lockers, they could yell slurs and throw elbows at beleaguered LGBTQ+ kids trying to make their way through the day.They're bullying our fellow Kansans.If lawmakers actually behaved like that at high school, they would face discipline and possibly suspension. In the Kansas Legislature, however, they will revel in news media coverage and behave as though they're protecting someone from something nefarious. You know, the same way a high school bully “protects” a target in P.E. class by shoving them to the floor.These lawmakers will profess to be concerned about gender-affirming care for those younger than 18. Here's the truth: They don't give a rip about gender-affirming care guidelines. If they did, they would listen to the bevy of medical experts, families and trans folks who explain the lifesaving necessity of this treatment.As American Academy of Pediatrics CEO Mark Del Monte put it, his group wants to “ensure young people get the reproductive and gender-affirming care they need and are seen, heard and valued as they are.”Forget expert opinion. These lawmakers want to harass and exclude kids who look and behave differently.They're bullies, no matter their age.Not To Be Outdone In Texas They Are Making Listshttps://www.erininthemorning.com/p/retaliation-texas-ag-paxton-demands?publication_id=994764&utm_campaign=email-post-title&r=1n4up&utm_medium=emailIn a legal filing Thursday, PFLAG (National sought to block a new demand from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton that would require the organization to identify its Texas transgender members, doctors who work with them, and contingency plans for anti-transgender legislation in the state. The civil investigative demand, issued on Feb. 5, calls for extensive identifying information and records from the LGBTQ+ rights organization. PFLAG, in its filing to block the demands, describes them as "retaliation" for its opposition to anti-transgender laws in the state and alleges that they violate the freedom of speech and association protections afforded by the United States and Texas constitutions.Founded in 1973, PFLAG is the first and largest organization dedicated to supporting, educating, and advocating for LGBTQ+ people and their families.The demands are extensive. The letter to PFLAG National demands "unredacted" information around claims made by Brian Bond, PFLAG's Chief Executive Officer, in a legal fight against the ban on gender-affirming care in the state. Bond's claims highlighted that PFLAG represents 1,500 members in Texas, many of whom are seeking contingency plans if SB14, the ban on gender-affirming care, takes effect.Per the lawsuit, PFLAG National states that it would be required to disclose Texas trans youth members, including "complete names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, jobs, home addresses, telephone numbers, [and] email addresses." It also states they would need to hand over documents and communications related to their medical care, hospitals outside the state, and "contingency plans" discussed among members for navigating the new laws on gender-affirming care in Texas.Learn more and support PFLAG at PFLAG.ORG @TheHeartlandPOD on Twitter and ThreadsCo-HostsAdam Sommer @Adam_Sommer85 (Twitter) @adam_sommer85 (Post)Rachel Parker @msraitchetp (Post) Sean Diller (no social)The Heartland Collective - Sign Up Today!JOIN PATREON FOR MORE - AND JOIN OUR SOCIAL NETWORK!“Change The Conversation”Outro Song: “The World Is On Fire” by American Aquarium http://www.americanaquarium.com/

The Heartland POD for Friday, February 23, 2024A flyover from this weeks top heartland stories including:Primary voting is underway in Texas | Kansas Medicaid expansion update | Illinois Gov J.B. Pritzker lays out priorities as a progressive pragmatist | Missouri Democrats filibuster ballot candy | KS Gov Laura Kelly's veto will stand Primary voting is underway in Texashttps://www.texastribune.org/2024/02/21/julie-johnson-brian-williams-congressional-district-32-colin-allred/BY SEJAL GOVINDARAOFEB. 21, 2024WASHINGTON — In 2018, Rep. Colin Allred flipped Texas' 32nd Congressional District, turning the Dallas-based district into a blue stronghold. Now, as the Democrat vies to unseat U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, a crowded field of 10 Democrats is lining up to replace him.Dr. Brian Williams, a trauma surgeon, and State Rep. Julie Johnson, of Farmers Branch, are leading the field in the Democratic primary with their fundraising efforts, each amassing about a million dollars in campaign donations since their campaigns were registered at the beginning of last summer.Ideologically, Williams and Johnson are aligned. They both rank health care a top priority if elected, and have touted their ability to work across the aisle.Johnson, a trial lawyer in her third term in the state House rode the 2019 blue wave to unseat hardline conservative incumbent Matt Rinaldi, by 13 points. Rinaldi now chairs the state GOP. In her three terms, at least 40 of the bills Johnson has co-authored or joint-authored have been signed into law.As a Democrat in the Republican-dominated state Legislature, Johnson has played a lot of defense trying to kill bills she and other progressives deem harmful. Johnson, who is gay, said she and other members of the House's LGBTQ caucus have had success in killing anti-LGBTQ bills by mastering the rules of procedure and “being better at the rules than the other side.” In 2019, she took down a House version of the so-called “Save Chick-fil-A bill” on a rule technicality. The bill was a response to a San Antonio airport kicking out the fast food restaurant over criticism of its religiously affiliated donations to anti-LGBTQ groups. It was revived in another bill and passed into law.If elected, Johnson would be the first openly LGBTQ member of Congress from a Southern state. She's drawn notable endorsements from Beto O'Rourke, Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, EMILY's List, Equality PAC, and several labor unions.Matt Angle, director of Lone Star Project, a Texas group that works to boost Democrats, said Johnson is the frontrunner in the race, but Williams is a formidable challenger.“Make no mistake about it though,” Angle said. “Julie Johnson has a voter base within the district not only from her old district, but also just from years of being an active Democratic activist and a donor and really a couple of just outstanding terms in the legislature.”While he may be new to the Texas political arena, Williams is no stranger to the halls of Congress.Williams was a health policy adviser to U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy — who endorsed him — to help pass the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act in 2022 – the farthest reaching gun safety legislation in decades. The legislation, crafted in the aftermath of the shootings in Uvalde and Buffalo New York, allocated millions of dollars to expand mental health resources, strengthens background checks and tightens the boyfriend loophole. U.S. Sen. John Cornyn was a lead negotiator on the bill with Murphy, and Williams worked closely with Cornyn's office. In his role as a health policy advisor for Murphy, he worked across the aisle with Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana on mental health legislation.Williams also worked with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California to pass federal health care legislation related to pandemic preparedness and reducing health care costs.Williams said his experience as a trauma surgeon — operating on victims of gun violence and women experiencing reproductive health emergencies — has fueled his priorities to fight for gun restrictions and increase access to abortions and other womens' health. Williams added his perspective as a Black doctor seeing racial disparities in health care will resonate with the district's diverse constituency, given that the district is now a majority-minority district with a 37% Hispanic or Latino population, 22% Black population and 8% Asian population.“They're excited that there's someone that looks like them that can represent them in Congress,” Williams said in an interview.As Allred opted to stay neutral in the race to succeed him – Williams said he had pursued his endorsement while Johnson said she had not – the tension between Johnson and Williams has been heating up.Williams has publicly criticized Johnson for a vote she took that would have made some changes and tweaks to the state's Alternatives to Abortions program, which provides information about resources to women seeking the procedure.“I draw contrast between myself and Representative Johnson about how I am the better candidate,” Williams said.Johnson, who is endorsed by Planned Parenthood, said Williams misrepresented the vote, which she said she cast to bring the already-funded program under the scope of the Health and Human Services Commission so it could be subject to public transparency. Her campaign published a fact-check on her website, likening Williams' misrepresentation of her record to “Trumpian-style, false attacks.”Planned Parenthood was critical of the legislation.Johnson said women's health is also a priority for her, and she stands by her record.“Texas leads the nation of uninsured folks, and in maternal mortality, and in infant mortality. Obviously, we're leading the nation in an attack on women's freedom for women's reproductive health, and I've been a champion of a lot of these issues,” she said.Other candidates vying for the open seat in the March 5 primary include businessman Raja Chaudhry, tech entrepreneur Alex Cornwallis, former Dallas City Councilman and real estate broker Kevin Felder and attorney Callie Butcher, who would be the first openly transgender member of Congress if elected.If no candidate gets a majority of the vote, there will be a runoff in May. The winner of the Democratic primary will face off against the winner of the Republican primary in November but is likely to win given that the district is solidly blue.And, from Dallas we go to Houston whereAfter bruising loss in Houston mayoral race, U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee faces her toughest reelection yetJackson Lee faces off against Amanda Edwards, her most formidable congressional opponent in three decades.https://www.texastribune.org/2024/02/19/sheila-jackson-lee-amanda-edwards-democratic-primary-houston/BY SEJAL GOVINDARAOFEB. 19, 2024In 1994, Sheila Jackson Lee, then a 44-year-old Houston city councilwoman, unseated four-term U.S. Rep. Craig Washington in the Democratic primary, securing a seat she'd come to hold for the next 30 years.This March, former Houston City Councilwoman Amanda Edwards, 42, is hoping to replicate that political upset as she faces off against Jackson Lee in the Democratic primary for Congressional District 18.Jackson Lee, who did not respond to requests for an interview, has only drawn four primary challengers over her 14-term career, all of whom she defeated by landslide margins.She's a household name in her Houston-based district, known for her frequent visibility at constituent graduations, funerals and baby showers.But last year she ran for Houston mayor against then-state Sen. John Whitmire. It was a bruising primary — unfamiliar territory for Jackson Lee — and her campaign was roiled with negative media after audio of her berating her congressional staffers was leaked. She ended up losing the race by 30 points and then immediately announced she was running for reelection to the U.S. House.Amanda Edwards, a former intern in Jackson Lee's office, initially announced she was running for Houston mayor until the congresswoman threw her hat in the ring. At that point, Edwards pivoted — endorsing Jackson Lee as mayor and beginning her own bid for Congress.By the time Jackson Lee announced she was running for her House seat again, Edwards had already gained momentum. In the fourth quarter of last year, Edwards outraised the congresswoman 10 to 1 — $272,000 to Jackson Lee's $23,000.Mark Jones, Baker Institute fellow in political science at Rice University said, “This could be the year that Congresswoman Jackson Lee loses. And given that as a safe, Democratic, seat whoever wins the primary will be headed to Washington in January of 2025”Jackson Lee holds a narrow lead in primary polls, while 16% of voters remain undecided. Edwards, a native Houstonian, said her commitment to public service is propelled by her father's battle with cancer when she was a teenager, where she learned firsthand about the cracks in the health care system and how “policy could be a matter of life and death.” She served as an at-large Houston City Council member from 2016 to 2020, where she represented a constituency of more than 2 million people.In her race to beat Jackson Lee, Edwards has garnered some notable endorsements including the Harris County Young Democrats, and the Harris County chapter of the Texas Coalition of Black Democrats – both of which endorsed Jackson Lee in past races.The Harris County Young Democrats rescinded its endorsement of Jackson Lee in the mayoral race — citing a “zero tolerance policy” for staff abuse.Lenard Polk, Harris County chapter president of the Texas Coalition of Black Democrats, said Jackson Lee's leaked audio tape controversy also factored into the committee's decision to not endorse her. On the recording Jackson Lee berates a staffer for not having a document she was looking for and calls two of her staffers “Goddamn big-ass children, fuckin' idiots who serve no Goddamn purpose.”He said endorsement committee members were still “quite upset” over the tape and it “wasn't a good look” for Jackson Lee. The leaked tape fueled discourse about Jackson Lee's reputation as an unkind boss on Capitol Hill – she regularly makes Washingtonian Magazine's worst of Congress list and her office has high turnover rates.Polk added that voters felt abandoned by Jackson Lee, who jumped into the mayor's race without endorsing someone to take her place, only to file for reelection a day after losing.Jackson Lee's battle to retain her seat is made tougher by 2021 redistricting, because the 18th district now includes more young white professionals who do not have the same level of loyalty to her as longtime district residents.But despite any damage she may have incurred from her mayoral run, Jackson Lee remains a powerful political force in her district.County Commissioner Rodney Ellis, who is backing Jackson Lee, said he doesn't know anyone in local politics with her “energy level,” and that Jackson Lee has secured meaningful federal grants for her district – most recently $20.5 million to Harris County Public Health Department's Uplift Harris Guaranteed Income Pilot project. He also said she has a reputation for being a reliably progressive voice in Congress.Jackson Lee has a long list of powerful endorsements from House Democratic leaders like House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Minority Whip Katherine Clarke. She's backed by Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and other members of Texas' Washington delegation including Democratic Reps. Lizzie Fletcher of Houston, Lloyd Doggett of Austin, Henry Cuellar of Laredo and Joaquin Castro of San Antonio.Ellis said Jackson Lee may not be a strong fundraiser but she will benefit from her incumbency advantage.Linda Bell-Robinson, a Houston Democratic precinct chair, said she is fighting for Jackson Lee to retain her seat because seniority in Congress is important and Edwards would be learning the ropes as a freshman if elected.“We need fighters,” she said. “We don't need people trying to learn how to fight on the battlefield. We need people who are already fighting and know how to fight their fight.SEAN: Super interesting race. For my part, I don't have any problem with members of Congress being extremely tough to work for. I have problems with lying, fraud, criminal activity, and squishy voting records. Congresswoman Jackson Lee has 100% ratings from Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, and AFL-CIO. She has a 95% rating from League of Conservation VotersNew estimate predicts Medicaid expansion would serve 152K at no cost to stateA $509M federal incentive would help offset state cost for first eight yearsBY: SHERMAN SMITH - FEBRUARY 22, 2024 4:22 PMhttps://kansasreflector.com/2024/02/22/new-estimate-predicts-medicaid-expansion-would-serve-152k-at-no-cost-to-state/TOPEKA — The Kansas Health Institute on Thursday unveiled its analysis of Gov. Laura Kelly's proposal to expand Medicaid, predicting 152,000 Kansans would enroll in the first year with no additional cost to the state government.The Democratic governor has made passage of Medicaid expansion a top legislative priority this year, following her statewide campaign to promote the policy last fall. But Republican leadership in the Legislature opposes the policy and has blocked hearings on Medicaid expansion for four years.Kansas is one of just 10 states that still haven't expanded Medicaid since President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act in 2010.The state-run version of Medicaid, called KanCare, provides health care services to low-income families, seniors and people with disabilities. Currently, those who earn less than 38% of the federal poverty level are eligible. For a family of four, the annual income limit is $11,400.Under the ACA, also known as Obamacare, the federal government offers to cover 90% of the cost of Medicaid services in exchange for expanding eligibility to 138% of the federal poverty rate. The annual income threshold for a family of four would be $41,400.Kelly's proposal includes a work requirement with exceptions for full-time students, veterans, caregivers, people with partial disabilities, and former foster kids. Her plan also would add a new surcharge for hospitals.KHI predicts the change in income eligibility would result in 151,898 people enrolling in KanCare — 106,450 adults and 45,448 children. Those numbers include 68,236 adults and 16,377 children who are currently uninsured.About 68.9% of the adults are already working at least part-time, according to the KHI analysis. Of the remaining 31.1% KHI determined 19.1% of the unemployed adults have a disability, 16.1% are students and 3.8% are veterans.KHI calculated the cost to the state for expanding Medicaid over the first eight years would be fully offset — mostly because of a $509 million incentive included in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. Other savings would come from the federal government picking up more of the tab on existing services, as well as the new surcharge on hospitals. The Kansas Sunflower Foundation on Thursday released findings from surveys that found 68% of Kansas voters, including 51% of Republicans and 83% of small business owners support Medicaid expansion.Steve Baccus, an Ottawa County farmer and former president of Kansas Farm Bureau, said in a news release that expanding Medicaid was about “investing in the well-being of our communities.”Baccus said “Our rural communities are often struggling to keep Main Street open and to continue to offer the necessary services to the surrounding agricultural enterprises. A community that can offer a total health care package has an advantage in maintaining a viable town.”The findings are consistent with a Fort Hays State University poll that was released in October.With budget proposal and fiery address, Pritzker paints himself as progressive pragmatistThursday, February 22, 2024Governor's spending plan advances progressive-backed policies in tight fiscal landscapeBy HANNAH MEISELCapitol News Illinoishmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.comhttps://capitolnewsillinois.com/NEWS/with-budget-proposal-and-fiery-address-pritzker-paints-himself-as-progressive-pragmatistSPRINGFIELD – In delivering his annual State of the State and budget address on Wednesday, Gov. JB Pritzker cast his administration as both progressive and pragmatic – a balance he's worked to strike as his national profile has grown.Some elements of the governor's proposed spending plan, like using $10 million in state funds to eliminate $1 billion worth of Illinoisans' medical debt, are hardline progressive ideas. Others, including a goal to achieve “universal preschool” by 2027, fit in with a more traditional liberal platform.But Pritzker has also defined his success in traditional economic terms, putting particular stock into how New York City-based credit ratings agencies view Illinois' finances, while also positioning Illinois as a hub for emerging technologies like electric vehicles and quantum computing. As Illinois faces an influx of migrants from the southern U.S. border Pritzker has leaned into a leadership style that prioritizes progressive ideals while projecting an image of fiscal responsibility.As he outlined a proposal to add $182 Million toward the state's migrant response, Gov. Pritzker said, “We didn't ask for this manufactured crisis, But we must deal with it all the same.”“Children, pregnant women, and the elderly have been sent here in the dead of night, left far from our designated welcome centers, in freezing temperatures, wearing flip flops and T-shirts,” Pritzker said. “Think about that the next time a politician from Texas wants to lecture you about being a good Christian.”The governor was met with big applause from Democrats in laying out his proposed “Healthcare Consumer Access and Protection Act,” which would, in part, ban “prior authorization” requirements for mental health treatment.Pritzker characterized the practice of prior authorization as a way for insurance companies to deny the care that doctors have prescribed.Pritzker is also proposing spending $10 million in state funds to buy Illinoisans' past-due medical debt that's been sent to collections. Partnering with national nonprofit RIP Medical Debt, which buys debt for pennies on the dollar on the same market that collections agencies purchase the rights to the debts, the governor said Illinois could “relieve nearly $1 billion in medical debt for the first cohort of 340,000 Illinoisans.”The governor spent time noting two key places he said Illinois fails its Black citizens:  maternal mortality and disproportionate rates of homelessness. To combat Black maternal mortality rates, Pritzker proposed helping more community-based reproductive health centers to open, citing Illinois' first freestanding nonprofit birthing center in Berwyn as a model.He said, “Black women in our state are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women.” Pritzker proposed spending an additional $50 million on the state's “Home Illinois” program launched in 2021, in part to “attack the root causes of housing insecurity for Black Illinoisans.” He cited a statistic that Black people make up 61 percent of Illinois' homeless population despite only being 14 percent of the state's general population.Additionally, the governor proposed a $1 million pilot program for free diapers for low-income families, as well as a $5 million increased investment in an existing home visit program “for our most vulnerable families” with babies in their first year.His budget also includes $12 million to create a child tax credit for families with children under three with incomes below a certain threshold. Among the successes Pritzker pointed to, perhaps the most salient is his claim that Illinois' new “Smart Start” early childhood program – proposed last year in the governor's second inaugural address – had exceeded its first-year goals.The program aimed to create 5,000 new preschool seats last year, but ended up creating 5,823, Pritzker said – a 15 percent overperformance. “As a result, right now we have over 82,000 publicly-funded preschool classroom seats – the highest number in our state's history. Staying on the Smart Start plan, we will achieve universal preschool by 2027.”Echoing his 2022 election-year call for a temporary pause on the state's 1 percent tax on groceries, Pritzker on Wednesday proposed nixing the grocery tax altogether.He said “It's one more regressive tax we just don't need. If it reduces inflation for families from 4 percent to 3 percent, even if it only puts a few hundred bucks back in families' pockets, it's the right thing to do.”Even while proposing a series of progressive expenditures, the governor also sought to cast himself as a pragmatist when it comes to state finances. The state has seen strong revenue performances in the past few years, But in November, the governor's own economic forecasting office predicted a nearly $900 million deficit in the fiscal year that begins July 1.“Our FY25 budget proposal makes some hard choices,” Pritzker said Wednesday. “I wish we had big surpluses to work with this year to take on every one of the very real challenges we face.”Illinois' once-paltry “rainy day” fund now has $2 billion socked away, the governor noted, and the state has paid off high-interest debt during his five years in office.To mitigate Illinois' previously projected deficit, Pritzker is proposing to more than double the tax rate paid by sportsbooks on profits – a change that would bring in an estimated $200 million annually. He also proposed extending an existing cap on operating losses that businesses can claim on taxes, which could help generate more than $500 million, the governor's office claims.Another revenue generator proposed by the governor: raising $101 million by capping a sales tax credit retailers are allowed to claim. But business groups on Wednesday signaled they'd put up a fight. In his first few months in office in 2019, Pritzker used his fresh political capital to muscle a $15 minimum wage ramp through the legislature – a long-fought-for progressive policy goal – followed closely by a trip to New York City to meet with executives at the influential big three credit ratings agencies.When Pritzker took office, Illinois' credit ratings were hovering around “junk” status after a two-year budget impasse under his predecessor, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner. And though Illinois suffered a final credit downgrade in the early months of COVID, the state has since received nine upgrades.The governor on Wednesday held those upgrades in high regard, saying“My one line in the sand is that I will only sign a budget that is responsibly balanced and that does not diminish or derail the improving credit standing we have achieved for the last five years,”Andrew Adams contributed.Missouri Senate Dems Hold The Line In Ballot Fighthttps://missouriindependent.com/2024/02/20/democrat-filibuster-forces-removal-of-ballot-candy-from-senate-initiative-petition-bill/BY: RUDI KELLER - FEBRUARY 20, 2024 5:15 PM     A Democratic filibuster that stretched more than 20 hours ended this week when Senate Republicans stripped provisions critics derided as “ballot candy” from a proposal to make it harder to pass constitutional amendments proposed by initiative petitions.Ballot candy refers to language designed to trick voters - into thinking the initiative is about ensuring only citizens vote, for instance - when that's totally irrelevant to the question voters are deciding.By an 18-12 vote, with nine Republicans and nine Democrats forming the majority, language that stated non-citizens could not vote on constitutional amendments was removed, as were sections barring foreign governments and political parties from taking sides in Missouri ballot measures.The Senate then, by a voice vote, gave first-round approval to the bill that would require both a statewide majority and a majority vote in five of the state's eight congressional districts to pass future constitutional amendments.The proposal would alter the way Missourians have approved constitutional changes since the first statewide vote on a constitution in 1846.Senate Minority Leader John Rizzo of Independence, a Democrat, said, “All we're asking for is a fair fight. And the Republicans know if it's a fair fight, they lose, which is why they have to pump it full of ballot candy and mislead voters.”Meanwhile, the House spent much of Tuesday morning debating legislation that would make changes to the signature gathering process for initiative petition campaigns.Among numerous provisions, the bill would require signatures be recorded using black or dark ink and that signature gatherers be citizens of the United States, residents of Missouri or physically present in Missouri for at least 30 consecutive days prior to the collection of signatures.Its most sweeping provision grants new authority to the secretary of state and attorney general to review initiative and referendum petitions for compliance with the Missouri Constitution.The effort to make it harder to get on the ballot and harder to pass a constitutional amendment has been a GOP priority for several years. In the past two election cycles, voters have expanded Medicaid coverage and legalized recreational marijuana, circumventing the GOP majority that opposed both. The push to raise the threshold on amendments proposed by initiative has taken on a new urgency for Republicans as abortion-rights supporters move ahead with a signature campaign to make this year's ballot.The results on abortion amendments in other states has Missouri abortion foes anxious about whether they can defend the state's almost total ban in a statewide election. Voters in Ohio last year rejected an effort to increase the majority needed to pass constitutional amendments before voting 57% in favor of abortion rights. And in 2022, Kansas voters defeated an attempt to restrict abortion rights by a landslide vote.Gov. Kelly Keep Kansas GOP In Linehttps://kansasreflector.com/2024/02/20/kansas-house-republicans-fail-to-override-governors-veto-on-massive-tax-reform-bill/Kansas House Republicans fail to override governor's veto on massive tax reform billBY: TIM CARPENTER - FEBRUARY 20, 2024 12:41 PM     TOPEKA — The Republican-led Kansas House failed Tuesday to override Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly ‘s veto of a tax reform bill anchored by implementation of a single, flat state income tax rate of 5.25% in addition to elimination of the state sales tax on groceries and creation of a tax exemption for all Social Security income.The GOP holds supermajorities in the House and Senate, but there was skepticism that both chambers could muster two-thirds majorities necessary to rebuke Kelly given opposition among conservative and moderate Republicans to parts of the three-year, $1.6 billion tax cut favoring the state's most wealthy. Kelly said the decision of House members to sustain her veto was a win for working-class Kansans who would have seen “little relief under this irresponsible flat tax experiment.” The Legislature should move ahead with her proposal for reducing $1 billion in taxes over three years.The governor said “I urge legislators to work together to cut taxes in a way that continues our economic growth and maintains our solid fiscal foundation while benefitting all Kansans, not just those at the top,”.Rep. Tom Sawyer, D-Wichita, said the cost of the tax reform bill could reach $600 million annually when fully implemented, and the plan didn't do enough for the middle class in Kansas. He said a married couple earning $42,000 to $75,000 per year would only see an income tax reduction of about 75 cents.Rep. Trevor Jacobs of Fort Scott was among Republicans who opposed overriding Kelly's veto. He said the flat tax would force the state's working class to carry a larger burden of the state tax load. And the 2024 Legislature had sufficient time to develop an alternative that provided tax relief to all Kansans rather than just a select few.Good thinking! See it's not just Democrats who think KS Gov Laura Kelly knows what she's doing. Welp, that's it for me! From Denver I'm Sean Diller. Stories in today's show appeared first in the Missouri Independent, Kansas Reflector, Texas Tribune, and Capitol News Illinois. Thanks for listening, see you next time.  @TheHeartlandPOD on Twitter and ThreadsCo-HostsAdam Sommer @Adam_Sommer85 (Twitter) @adam_sommer85 (Post)Rachel Parker @msraitchetp (Post) Sean Diller (no social)The Heartland Collective - Sign Up Today!JOIN PATREON FOR MORE - AND JOIN OUR SOCIAL NETWORK!“Change The Conversation”Outro Song: “The World Is On Fire” by American Aquarium http://www.americanaquarium.com/

The Heartland POD for Friday, February 23, 2024A flyover from this weeks top heartland stories including:Primary voting is underway in Texas | Kansas Medicaid expansion update | Illinois Gov J.B. Pritzker lays out priorities as a progressive pragmatist | Missouri Democrats filibuster ballot candy | KS Gov Laura Kelly's veto will stand Primary voting is underway in Texashttps://www.texastribune.org/2024/02/21/julie-johnson-brian-williams-congressional-district-32-colin-allred/BY SEJAL GOVINDARAOFEB. 21, 2024WASHINGTON — In 2018, Rep. Colin Allred flipped Texas' 32nd Congressional District, turning the Dallas-based district into a blue stronghold. Now, as the Democrat vies to unseat U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, a crowded field of 10 Democrats is lining up to replace him.Dr. Brian Williams, a trauma surgeon, and State Rep. Julie Johnson, of Farmers Branch, are leading the field in the Democratic primary with their fundraising efforts, each amassing about a million dollars in campaign donations since their campaigns were registered at the beginning of last summer.Ideologically, Williams and Johnson are aligned. They both rank health care a top priority if elected, and have touted their ability to work across the aisle.Johnson, a trial lawyer in her third term in the state House rode the 2019 blue wave to unseat hardline conservative incumbent Matt Rinaldi, by 13 points. Rinaldi now chairs the state GOP. In her three terms, at least 40 of the bills Johnson has co-authored or joint-authored have been signed into law.As a Democrat in the Republican-dominated state Legislature, Johnson has played a lot of defense trying to kill bills she and other progressives deem harmful. Johnson, who is gay, said she and other members of the House's LGBTQ caucus have had success in killing anti-LGBTQ bills by mastering the rules of procedure and “being better at the rules than the other side.” In 2019, she took down a House version of the so-called “Save Chick-fil-A bill” on a rule technicality. The bill was a response to a San Antonio airport kicking out the fast food restaurant over criticism of its religiously affiliated donations to anti-LGBTQ groups. It was revived in another bill and passed into law.If elected, Johnson would be the first openly LGBTQ member of Congress from a Southern state. She's drawn notable endorsements from Beto O'Rourke, Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, EMILY's List, Equality PAC, and several labor unions.Matt Angle, director of Lone Star Project, a Texas group that works to boost Democrats, said Johnson is the frontrunner in the race, but Williams is a formidable challenger.“Make no mistake about it though,” Angle said. “Julie Johnson has a voter base within the district not only from her old district, but also just from years of being an active Democratic activist and a donor and really a couple of just outstanding terms in the legislature.”While he may be new to the Texas political arena, Williams is no stranger to the halls of Congress.Williams was a health policy adviser to U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy — who endorsed him — to help pass the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act in 2022 – the farthest reaching gun safety legislation in decades. The legislation, crafted in the aftermath of the shootings in Uvalde and Buffalo New York, allocated millions of dollars to expand mental health resources, strengthens background checks and tightens the boyfriend loophole. U.S. Sen. John Cornyn was a lead negotiator on the bill with Murphy, and Williams worked closely with Cornyn's office. In his role as a health policy advisor for Murphy, he worked across the aisle with Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana on mental health legislation.Williams also worked with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California to pass federal health care legislation related to pandemic preparedness and reducing health care costs.Williams said his experience as a trauma surgeon — operating on victims of gun violence and women experiencing reproductive health emergencies — has fueled his priorities to fight for gun restrictions and increase access to abortions and other womens' health. Williams added his perspective as a Black doctor seeing racial disparities in health care will resonate with the district's diverse constituency, given that the district is now a majority-minority district with a 37% Hispanic or Latino population, 22% Black population and 8% Asian population.“They're excited that there's someone that looks like them that can represent them in Congress,” Williams said in an interview.As Allred opted to stay neutral in the race to succeed him – Williams said he had pursued his endorsement while Johnson said she had not – the tension between Johnson and Williams has been heating up.Williams has publicly criticized Johnson for a vote she took that would have made some changes and tweaks to the state's Alternatives to Abortions program, which provides information about resources to women seeking the procedure.“I draw contrast between myself and Representative Johnson about how I am the better candidate,” Williams said.Johnson, who is endorsed by Planned Parenthood, said Williams misrepresented the vote, which she said she cast to bring the already-funded program under the scope of the Health and Human Services Commission so it could be subject to public transparency. Her campaign published a fact-check on her website, likening Williams' misrepresentation of her record to “Trumpian-style, false attacks.”Planned Parenthood was critical of the legislation.Johnson said women's health is also a priority for her, and she stands by her record.“Texas leads the nation of uninsured folks, and in maternal mortality, and in infant mortality. Obviously, we're leading the nation in an attack on women's freedom for women's reproductive health, and I've been a champion of a lot of these issues,” she said.Other candidates vying for the open seat in the March 5 primary include businessman Raja Chaudhry, tech entrepreneur Alex Cornwallis, former Dallas City Councilman and real estate broker Kevin Felder and attorney Callie Butcher, who would be the first openly transgender member of Congress if elected.If no candidate gets a majority of the vote, there will be a runoff in May. The winner of the Democratic primary will face off against the winner of the Republican primary in November but is likely to win given that the district is solidly blue.And, from Dallas we go to Houston whereAfter bruising loss in Houston mayoral race, U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee faces her toughest reelection yetJackson Lee faces off against Amanda Edwards, her most formidable congressional opponent in three decades.https://www.texastribune.org/2024/02/19/sheila-jackson-lee-amanda-edwards-democratic-primary-houston/BY SEJAL GOVINDARAOFEB. 19, 2024In 1994, Sheila Jackson Lee, then a 44-year-old Houston city councilwoman, unseated four-term U.S. Rep. Craig Washington in the Democratic primary, securing a seat she'd come to hold for the next 30 years.This March, former Houston City Councilwoman Amanda Edwards, 42, is hoping to replicate that political upset as she faces off against Jackson Lee in the Democratic primary for Congressional District 18.Jackson Lee, who did not respond to requests for an interview, has only drawn four primary challengers over her 14-term career, all of whom she defeated by landslide margins.She's a household name in her Houston-based district, known for her frequent visibility at constituent graduations, funerals and baby showers.But last year she ran for Houston mayor against then-state Sen. John Whitmire. It was a bruising primary — unfamiliar territory for Jackson Lee — and her campaign was roiled with negative media after audio of her berating her congressional staffers was leaked. She ended up losing the race by 30 points and then immediately announced she was running for reelection to the U.S. House.Amanda Edwards, a former intern in Jackson Lee's office, initially announced she was running for Houston mayor until the congresswoman threw her hat in the ring. At that point, Edwards pivoted — endorsing Jackson Lee as mayor and beginning her own bid for Congress.By the time Jackson Lee announced she was running for her House seat again, Edwards had already gained momentum. In the fourth quarter of last year, Edwards outraised the congresswoman 10 to 1 — $272,000 to Jackson Lee's $23,000.Mark Jones, Baker Institute fellow in political science at Rice University said, “This could be the year that Congresswoman Jackson Lee loses. And given that as a safe, Democratic, seat whoever wins the primary will be headed to Washington in January of 2025”Jackson Lee holds a narrow lead in primary polls, while 16% of voters remain undecided. Edwards, a native Houstonian, said her commitment to public service is propelled by her father's battle with cancer when she was a teenager, where she learned firsthand about the cracks in the health care system and how “policy could be a matter of life and death.” She served as an at-large Houston City Council member from 2016 to 2020, where she represented a constituency of more than 2 million people.In her race to beat Jackson Lee, Edwards has garnered some notable endorsements including the Harris County Young Democrats, and the Harris County chapter of the Texas Coalition of Black Democrats – both of which endorsed Jackson Lee in past races.The Harris County Young Democrats rescinded its endorsement of Jackson Lee in the mayoral race — citing a “zero tolerance policy” for staff abuse.Lenard Polk, Harris County chapter president of the Texas Coalition of Black Democrats, said Jackson Lee's leaked audio tape controversy also factored into the committee's decision to not endorse her. On the recording Jackson Lee berates a staffer for not having a document she was looking for and calls two of her staffers “Goddamn big-ass children, fuckin' idiots who serve no Goddamn purpose.”He said endorsement committee members were still “quite upset” over the tape and it “wasn't a good look” for Jackson Lee. The leaked tape fueled discourse about Jackson Lee's reputation as an unkind boss on Capitol Hill – she regularly makes Washingtonian Magazine's worst of Congress list and her office has high turnover rates.Polk added that voters felt abandoned by Jackson Lee, who jumped into the mayor's race without endorsing someone to take her place, only to file for reelection a day after losing.Jackson Lee's battle to retain her seat is made tougher by 2021 redistricting, because the 18th district now includes more young white professionals who do not have the same level of loyalty to her as longtime district residents.But despite any damage she may have incurred from her mayoral run, Jackson Lee remains a powerful political force in her district.County Commissioner Rodney Ellis, who is backing Jackson Lee, said he doesn't know anyone in local politics with her “energy level,” and that Jackson Lee has secured meaningful federal grants for her district – most recently $20.5 million to Harris County Public Health Department's Uplift Harris Guaranteed Income Pilot project. He also said she has a reputation for being a reliably progressive voice in Congress.Jackson Lee has a long list of powerful endorsements from House Democratic leaders like House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Minority Whip Katherine Clarke. She's backed by Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and other members of Texas' Washington delegation including Democratic Reps. Lizzie Fletcher of Houston, Lloyd Doggett of Austin, Henry Cuellar of Laredo and Joaquin Castro of San Antonio.Ellis said Jackson Lee may not be a strong fundraiser but she will benefit from her incumbency advantage.Linda Bell-Robinson, a Houston Democratic precinct chair, said she is fighting for Jackson Lee to retain her seat because seniority in Congress is important and Edwards would be learning the ropes as a freshman if elected.“We need fighters,” she said. “We don't need people trying to learn how to fight on the battlefield. We need people who are already fighting and know how to fight their fight.SEAN: Super interesting race. For my part, I don't have any problem with members of Congress being extremely tough to work for. I have problems with lying, fraud, criminal activity, and squishy voting records. Congresswoman Jackson Lee has 100% ratings from Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, and AFL-CIO. She has a 95% rating from League of Conservation VotersNew estimate predicts Medicaid expansion would serve 152K at no cost to stateA $509M federal incentive would help offset state cost for first eight yearsBY: SHERMAN SMITH - FEBRUARY 22, 2024 4:22 PMhttps://kansasreflector.com/2024/02/22/new-estimate-predicts-medicaid-expansion-would-serve-152k-at-no-cost-to-state/TOPEKA — The Kansas Health Institute on Thursday unveiled its analysis of Gov. Laura Kelly's proposal to expand Medicaid, predicting 152,000 Kansans would enroll in the first year with no additional cost to the state government.The Democratic governor has made passage of Medicaid expansion a top legislative priority this year, following her statewide campaign to promote the policy last fall. But Republican leadership in the Legislature opposes the policy and has blocked hearings on Medicaid expansion for four years.Kansas is one of just 10 states that still haven't expanded Medicaid since President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act in 2010.The state-run version of Medicaid, called KanCare, provides health care services to low-income families, seniors and people with disabilities. Currently, those who earn less than 38% of the federal poverty level are eligible. For a family of four, the annual income limit is $11,400.Under the ACA, also known as Obamacare, the federal government offers to cover 90% of the cost of Medicaid services in exchange for expanding eligibility to 138% of the federal poverty rate. The annual income threshold for a family of four would be $41,400.Kelly's proposal includes a work requirement with exceptions for full-time students, veterans, caregivers, people with partial disabilities, and former foster kids. Her plan also would add a new surcharge for hospitals.KHI predicts the change in income eligibility would result in 151,898 people enrolling in KanCare — 106,450 adults and 45,448 children. Those numbers include 68,236 adults and 16,377 children who are currently uninsured.About 68.9% of the adults are already working at least part-time, according to the KHI analysis. Of the remaining 31.1% KHI determined 19.1% of the unemployed adults have a disability, 16.1% are students and 3.8% are veterans.KHI calculated the cost to the state for expanding Medicaid over the first eight years would be fully offset — mostly because of a $509 million incentive included in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. Other savings would come from the federal government picking up more of the tab on existing services, as well as the new surcharge on hospitals. The Kansas Sunflower Foundation on Thursday released findings from surveys that found 68% of Kansas voters, including 51% of Republicans and 83% of small business owners support Medicaid expansion.Steve Baccus, an Ottawa County farmer and former president of Kansas Farm Bureau, said in a news release that expanding Medicaid was about “investing in the well-being of our communities.”Baccus said “Our rural communities are often struggling to keep Main Street open and to continue to offer the necessary services to the surrounding agricultural enterprises. A community that can offer a total health care package has an advantage in maintaining a viable town.”The findings are consistent with a Fort Hays State University poll that was released in October.With budget proposal and fiery address, Pritzker paints himself as progressive pragmatistThursday, February 22, 2024Governor's spending plan advances progressive-backed policies in tight fiscal landscapeBy HANNAH MEISELCapitol News Illinoishmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.comhttps://capitolnewsillinois.com/NEWS/with-budget-proposal-and-fiery-address-pritzker-paints-himself-as-progressive-pragmatistSPRINGFIELD – In delivering his annual State of the State and budget address on Wednesday, Gov. JB Pritzker cast his administration as both progressive and pragmatic – a balance he's worked to strike as his national profile has grown.Some elements of the governor's proposed spending plan, like using $10 million in state funds to eliminate $1 billion worth of Illinoisans' medical debt, are hardline progressive ideas. Others, including a goal to achieve “universal preschool” by 2027, fit in with a more traditional liberal platform.But Pritzker has also defined his success in traditional economic terms, putting particular stock into how New York City-based credit ratings agencies view Illinois' finances, while also positioning Illinois as a hub for emerging technologies like electric vehicles and quantum computing. As Illinois faces an influx of migrants from the southern U.S. border Pritzker has leaned into a leadership style that prioritizes progressive ideals while projecting an image of fiscal responsibility.As he outlined a proposal to add $182 Million toward the state's migrant response, Gov. Pritzker said, “We didn't ask for this manufactured crisis, But we must deal with it all the same.”“Children, pregnant women, and the elderly have been sent here in the dead of night, left far from our designated welcome centers, in freezing temperatures, wearing flip flops and T-shirts,” Pritzker said. “Think about that the next time a politician from Texas wants to lecture you about being a good Christian.”The governor was met with big applause from Democrats in laying out his proposed “Healthcare Consumer Access and Protection Act,” which would, in part, ban “prior authorization” requirements for mental health treatment.Pritzker characterized the practice of prior authorization as a way for insurance companies to deny the care that doctors have prescribed.Pritzker is also proposing spending $10 million in state funds to buy Illinoisans' past-due medical debt that's been sent to collections. Partnering with national nonprofit RIP Medical Debt, which buys debt for pennies on the dollar on the same market that collections agencies purchase the rights to the debts, the governor said Illinois could “relieve nearly $1 billion in medical debt for the first cohort of 340,000 Illinoisans.”The governor spent time noting two key places he said Illinois fails its Black citizens:  maternal mortality and disproportionate rates of homelessness. To combat Black maternal mortality rates, Pritzker proposed helping more community-based reproductive health centers to open, citing Illinois' first freestanding nonprofit birthing center in Berwyn as a model.He said, “Black women in our state are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women.” Pritzker proposed spending an additional $50 million on the state's “Home Illinois” program launched in 2021, in part to “attack the root causes of housing insecurity for Black Illinoisans.” He cited a statistic that Black people make up 61 percent of Illinois' homeless population despite only being 14 percent of the state's general population.Additionally, the governor proposed a $1 million pilot program for free diapers for low-income families, as well as a $5 million increased investment in an existing home visit program “for our most vulnerable families” with babies in their first year.His budget also includes $12 million to create a child tax credit for families with children under three with incomes below a certain threshold. Among the successes Pritzker pointed to, perhaps the most salient is his claim that Illinois' new “Smart Start” early childhood program – proposed last year in the governor's second inaugural address – had exceeded its first-year goals.The program aimed to create 5,000 new preschool seats last year, but ended up creating 5,823, Pritzker said – a 15 percent overperformance. “As a result, right now we have over 82,000 publicly-funded preschool classroom seats – the highest number in our state's history. Staying on the Smart Start plan, we will achieve universal preschool by 2027.”Echoing his 2022 election-year call for a temporary pause on the state's 1 percent tax on groceries, Pritzker on Wednesday proposed nixing the grocery tax altogether.He said “It's one more regressive tax we just don't need. If it reduces inflation for families from 4 percent to 3 percent, even if it only puts a few hundred bucks back in families' pockets, it's the right thing to do.”Even while proposing a series of progressive expenditures, the governor also sought to cast himself as a pragmatist when it comes to state finances. The state has seen strong revenue performances in the past few years, But in November, the governor's own economic forecasting office predicted a nearly $900 million deficit in the fiscal year that begins July 1.“Our FY25 budget proposal makes some hard choices,” Pritzker said Wednesday. “I wish we had big surpluses to work with this year to take on every one of the very real challenges we face.”Illinois' once-paltry “rainy day” fund now has $2 billion socked away, the governor noted, and the state has paid off high-interest debt during his five years in office.To mitigate Illinois' previously projected deficit, Pritzker is proposing to more than double the tax rate paid by sportsbooks on profits – a change that would bring in an estimated $200 million annually. He also proposed extending an existing cap on operating losses that businesses can claim on taxes, which could help generate more than $500 million, the governor's office claims.Another revenue generator proposed by the governor: raising $101 million by capping a sales tax credit retailers are allowed to claim. But business groups on Wednesday signaled they'd put up a fight. In his first few months in office in 2019, Pritzker used his fresh political capital to muscle a $15 minimum wage ramp through the legislature – a long-fought-for progressive policy goal – followed closely by a trip to New York City to meet with executives at the influential big three credit ratings agencies.When Pritzker took office, Illinois' credit ratings were hovering around “junk” status after a two-year budget impasse under his predecessor, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner. And though Illinois suffered a final credit downgrade in the early months of COVID, the state has since received nine upgrades.The governor on Wednesday held those upgrades in high regard, saying“My one line in the sand is that I will only sign a budget that is responsibly balanced and that does not diminish or derail the improving credit standing we have achieved for the last five years,”Andrew Adams contributed.Missouri Senate Dems Hold The Line In Ballot Fighthttps://missouriindependent.com/2024/02/20/democrat-filibuster-forces-removal-of-ballot-candy-from-senate-initiative-petition-bill/BY: RUDI KELLER - FEBRUARY 20, 2024 5:15 PM     A Democratic filibuster that stretched more than 20 hours ended this week when Senate Republicans stripped provisions critics derided as “ballot candy” from a proposal to make it harder to pass constitutional amendments proposed by initiative petitions.Ballot candy refers to language designed to trick voters - into thinking the initiative is about ensuring only citizens vote, for instance - when that's totally irrelevant to the question voters are deciding.By an 18-12 vote, with nine Republicans and nine Democrats forming the majority, language that stated non-citizens could not vote on constitutional amendments was removed, as were sections barring foreign governments and political parties from taking sides in Missouri ballot measures.The Senate then, by a voice vote, gave first-round approval to the bill that would require both a statewide majority and a majority vote in five of the state's eight congressional districts to pass future constitutional amendments.The proposal would alter the way Missourians have approved constitutional changes since the first statewide vote on a constitution in 1846.Senate Minority Leader John Rizzo of Independence, a Democrat, said, “All we're asking for is a fair fight. And the Republicans know if it's a fair fight, they lose, which is why they have to pump it full of ballot candy and mislead voters.”Meanwhile, the House spent much of Tuesday morning debating legislation that would make changes to the signature gathering process for initiative petition campaigns.Among numerous provisions, the bill would require signatures be recorded using black or dark ink and that signature gatherers be citizens of the United States, residents of Missouri or physically present in Missouri for at least 30 consecutive days prior to the collection of signatures.Its most sweeping provision grants new authority to the secretary of state and attorney general to review initiative and referendum petitions for compliance with the Missouri Constitution.The effort to make it harder to get on the ballot and harder to pass a constitutional amendment has been a GOP priority for several years. In the past two election cycles, voters have expanded Medicaid coverage and legalized recreational marijuana, circumventing the GOP majority that opposed both. The push to raise the threshold on amendments proposed by initiative has taken on a new urgency for Republicans as abortion-rights supporters move ahead with a signature campaign to make this year's ballot.The results on abortion amendments in other states has Missouri abortion foes anxious about whether they can defend the state's almost total ban in a statewide election. Voters in Ohio last year rejected an effort to increase the majority needed to pass constitutional amendments before voting 57% in favor of abortion rights. And in 2022, Kansas voters defeated an attempt to restrict abortion rights by a landslide vote.Gov. Kelly Keep Kansas GOP In Linehttps://kansasreflector.com/2024/02/20/kansas-house-republicans-fail-to-override-governors-veto-on-massive-tax-reform-bill/Kansas House Republicans fail to override governor's veto on massive tax reform billBY: TIM CARPENTER - FEBRUARY 20, 2024 12:41 PM     TOPEKA — The Republican-led Kansas House failed Tuesday to override Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly ‘s veto of a tax reform bill anchored by implementation of a single, flat state income tax rate of 5.25% in addition to elimination of the state sales tax on groceries and creation of a tax exemption for all Social Security income.The GOP holds supermajorities in the House and Senate, but there was skepticism that both chambers could muster two-thirds majorities necessary to rebuke Kelly given opposition among conservative and moderate Republicans to parts of the three-year, $1.6 billion tax cut favoring the state's most wealthy. Kelly said the decision of House members to sustain her veto was a win for working-class Kansans who would have seen “little relief under this irresponsible flat tax experiment.” The Legislature should move ahead with her proposal for reducing $1 billion in taxes over three years.The governor said “I urge legislators to work together to cut taxes in a way that continues our economic growth and maintains our solid fiscal foundation while benefitting all Kansans, not just those at the top,”.Rep. Tom Sawyer, D-Wichita, said the cost of the tax reform bill could reach $600 million annually when fully implemented, and the plan didn't do enough for the middle class in Kansas. He said a married couple earning $42,000 to $75,000 per year would only see an income tax reduction of about 75 cents.Rep. Trevor Jacobs of Fort Scott was among Republicans who opposed overriding Kelly's veto. He said the flat tax would force the state's working class to carry a larger burden of the state tax load. And the 2024 Legislature had sufficient time to develop an alternative that provided tax relief to all Kansans rather than just a select few.Good thinking! See it's not just Democrats who think KS Gov Laura Kelly knows what she's doing. Welp, that's it for me! From Denver I'm Sean Diller. Stories in today's show appeared first in the Missouri Independent, Kansas Reflector, Texas Tribune, and Capitol News Illinois. Thanks for listening, see you next time.  @TheHeartlandPOD on Twitter and ThreadsCo-HostsAdam Sommer @Adam_Sommer85 (Twitter) @adam_sommer85 (Post)Rachel Parker @msraitchetp (Post) Sean Diller (no social)The Heartland Collective - Sign Up Today!JOIN PATREON FOR MORE - AND JOIN OUR SOCIAL NETWORK!“Change The Conversation”Outro Song: “The World Is On Fire” by American Aquarium http://www.americanaquarium.com/

Kansas Reflector opinion editor Clay Wirestone chats with Emily Bradbury, executive director of the Kansas Press Association, and Max Kautsch, a media lawyer based in Lawrence, about the landscape for journalism and free expression in the Sunflower State.

Davis Hammet, president of the voter advocacy group Loud Light and Micah Kubic, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas warn of creeping attempts to restrict Kansas voters during a Kansas Reflector podcast, referencing multiple election bills heard in recent weeks.

Friday News Flyover, January 19, 2024Oil train delayed | Abortion rights advocates speak with Senators | Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly and GOP-dominated legislature's priorities | and OH Sen. Sherrod Brown and MO Rep. Jason Smith make big bi-partisan deal on Child Tax CreditIf you're new to our shows make sure you subscribe and leave a 5 star rating wherever you listen. You can also find Heartland POD content on Youtube and on social media @ THE heartland pod, and learn more at thehearltandcollective.com This train is not leaving the stationForest Service withdraws key permit for controversial Utah oil-train project opposed by ColoradansProject would dramatically increase hazardous shipments through Colorado communitiesBY: CHASE WOODRUFF - JANUARY 18, 2024 9:18 AMA controversial Utah oil-train proposal opposed by Colorado communities and environmentalists was dealt another blow this week when the U.S. Forest Service withdrew a key permit for the project.In an announcement published Wednesday, Ashley National Forest Supervisor Susan Eickhoff blocked the issuance of a permit to the Uinta Basin Railway to construct 12 miles of railroad track through a protected area of the national forest in northeast Utah. The stretch of track in question is part of the proposed railway's 88-mile connection between the oil fields of eastern Utah's Uinta Basin and the existing national rail network.The project has drawn fierce opposition from Coloradans. A federal “downline analysis” estimated that 90% of the resulting oil-train traffic — as many as five fully loaded, two-mile-long trains of crude oil tankers per day — would be routed through environmentally sensitive and densely populated areas in Colorado, en route to oil refineries on the Gulf Coast. The oil trains would more than quadruple the amount of hazardous materials being shipped by rail through many Colorado counties.Colorado's Eagle County and five environmental groups sued to overturn the Uinta Basin Railway's approval, and in August 2023 a panel of federal judges ruled that the approval process contained “numerous” and “significant” violations of the National Environmental Policy Act. The ruling vacated portions of the project's environmental impact statement and ordered the federal Surface Transportation Board to redo its analysis of key environmental risks.Because the Forest Service's decision in August 2022 to grant a right-of-way permit to the project was based on that flawed analysis, the agency has withdrawn its decision pending further proceedings at the STB.Ted Zukoski, senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the groups that sued to block the project. “This is wonderful news for the roadless forest in Utah's Indian Canyon and the wildlife who call it home. It's a victory for the Colorado River and nearby communities that would be threatened by oil train accidents and spills. If the oil train's backers attempt to revive this dangerous scheme, we'll be there to fight it again.”In a press release, Democratic U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado, who had urged multiple federal agencies to put a stop to the project, applauded the Forest Service's move.“A derailment along the headwaters of the Colorado River could have catastrophic effects for Colorado's communities, water, and environment. I'm glad the Forest Service has taken this important step to protect the Colorado River and the tens of millions of people who depend on it.”U.S. Senators and Abortion Rights Advocates Discuss State Abortion Access LimitationsBY: JENNIFER SHUTT - JANUARY 17, 2024WASHINGTON — During a Capitol Visitors Center briefing, abortion rights advocates and Democratic U.S. Senators called for reinstating legal and safe abortion access nationwide. The nearly three-hour session featured physicians discussing the difficulties faced in states with restrictive abortion laws following the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade.Dr. Austin Dennard, a Texas OB-GYN involved in a lawsuit against the state's abortion laws, spoke about the validity and personal nature of each abortion decision. He highlighted patients' fears about family planning in states with restrictive laws, noting the adverse impact on what should be a joyful life chapter.The briefing preceded the annual anti-abortion March for Life, with U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson and Rep. Chris Smith scheduled to speak. Senate Democrats criticized efforts to limit abortion access and discussed two upcoming Supreme Court cases with significant implications.One case focuses on mifepristone, a key medication in abortion and miscarriage treatments, while the other revolves around the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA). The Biden administration argues that EMTALA should protect doctors performing abortions as emergency medical treatment in states with strict anti-abortion laws.Dr. Serina Floyd, a Washington, D.C. OB-GYN and Physicians for Reproductive Health fellow, expressed confusion over Republican efforts to target EMTALA, emphasizing the potential life-saving importance of emergency abortion care. She noted research indicating severe consequences for patients denied abortion access, including health risks, economic hardship, and staying in violent relationships.Dr. Floyd advocated for non-interference from the government in medical decisions, stressing that patients are capable of making informed choices about their health and lives with their healthcare providers.Senator Patty Murray of Washington highlighted her state's influx of abortion patients from restrictive states like Idaho. Murray and other senators at the briefing expressed concern that residents in states with abortion protections might not realize the impact of a potential nationwide abortion ban or Supreme Court decisions.Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan pointed out that even states with constitutional reproductive rights, like Michigan, are not fully shielded from the effects of a national abortion ban. After hearing doctors' testimonies, Stabenow expressed astonishment at the challenges facing both physicians and women needing abortion access, questioning the progress made in women's rights, asking, “is it 2024 or are we back in 1984?”Kansas Legislature Fast-Tracks Tax Reform Opposed by Governor KellyBY: TIM CARPENTER - JANUARY 17, 2024TOPEKA — Kansas Republican legislative leaders are expediting a tax reform bill focusing on income and sales tax changes, including a single-rate state income tax of 5.25%, which Democratic Governor Laura Kelly has threatened to veto.The bill, bypassing regular committee processes, is set for early-session debate in the Senate. The proposed tax overhaul would lead to a state revenue reduction exceeding $1.5 billion over three years, surpassing Governor Kelly's proposed $1 billion cut. The plan to implement a flat tax rate of 5.25%, replacing Kansas' three-rate income tax structure, has been met with opposition from Governor Kelly because it disproportionately benefits the wealthy.The bill also proposes eliminating the state income tax on Social Security benefits, aligning with Kelly's proposal. Additionally, it seeks to remove the state sales tax on groceries starting April 1, advancing the timeline from the previously set January 1, 2025. The measure includes an exemption for the first $100,000 in state property taxes from all Kansas homeowners for school finance purposes, adjustable for inflation.Senate President Ty Masterson and House Speaker Dan Hawkins, both Republicans, view the bill as a compromise, claiming it addresses issues faced by retirees and families while tackling inflation.Governor Kelly vetoed two major tax reform bills in 2023, which the Republican-dominated Legislature couldn't override. “We must get that money back into Kansans' pockets — and we will —  in a fiscally responsible and targeted way,” Kelly said. “In a way that doesn't threaten progress on all the other issues Kansans care about.  Unfortunately, that's exactly what one proposal — the flat tax — would do. ”   Kansas' Governor Kelly calls for hearing on Medicaid expansion bill that would cover 150,000 KansansBY: RACHEL MIPRO - JANUARY 17, 2024 2:35 PM     TOPEKA — A Medicaid expansion proposal has been enrolled into state House and Senate committees despite continued opposition from top legislative Republicans. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, who has spent the months leading up to the legislative session rallying across the state for Medicaid expansion, called for a hearing on the bill by Jan. 29. “It's easy to sum up the Cutting Healthcare Costs for All Kansans Act: health care coverage for 150,000 Kansans, cost savings for everyone else. We protect our rural hospitals, and Kansas taxpayers pay nothing extra,” Kelly said in a Wednesday announcement of the proposal's enrollment. “The legislature should listen to the over 70% of Kansans who support Medicaid Expansion and give this bill a hearing by Kansas Day.”  Rep. Vic Miller, D-Topeka, introduced the bill in the House Appropriations Committee and on the Senate side, Sen. Pat Pettey, D- Kansas City, introduced the bill into the Senate Ways and Means Committee. “Medicaid expansion is not only popular, but it saves lives, creates jobs and saves our rural hospitals. Hardworking Kansans shouldn't die because of legislative inaction,” Miller said.Medicaid expansion would unlock $700 million in annual federal funding and could potentially save 59 rural hospitals at risk of closing. Kelly unveiled her latest Medicaid expansion package in December, but Senate President Ty Masterson and House Speaker Dan Hawkins remain opposed to expansion, calling the move a way to expand the “welfare state.” Lawmakers last came close to expansion in 2020, when former Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning worked out a bipartisan deal with Kelly. But the deal fell apart as Republicans, outraged by a Kansas Supreme Court ruling that established a constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy, focused on placing a constitutional amendment on abortion before voters instead,Child Tax Credit and Business Incentives Merged in New Tax ProposalBY: ASHLEY MURRAY - JANUARY 16, 2024WASHINGTON — Leading members of Congress released a bipartisan, bicameral tax proposal Tuesday, promising a middle-path deal to help low-income families and provide incentives for businesses as Trump-era tax breaks expire.The framework led by U.S. Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Republican Rep. Jason Smith of Missouri would raise the child tax credit incrementally through 2025 and restore tax relief for affordable housing projects.The three-year proposal would also make exempt disaster payments to wildfire victims and to those who suffered losses after the massive train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. Sen. Wyden, chair of the Senate Committee on Finance, said in a statement that “(f)ifteen million kids from low-income families will be better off as a result of this plan, and given today's miserable political climate, it's a big deal to have this opportunity to pass pro-family policy that helps so many kids get ahead.”Democrats have been pushing to permanently raise the tax credit that low-income families receive per child after a temporary increase during the COVID-19 pandemic illustrated significant reductions in child poverty. Wyden also praised the deal's potential to spur affordable housing construction and said that his goal “remains to get this passed in time for families and businesses to benefit in this upcoming tax filing season, and I'm going to pull out all the stops to get that done.”Rep. Jason Smith, chair of the House Committee on Ways and Means, said “American families will benefit from this bipartisan agreement that provides greater tax relief, strengthens Main Street businesses, boosts our competitiveness with China, and creates jobs.”“We even provide disaster relief and cut red tape for small businesses, while ending a COVID-era program that's costing taxpayers billions in fraud. This legislation locks in over $600 billion in proven pro-growth, pro-America tax policies with key provisions that support over 21 million jobs. I look forward to working with my colleagues to pass this legislation,” Smith continued in a statement Tuesday.And for those who file 1099 forms, a provision tucked away in the framework would increase the threshold to file to $1,000 from the current $600.The proposal won praise from across the tax policy spectrum.Business Roundtable, an advocacy organization representing a wide range of U.S. CEOs, described the deal's pitch to revive expired pro-business policies as “critical to strengthening America's global competitiveness.”Sen. Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat and key supporter of the child tax credit, urged his colleagues to pass the deal, calling it a “win-win for Ohio families and Ohio manufacturers.”Sen. Brown said, “The deal's expansion of the Child Tax Credit will help parents keep up with the rising cost of living and ensure that their hard work pays off. The business provisions will support American companies that invest in our nation's research and manufacturing. The deal also ensures that residents of East Palestine won't get hit with a surprise tax bill for payments they received from Norfolk Southern after last year's derailment.”Pretty, pret-ty good. Welp that's it for me, from Denver I'm Sean Diller. Stories in today's show can be found in the Missouri Independent, Ohio Capital Journal, Kansas Reflector and Michigan Advance. Thanks for listening, see you next time. @TheHeartlandPOD on Twitter and ThreadsCo-HostsAdam Sommer @Adam_Sommer85 (Twitter) @adam_sommer85 (Post)Rachel Parker @msraitchetp (Post) Sean Diller (no social)The Heartland Collective - Sign Up Today!JOIN PATREON FOR MORE - AND JOIN OUR SOCIAL NETWORK!“Change The Conversation”Outro Song: “The World Is On Fire” by American Aquarium http://www.americanaquarium.com/

Friday News Flyover, January 19, 2024Oil train delayed | Abortion rights advocates speak with Senators | Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly and GOP-dominated legislature's priorities | and OH Sen. Sherrod Brown and MO Rep. Jason Smith make big bi-partisan deal on Child Tax CreditIf you're new to our shows make sure you subscribe and leave a 5 star rating wherever you listen. You can also find Heartland POD content on Youtube and on social media @ THE heartland pod, and learn more at thehearltandcollective.com This train is not leaving the stationForest Service withdraws key permit for controversial Utah oil-train project opposed by ColoradansProject would dramatically increase hazardous shipments through Colorado communitiesBY: CHASE WOODRUFF - JANUARY 18, 2024 9:18 AMA controversial Utah oil-train proposal opposed by Colorado communities and environmentalists was dealt another blow this week when the U.S. Forest Service withdrew a key permit for the project.In an announcement published Wednesday, Ashley National Forest Supervisor Susan Eickhoff blocked the issuance of a permit to the Uinta Basin Railway to construct 12 miles of railroad track through a protected area of the national forest in northeast Utah. The stretch of track in question is part of the proposed railway's 88-mile connection between the oil fields of eastern Utah's Uinta Basin and the existing national rail network.The project has drawn fierce opposition from Coloradans. A federal “downline analysis” estimated that 90% of the resulting oil-train traffic — as many as five fully loaded, two-mile-long trains of crude oil tankers per day — would be routed through environmentally sensitive and densely populated areas in Colorado, en route to oil refineries on the Gulf Coast. The oil trains would more than quadruple the amount of hazardous materials being shipped by rail through many Colorado counties.Colorado's Eagle County and five environmental groups sued to overturn the Uinta Basin Railway's approval, and in August 2023 a panel of federal judges ruled that the approval process contained “numerous” and “significant” violations of the National Environmental Policy Act. The ruling vacated portions of the project's environmental impact statement and ordered the federal Surface Transportation Board to redo its analysis of key environmental risks.Because the Forest Service's decision in August 2022 to grant a right-of-way permit to the project was based on that flawed analysis, the agency has withdrawn its decision pending further proceedings at the STB.Ted Zukoski, senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the groups that sued to block the project. “This is wonderful news for the roadless forest in Utah's Indian Canyon and the wildlife who call it home. It's a victory for the Colorado River and nearby communities that would be threatened by oil train accidents and spills. If the oil train's backers attempt to revive this dangerous scheme, we'll be there to fight it again.”In a press release, Democratic U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado, who had urged multiple federal agencies to put a stop to the project, applauded the Forest Service's move.“A derailment along the headwaters of the Colorado River could have catastrophic effects for Colorado's communities, water, and environment. I'm glad the Forest Service has taken this important step to protect the Colorado River and the tens of millions of people who depend on it.”U.S. Senators and Abortion Rights Advocates Discuss State Abortion Access LimitationsBY: JENNIFER SHUTT - JANUARY 17, 2024WASHINGTON — During a Capitol Visitors Center briefing, abortion rights advocates and Democratic U.S. Senators called for reinstating legal and safe abortion access nationwide. The nearly three-hour session featured physicians discussing the difficulties faced in states with restrictive abortion laws following the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade.Dr. Austin Dennard, a Texas OB-GYN involved in a lawsuit against the state's abortion laws, spoke about the validity and personal nature of each abortion decision. He highlighted patients' fears about family planning in states with restrictive laws, noting the adverse impact on what should be a joyful life chapter.The briefing preceded the annual anti-abortion March for Life, with U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson and Rep. Chris Smith scheduled to speak. Senate Democrats criticized efforts to limit abortion access and discussed two upcoming Supreme Court cases with significant implications.One case focuses on mifepristone, a key medication in abortion and miscarriage treatments, while the other revolves around the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA). The Biden administration argues that EMTALA should protect doctors performing abortions as emergency medical treatment in states with strict anti-abortion laws.Dr. Serina Floyd, a Washington, D.C. OB-GYN and Physicians for Reproductive Health fellow, expressed confusion over Republican efforts to target EMTALA, emphasizing the potential life-saving importance of emergency abortion care. She noted research indicating severe consequences for patients denied abortion access, including health risks, economic hardship, and staying in violent relationships.Dr. Floyd advocated for non-interference from the government in medical decisions, stressing that patients are capable of making informed choices about their health and lives with their healthcare providers.Senator Patty Murray of Washington highlighted her state's influx of abortion patients from restrictive states like Idaho. Murray and other senators at the briefing expressed concern that residents in states with abortion protections might not realize the impact of a potential nationwide abortion ban or Supreme Court decisions.Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan pointed out that even states with constitutional reproductive rights, like Michigan, are not fully shielded from the effects of a national abortion ban. After hearing doctors' testimonies, Stabenow expressed astonishment at the challenges facing both physicians and women needing abortion access, questioning the progress made in women's rights, asking, “is it 2024 or are we back in 1984?”Kansas Legislature Fast-Tracks Tax Reform Opposed by Governor KellyBY: TIM CARPENTER - JANUARY 17, 2024TOPEKA — Kansas Republican legislative leaders are expediting a tax reform bill focusing on income and sales tax changes, including a single-rate state income tax of 5.25%, which Democratic Governor Laura Kelly has threatened to veto.The bill, bypassing regular committee processes, is set for early-session debate in the Senate. The proposed tax overhaul would lead to a state revenue reduction exceeding $1.5 billion over three years, surpassing Governor Kelly's proposed $1 billion cut. The plan to implement a flat tax rate of 5.25%, replacing Kansas' three-rate income tax structure, has been met with opposition from Governor Kelly because it disproportionately benefits the wealthy.The bill also proposes eliminating the state income tax on Social Security benefits, aligning with Kelly's proposal. Additionally, it seeks to remove the state sales tax on groceries starting April 1, advancing the timeline from the previously set January 1, 2025. The measure includes an exemption for the first $100,000 in state property taxes from all Kansas homeowners for school finance purposes, adjustable for inflation.Senate President Ty Masterson and House Speaker Dan Hawkins, both Republicans, view the bill as a compromise, claiming it addresses issues faced by retirees and families while tackling inflation.Governor Kelly vetoed two major tax reform bills in 2023, which the Republican-dominated Legislature couldn't override. “We must get that money back into Kansans' pockets — and we will —  in a fiscally responsible and targeted way,” Kelly said. “In a way that doesn't threaten progress on all the other issues Kansans care about.  Unfortunately, that's exactly what one proposal — the flat tax — would do. ”   Kansas' Governor Kelly calls for hearing on Medicaid expansion bill that would cover 150,000 KansansBY: RACHEL MIPRO - JANUARY 17, 2024 2:35 PM     TOPEKA — A Medicaid expansion proposal has been enrolled into state House and Senate committees despite continued opposition from top legislative Republicans. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, who has spent the months leading up to the legislative session rallying across the state for Medicaid expansion, called for a hearing on the bill by Jan. 29. “It's easy to sum up the Cutting Healthcare Costs for All Kansans Act: health care coverage for 150,000 Kansans, cost savings for everyone else. We protect our rural hospitals, and Kansas taxpayers pay nothing extra,” Kelly said in a Wednesday announcement of the proposal's enrollment. “The legislature should listen to the over 70% of Kansans who support Medicaid Expansion and give this bill a hearing by Kansas Day.”  Rep. Vic Miller, D-Topeka, introduced the bill in the House Appropriations Committee and on the Senate side, Sen. Pat Pettey, D- Kansas City, introduced the bill into the Senate Ways and Means Committee. “Medicaid expansion is not only popular, but it saves lives, creates jobs and saves our rural hospitals. Hardworking Kansans shouldn't die because of legislative inaction,” Miller said.Medicaid expansion would unlock $700 million in annual federal funding and could potentially save 59 rural hospitals at risk of closing. Kelly unveiled her latest Medicaid expansion package in December, but Senate President Ty Masterson and House Speaker Dan Hawkins remain opposed to expansion, calling the move a way to expand the “welfare state.” Lawmakers last came close to expansion in 2020, when former Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning worked out a bipartisan deal with Kelly. But the deal fell apart as Republicans, outraged by a Kansas Supreme Court ruling that established a constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy, focused on placing a constitutional amendment on abortion before voters instead,Child Tax Credit and Business Incentives Merged in New Tax ProposalBY: ASHLEY MURRAY - JANUARY 16, 2024WASHINGTON — Leading members of Congress released a bipartisan, bicameral tax proposal Tuesday, promising a middle-path deal to help low-income families and provide incentives for businesses as Trump-era tax breaks expire.The framework led by U.S. Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Republican Rep. Jason Smith of Missouri would raise the child tax credit incrementally through 2025 and restore tax relief for affordable housing projects.The three-year proposal would also make exempt disaster payments to wildfire victims and to those who suffered losses after the massive train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. Sen. Wyden, chair of the Senate Committee on Finance, said in a statement that “(f)ifteen million kids from low-income families will be better off as a result of this plan, and given today's miserable political climate, it's a big deal to have this opportunity to pass pro-family policy that helps so many kids get ahead.”Democrats have been pushing to permanently raise the tax credit that low-income families receive per child after a temporary increase during the COVID-19 pandemic illustrated significant reductions in child poverty. Wyden also praised the deal's potential to spur affordable housing construction and said that his goal “remains to get this passed in time for families and businesses to benefit in this upcoming tax filing season, and I'm going to pull out all the stops to get that done.”Rep. Jason Smith, chair of the House Committee on Ways and Means, said “American families will benefit from this bipartisan agreement that provides greater tax relief, strengthens Main Street businesses, boosts our competitiveness with China, and creates jobs.”“We even provide disaster relief and cut red tape for small businesses, while ending a COVID-era program that's costing taxpayers billions in fraud. This legislation locks in over $600 billion in proven pro-growth, pro-America tax policies with key provisions that support over 21 million jobs. I look forward to working with my colleagues to pass this legislation,” Smith continued in a statement Tuesday.And for those who file 1099 forms, a provision tucked away in the framework would increase the threshold to file to $1,000 from the current $600.The proposal won praise from across the tax policy spectrum.Business Roundtable, an advocacy organization representing a wide range of U.S. CEOs, described the deal's pitch to revive expired pro-business policies as “critical to strengthening America's global competitiveness.”Sen. Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat and key supporter of the child tax credit, urged his colleagues to pass the deal, calling it a “win-win for Ohio families and Ohio manufacturers.”Sen. Brown said, “The deal's expansion of the Child Tax Credit will help parents keep up with the rising cost of living and ensure that their hard work pays off. The business provisions will support American companies that invest in our nation's research and manufacturing. The deal also ensures that residents of East Palestine won't get hit with a surprise tax bill for payments they received from Norfolk Southern after last year's derailment.”Pretty, pret-ty good. Welp that's it for me, from Denver I'm Sean Diller. Stories in today's show can be found in the Missouri Independent, Ohio Capital Journal, Kansas Reflector and Michigan Advance. Thanks for listening, see you next time. @TheHeartlandPOD on Twitter and ThreadsCo-HostsAdam Sommer @Adam_Sommer85 (Twitter) @adam_sommer85 (Post)Rachel Parker @msraitchetp (Post) Sean Diller (no social)The Heartland Collective - Sign Up Today!JOIN PATREON FOR MORE - AND JOIN OUR SOCIAL NETWORK!“Change The Conversation”Outro Song: “The World Is On Fire” by American Aquarium http://www.americanaquarium.com/

Aa tumultuous legislative session. A police raid on a small-town newspaper. Pitched political battles over Medicaid expansion, and so much more. The year of 2023 may not have seen a major election, but that was about the only news that didn't happen this past year in Kansas politics. This retrospective edition of the Kansas Reflector podcast looks back at the year's top stories with opinion editor Clay Wirestone, editor Sherman Smith and reporter Tim Carpenter.

Title: Flyover Friday, November 10, 2023Intro: On this episode of The Heartland POD for Friday, November 17, 2023A flyover from this weeks top heartland stories including:GOP Senators can't stop Biden's student loan plansIllinois legislature approves plan for Small Nuclear ReactorsOhio Republicans can't take a hintOhio Secretary of State misses personal financial disclosure deadlineBiden Administration expands veterans' health careDemocrat Dan Kildee of Michigan is retiringWelcome to The Heartland POD for a Flyover Friday, this is Sean Diller in Denver, Colorado.We're glad to have you with us. If you're new to our shows make sure you subscribe and leave a 5 star rating wherever you listen. You can also find Heartland POD content on Youtube and on Twitter @ THE heartland pod. Alright! Let's get into the storieshttps://missouriindependent.com/briefs/attempt-to-kill-biden-student-debt-relief-plan-tied-to-income-fails-in-u-s-senate/Senate Republicans fail to kill President Joe Biden's income-based student debt relief planBY: ARIANA FIGUEROA - NOVEMBER 16, 2023 7:10 AM     WASHINGTON — Sen. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia was the sole Democrat who joined Republicans in backing the resolution, which was 2 votes short of passing.Following the vote, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said “There are millions of students, poor, working class … who will benefit from what the president has done. Republicans don't think twice about giving huge tax breaks to ultra-wealthy billionaires and large corporations, but when it comes to helping out working families with student debt relief, suddenly it's too much money, it will raise the deficit, we can't afford it. Give me a break.”The Department of Education unveiled the Saving on a Valuable Education, or SAVE, plan hours after the Supreme Court in June struck down the Biden administration's one-time student debt cancellation that would have forgiven up to $10,000 in federal student loan debt for anyone making less than $125,000 per year.Borrowers who received Pell Grants would have been eligible for an additional $10,000 in forgiveness of federal student loans.The new income-driven repayment plan calculates payments based on a borrower's income and family size and forgives balances after a set number of years. More than 5.5 million student loan borrowers have already enrolled in the SAVE plan, according to data released by the Department of Education.Repayments on federal student loans restarted last month after a nearly three-year pause due to the coronavirus pandemic.With the SAVE plan, borrowers with undergraduate loans will pay 5% of their discretionary income, rather than the 10% required under previous income repayment plans. https://capitolnewsillinois.com/NEWS/illinois-lawmakers-approve-plan-to-allow-small-scale-nuclear-developmentIllinois lawmakers approve small-scale nuclear developmentThursday, November 9, 2023Governor, who vetoed previous bill, supports new effortBy ANDREW ADAMS Capitol News Illinoisaadams@capitolnewsillinois.comSPRINGFIELD – Lawmakers on Thursday approved a proposal that would allow companies to develop new nuclear power generation in Illinois for the first time since 1987. House Bill 2473 does not entirely lift the 36-year-old moratorium on nuclear construction, but rather creates a regulatory structure for the construction of small modular nuclear reactors, or SMRs. The bill limits the nameplate capacity of such reactors to 300 megawatts, about one-third the size of the smallest of the six existing nuclear power plants in Illinois. It also requires the state to perform a study that will inform rules for regulating SMRs, which will be adopted by regulators at the Illinois Emergency Management Agency by January 2026.  Proponents of the measure say it is a step to make the ongoing transition away from fossil fuels more reliable for customers throughout the state, while opponents warn the unproven technology comes with safety risks and the potential for cost overruns. The bill passed with bipartisan support in the Senate, 44-7, and the House, 98-8. The opposition came exclusively from Democrats. Gov. JB Pritzker said in a statement that he would sign the bill. He worked with lawmakers on the new bill after vetoing a broader measure this summer. Leadership of the Illinois AFL-CIO umbrella labor organization released a statement Thursday calling the policy “important for our state's economy and our clean energy future.” It echoed a release from the Illinois Manufacturers Association, an industry advocacy group that testified in support of the proposal several times, saying that it would allow the state to “continue leading in energy and manufacturing innovation.”The legislation's sponsors, Republican State Sen. Sue Rezin, and Democratic State Rep. Lance Yednock said the bill has the potential to bolster Illinois' electric reliability as intermittent sources like wind and solar begin to make up a larger portion of the state's energy output. Sen. Rezin said she is particularly interested in the potential for SMRs to be developed at the sites of former coal plants in Illinois, avoiding the need to build new transmission lines. Because permitting nuclear energy takes many years at the federal level, the earliest a nuclear project could be brought online in Illinois would be in the 2030s.  But critics of the bill and of nuclear power are worried.David Kraft, an outspoken critic of nuclear energy and head of the Chicago-based advocacy group Nuclear Energy Information Service, urged lawmakers at a Thursday committee meeting to reject the bill. Kraft said he was concerned about the lack of existing SMR installations and the unproven nature of the technology. While some nuclear reactors of this scale do exist in other countries, no commercial SMRs have ever been built in the United States. In a follow-up interview, Kraft said that SMRs bring with them security concerns, as the smaller installations have different staffing requirements than traditional reactors and use a more highly enriched type of uranium. This relative abundance of this uranium, according to Kraft, could incentivize the further proliferation of nuclear weapons. Sierra Club Illinois chapter director Jack Darin called nuclear energy “at best, a distraction.” Sierra Club was one of the main advocacy organizations that sought Pritzker's veto of the previous bill. Since 2016, five other state legislatures have either repealed or weakened their bans on nuclear construction. Counting Illinois, bans on nuclear construction remain on the books in 11 states. Several of the states that have lifted their bans in recent years have done so to pave the way for SMR technology. But the biggest player in that industry has seen several upsets in recent weeks. As lawmakers debated the bill on Wednesday, NuScale Power – the only company with a federally approved SMR design – announced that it was canceling its highly watched “Carbon Free Power Project” in Utah, which would have been the first commercial project with a NuScale reactor. The project's cancelation comes after months of falling stock prices and criticism from trading firms. Still, its leaders say the company will continue with its other projects, which are at various steps of regulation and planning. Bill sponsor Sen. Rezin noted that “there's a lot to learn” from NuScale's canceled project, but hopes Illinois' and other states' moves to reverse their construction bans will encourage nuclear energy development in the U.S. She said “If we do not build out this technology with companies that are in the United States, there's other companies and countries such as Russia that are looking to sell that technology. We don't want that.” Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government. It is distributed to hundreds of print and broadcast outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, along with major contributions from the Illinois Broadcasters Foundation and Southern Illinois Editorial Association.https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2023/11/16/ohio-senate-gop-floats-idea-of-15-week-abortion-ban-despite-voters-saying-no/Ohio Senate GOP floats 15-week abortion ban despite voters saying noBY: MORGAN TRAU - NOVEMBER 16, 2023 5:00 AMThe Ohio Senate president has floated the idea of a 15-week abortion ban following voters decisively choosing to keep lawmakers out of their reproductive care.The debate over Issue 1 continues at the Statehouse. Some fringe and alt-right Republican House representatives are infuriated with the voters who stood up to secure abortion rights in the state.Issue 1, the proposal to enshrine abortion access into the state constitution, passed 57-43% on election night. Despite this large victory, Statehouse Republicans have been mulling over ways to combat it.State Rep. Jennifer Gross (R-West Chester) is seemingly leading this fight with other far-right representatives Bill Dean (R-Xenia), Melanie Miller (R-Ashland) and Beth Lear (R-Galena). The quartet is described by other Ohio Republicans as being on the extreme end of their caucus due to anti-vaccine beliefs, peddling of conspiracy theories, and attacks on the LGBTQ+ community.Describing a potential 15-week abortion ban, GOP Senate President Matt Huffman said “clearly there is a majority of people in Ohio” who want the ban - however, that would of course be the opposite of what the voters just said a week ago. ere are no statistics to prove this, and based on the language of Issue 1, the voters chose not to have any restrictions before viability.Statehouse reporter Morgan Trau asked President Huffman “Would 15 weeks be going against the will of the people?” He said he didn't know.After the election where Ohioans stood up to demand abortion rights, the Senate President said this “wasn't the end” and there would be a “revolving door” of repeal efforts.  This article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and is published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content-sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication by other news outlets as it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland.https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2023/11/16/sec-frank-larose-misses-deadline-for-u-s-senate-financial-disclosures/Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose misses extended reporting deadline in U.S. Senate race. He's the only one who didn't file. BY: NICK EVANS - NOVEMBER 16, 2023 4:55 AM     The three Republican candidates hoping to topple U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-OH, go before voters in a few months, and by now should've disclosed information about their personal finances. Two of them, state Sen. Matt Dolan and entrepreneur Bernie Moreno, have done so. But after filing an extension through Nov. 14, though, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose still has not.In both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate, candidates and members have to regularly file disclosures that describe their financial positions, assets and liabilities. But the reports stick to broad strokes. Filers name their mutual funds, for instance, but the amount of their holdings are bracketed — $1,001-$15,000, $15,001-$50,000, etc.Current U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown reported about $27,000 in retirement income from his time as a state official. His U.S. Senate income doesn't need to be disclosed, nor do his U.S. Senate retirement accounts.Brown also reports serving as a trustee at Gallaudet University in Washington D.C. since 2008.Under U.S. Senate rules, candidates must file financial disclosure reports within 30 days of becoming a candidate. LaRose announced his candidacy July 17, and filed for a financial disclosure extension August 9. That extension gave him until November 14 to file his report.Despite that 90-day reprieve, LaRose still has yet to file. The Ohio Capital Journal reached out to his campaign to see if the report has been filed but not yet posted or if the campaign has requested a further extension. The campaign did not respond.Late filing carries a $200 penalty and failing to file or filing a false report carries a civil penalty of up to $50,000.LaRose's failure to file thus far is particularly notable given a $250,000 personal loan he made to his campaign in September. While his Republican opponents have loaned their campaigns significantly more money, LaRose's previous disclosures from his time as a state lawmaker don't suggest he'd have that much cash readily available.Chagrin Falls Republican Matt Dolan comes from a wealthy family that owns the Cleveland Guardians baseball team. In addition to serving in the legislature, Dolan has worked in the Geauga County prosecutor's office and as an Assistant Attorney General.The state senator's investment holdings are vast—including stocks from more than 250 companies, more than 50 mutual funds and bonds. He reports a Morgan Stanley money market account with more than $1 million alone as well as several mutual funds worth more than half a million dollars each.Dolan also reports a handful of retirement accounts, partial ownership of several LLCs and real estate. One residential building brought in more than $50,000 in rent.In addition to his income Dolan holds personal line of credit with Morgan Stanley worth at least $5 million. The interest rate for that credit line is just 5.96% according to Dolan's amended report — roughly 2.5 percentage points below the current prime rate.Dolan has loaned his campaign a total of $7 million.Next, there's Bernie MorenoIf anything, Moreno's disclosure is even more complex. The Westlake entrepreneur began his business career selling cars, and his report describes his role as director of 17 different automotive business entities, most of which are no longer operating. But from cars, Moreno has branched into several other lines of business including real estate and tech.Moreno's assets are held in a series of trusts, and the report includes several notes about partial ownership and recent sales. He owns 65% of Dryver, LLC, for instance, which the report values at between $5 million and $25 million. Moreno recently sold off his stake in a different company called Champ Titles, and reports making more than $5 million on the deal.He has investments worth at least half a million dollars in handful of Tel Aviv companies working technology, social media investing and healthcare AI. Moreno has also invested in Narya, the venture capital firm U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, R-OH, started before running for office. Vance has endorsed Moreno's senate bid.Moreno also reports owning millions in residential and commercial real estate. He owns 43% of a home in Ocean Reef, FL worth at least $5 million. It appears the property is a rental because it generated more than $50,000 in income. Moreno also owns a 1% stake condos located in Washington, D.C., and New York City, as well as a $1 million unimproved parcel in Zapotal, Costa Rica, and at least $1.5MM sitting in two checking accounts.Moreno has loaned his campaign $3 million.https://kansasreflector.com/briefs/veterans-health-care-coverage-expanded-by-biden-administration/Biden Administratoin expands Veterans' health care coverage BY: JACOB FISCHLER - NOVEMBER 10, 2023 4:01 AM     Officials said the Department of Veterans Affairs will expand health care coverage for certain groups of veterans and their families, and create new programs meant to make care more accessible.The VA will make coverage of certain toxic burn pit-related conditions available sooner than anticipated. Family members of veterans who served at North Carolina's Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune from between 1953 and 1987 will be eligible to have the costs of treating Parkinson's disease covered. And all living World War II veterans will be eligible for no-cost health care, including at nursing homes, the department said in a series of news releases.The administration will also create a new graduate medical education program to help expand health care availability for veterans in rural, tribal and other underserved communities. And the VA will spend $5 million on an advertising campaign aimed at having more veterans sign up for services.https://michiganadvance.com/2023/11/16/dan-kildee-dean-of-michigans-u-s-house-delegation-wont-run-for-reelection-in-2024/Dan Kildee, dean of Michigan's U.S. House delegation, won't run for reelection in 2024Retirement leaves open a key seat made more competitive with redistrictingBY: KEN COLEMAN - NOVEMBER 16, 2023 1:53 PM     Kildee, who is 65, said a cancer diagnosis this year caused him to reassess his career plans. Kildee's retirement from the 8th Congressional District including Genesee, Bay and Saginaw counties and portions of Midland County, leaves open a seat made more competitive during the last redistricting process. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report with Amy Walter has moved the seat from “leans Democratic” to a “tossup.”A number of candidates could line up to run in 2024 from both parties. Republican Martin Blank, a surgeon, has already declared. Other Republicans who could run are last year's nominee Paul Junge, former House Speaker Tom Leonard and state Rep. Bill G. Schuette (R-Midland).On the Democratic side, potential candidates could include former Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich (D-Flint), Flint Mayor Sheldon Neely, state Sen. Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-Bay City), former state Rep. Pam Farris (D-Clio) and state Sen. John Cherry (D-Flint).In a 2020 interview with the Michigan Advance, Kildee recalled having only been in Congress for a few years when news of the Flint water crisis broke.“That was one of those moments where I knew why I was there. I knew exactly why I was in Congress. I had to go to bat for my hometown because they only had one member of Congress, and I had to persuade a whole bunch of people to help me out with Flint.”Kildee has served as a leader in the House Democratic caucus and has been a close ally of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). He is the co-chair of the House Democratic Steering Committee. Pelosi told the Advance in 2020 that Kildee “has proudly carried on his family's long legacy of service, becoming a tremendous champion for the people of Flint and all Michiganders” as part of leadership.“As a powerful member of the Ways and Means Committee, his persistent, dissatisfied leadership has delivered critical resources to strengthen and develop his community and ensure that our budget remains a reflection of our nation's values. Congressman Kildee's bold vision and expert guidance as chief deputy whip has been invaluable to House Democrats as we work to advance progress that make a difference in the lives of hard-working families in Michigan and across the country.”Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said through a statement that “no one fights harder for his constituents than Dan Kildee.“Congressman Kildee knows the Bay region like the back of his Michigan mitten, and I am so grateful for our productive partnership,” Whitmer said. “I am grateful for our collaboration to bring progress to areas of Michigan that too many left behind. We brought good-paying, middle-class manufacturing jobs back to Flint, worked to lower the cost of prescription drugs with President Biden, and delivered on the issues that make a real difference in people's lives.”   U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Holly) called Kildee's retirement “a huge loss for Congress, for Michigan, and for me personally. The center of his work is and always has been his hometown of Flint, for which he has fiercely advocated especially in the darkest hour of the Flint water crisis,” Slotkin said. “While I'm thankful I have another year to work with him, and thrilled that he is moving on to his next chapter, this departure stings.”U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Ann Arbor) said that Kildee “will be missed. His deep knowledge of many issues and his concern for others has made a difference in countless lives, and his years of service have benefited our country in many ways,”Advance Editor Susan J. Demas contributed to this story.We will definitely have more on the developing primary picture for this open seat in Michigan, as well as the new open seat in Virginia as Abby Spanberger runs for Governor, and everything else that happens as we are now just a couple of short months from the 2024 primary season.Well that's it for me. From Denver I'm Sean Diller. Stories featured in today's show appeared first in the Kansas Reflector, Michigan Advance, Ohio Capitol Journal, Missouri Independent and Capital News Illinois. Thanks for listening, see you next time. 

Title: Flyover Friday, November 10, 2023Intro: On this episode of The Heartland POD for Friday, November 17, 2023A flyover from this weeks top heartland stories including:GOP Senators can't stop Biden's student loan plansIllinois legislature approves plan for Small Nuclear ReactorsOhio Republicans can't take a hintOhio Secretary of State misses personal financial disclosure deadlineBiden Administration expands veterans' health careDemocrat Dan Kildee of Michigan is retiringWelcome to The Heartland POD for a Flyover Friday, this is Sean Diller in Denver, Colorado.We're glad to have you with us. If you're new to our shows make sure you subscribe and leave a 5 star rating wherever you listen. You can also find Heartland POD content on Youtube and on Twitter @ THE heartland pod. Alright! Let's get into the storieshttps://missouriindependent.com/briefs/attempt-to-kill-biden-student-debt-relief-plan-tied-to-income-fails-in-u-s-senate/Senate Republicans fail to kill President Joe Biden's income-based student debt relief planBY: ARIANA FIGUEROA - NOVEMBER 16, 2023 7:10 AM     WASHINGTON — Sen. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia was the sole Democrat who joined Republicans in backing the resolution, which was 2 votes short of passing.Following the vote, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said “There are millions of students, poor, working class … who will benefit from what the president has done. Republicans don't think twice about giving huge tax breaks to ultra-wealthy billionaires and large corporations, but when it comes to helping out working families with student debt relief, suddenly it's too much money, it will raise the deficit, we can't afford it. Give me a break.”The Department of Education unveiled the Saving on a Valuable Education, or SAVE, plan hours after the Supreme Court in June struck down the Biden administration's one-time student debt cancellation that would have forgiven up to $10,000 in federal student loan debt for anyone making less than $125,000 per year.Borrowers who received Pell Grants would have been eligible for an additional $10,000 in forgiveness of federal student loans.The new income-driven repayment plan calculates payments based on a borrower's income and family size and forgives balances after a set number of years. More than 5.5 million student loan borrowers have already enrolled in the SAVE plan, according to data released by the Department of Education.Repayments on federal student loans restarted last month after a nearly three-year pause due to the coronavirus pandemic.With the SAVE plan, borrowers with undergraduate loans will pay 5% of their discretionary income, rather than the 10% required under previous income repayment plans. https://capitolnewsillinois.com/NEWS/illinois-lawmakers-approve-plan-to-allow-small-scale-nuclear-developmentIllinois lawmakers approve small-scale nuclear developmentThursday, November 9, 2023Governor, who vetoed previous bill, supports new effortBy ANDREW ADAMS Capitol News Illinoisaadams@capitolnewsillinois.comSPRINGFIELD – Lawmakers on Thursday approved a proposal that would allow companies to develop new nuclear power generation in Illinois for the first time since 1987. House Bill 2473 does not entirely lift the 36-year-old moratorium on nuclear construction, but rather creates a regulatory structure for the construction of small modular nuclear reactors, or SMRs. The bill limits the nameplate capacity of such reactors to 300 megawatts, about one-third the size of the smallest of the six existing nuclear power plants in Illinois. It also requires the state to perform a study that will inform rules for regulating SMRs, which will be adopted by regulators at the Illinois Emergency Management Agency by January 2026.  Proponents of the measure say it is a step to make the ongoing transition away from fossil fuels more reliable for customers throughout the state, while opponents warn the unproven technology comes with safety risks and the potential for cost overruns. The bill passed with bipartisan support in the Senate, 44-7, and the House, 98-8. The opposition came exclusively from Democrats. Gov. JB Pritzker said in a statement that he would sign the bill. He worked with lawmakers on the new bill after vetoing a broader measure this summer. Leadership of the Illinois AFL-CIO umbrella labor organization released a statement Thursday calling the policy “important for our state's economy and our clean energy future.” It echoed a release from the Illinois Manufacturers Association, an industry advocacy group that testified in support of the proposal several times, saying that it would allow the state to “continue leading in energy and manufacturing innovation.”The legislation's sponsors, Republican State Sen. Sue Rezin, and Democratic State Rep. Lance Yednock said the bill has the potential to bolster Illinois' electric reliability as intermittent sources like wind and solar begin to make up a larger portion of the state's energy output. Sen. Rezin said she is particularly interested in the potential for SMRs to be developed at the sites of former coal plants in Illinois, avoiding the need to build new transmission lines. Because permitting nuclear energy takes many years at the federal level, the earliest a nuclear project could be brought online in Illinois would be in the 2030s.  But critics of the bill and of nuclear power are worried.David Kraft, an outspoken critic of nuclear energy and head of the Chicago-based advocacy group Nuclear Energy Information Service, urged lawmakers at a Thursday committee meeting to reject the bill. Kraft said he was concerned about the lack of existing SMR installations and the unproven nature of the technology. While some nuclear reactors of this scale do exist in other countries, no commercial SMRs have ever been built in the United States. In a follow-up interview, Kraft said that SMRs bring with them security concerns, as the smaller installations have different staffing requirements than traditional reactors and use a more highly enriched type of uranium. This relative abundance of this uranium, according to Kraft, could incentivize the further proliferation of nuclear weapons. Sierra Club Illinois chapter director Jack Darin called nuclear energy “at best, a distraction.” Sierra Club was one of the main advocacy organizations that sought Pritzker's veto of the previous bill. Since 2016, five other state legislatures have either repealed or weakened their bans on nuclear construction. Counting Illinois, bans on nuclear construction remain on the books in 11 states. Several of the states that have lifted their bans in recent years have done so to pave the way for SMR technology. But the biggest player in that industry has seen several upsets in recent weeks. As lawmakers debated the bill on Wednesday, NuScale Power – the only company with a federally approved SMR design – announced that it was canceling its highly watched “Carbon Free Power Project” in Utah, which would have been the first commercial project with a NuScale reactor. The project's cancelation comes after months of falling stock prices and criticism from trading firms. Still, its leaders say the company will continue with its other projects, which are at various steps of regulation and planning. Bill sponsor Sen. Rezin noted that “there's a lot to learn” from NuScale's canceled project, but hopes Illinois' and other states' moves to reverse their construction bans will encourage nuclear energy development in the U.S. She said “If we do not build out this technology with companies that are in the United States, there's other companies and countries such as Russia that are looking to sell that technology. We don't want that.” Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government. It is distributed to hundreds of print and broadcast outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, along with major contributions from the Illinois Broadcasters Foundation and Southern Illinois Editorial Association.https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2023/11/16/ohio-senate-gop-floats-idea-of-15-week-abortion-ban-despite-voters-saying-no/Ohio Senate GOP floats 15-week abortion ban despite voters saying noBY: MORGAN TRAU - NOVEMBER 16, 2023 5:00 AMThe Ohio Senate president has floated the idea of a 15-week abortion ban following voters decisively choosing to keep lawmakers out of their reproductive care.The debate over Issue 1 continues at the Statehouse. Some fringe and alt-right Republican House representatives are infuriated with the voters who stood up to secure abortion rights in the state.Issue 1, the proposal to enshrine abortion access into the state constitution, passed 57-43% on election night. Despite this large victory, Statehouse Republicans have been mulling over ways to combat it.State Rep. Jennifer Gross (R-West Chester) is seemingly leading this fight with other far-right representatives Bill Dean (R-Xenia), Melanie Miller (R-Ashland) and Beth Lear (R-Galena). The quartet is described by other Ohio Republicans as being on the extreme end of their caucus due to anti-vaccine beliefs, peddling of conspiracy theories, and attacks on the LGBTQ+ community.Describing a potential 15-week abortion ban, GOP Senate President Matt Huffman said “clearly there is a majority of people in Ohio” who want the ban - however, that would of course be the opposite of what the voters just said a week ago. ere are no statistics to prove this, and based on the language of Issue 1, the voters chose not to have any restrictions before viability.Statehouse reporter Morgan Trau asked President Huffman “Would 15 weeks be going against the will of the people?” He said he didn't know.After the election where Ohioans stood up to demand abortion rights, the Senate President said this “wasn't the end” and there would be a “revolving door” of repeal efforts.  This article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and is published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content-sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication by other news outlets as it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland.https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2023/11/16/sec-frank-larose-misses-deadline-for-u-s-senate-financial-disclosures/Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose misses extended reporting deadline in U.S. Senate race. He's the only one who didn't file. BY: NICK EVANS - NOVEMBER 16, 2023 4:55 AM     The three Republican candidates hoping to topple U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-OH, go before voters in a few months, and by now should've disclosed information about their personal finances. Two of them, state Sen. Matt Dolan and entrepreneur Bernie Moreno, have done so. But after filing an extension through Nov. 14, though, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose still has not.In both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate, candidates and members have to regularly file disclosures that describe their financial positions, assets and liabilities. But the reports stick to broad strokes. Filers name their mutual funds, for instance, but the amount of their holdings are bracketed — $1,001-$15,000, $15,001-$50,000, etc.Current U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown reported about $27,000 in retirement income from his time as a state official. His U.S. Senate income doesn't need to be disclosed, nor do his U.S. Senate retirement accounts.Brown also reports serving as a trustee at Gallaudet University in Washington D.C. since 2008.Under U.S. Senate rules, candidates must file financial disclosure reports within 30 days of becoming a candidate. LaRose announced his candidacy July 17, and filed for a financial disclosure extension August 9. That extension gave him until November 14 to file his report.Despite that 90-day reprieve, LaRose still has yet to file. The Ohio Capital Journal reached out to his campaign to see if the report has been filed but not yet posted or if the campaign has requested a further extension. The campaign did not respond.Late filing carries a $200 penalty and failing to file or filing a false report carries a civil penalty of up to $50,000.LaRose's failure to file thus far is particularly notable given a $250,000 personal loan he made to his campaign in September. While his Republican opponents have loaned their campaigns significantly more money, LaRose's previous disclosures from his time as a state lawmaker don't suggest he'd have that much cash readily available.Chagrin Falls Republican Matt Dolan comes from a wealthy family that owns the Cleveland Guardians baseball team. In addition to serving in the legislature, Dolan has worked in the Geauga County prosecutor's office and as an Assistant Attorney General.The state senator's investment holdings are vast—including stocks from more than 250 companies, more than 50 mutual funds and bonds. He reports a Morgan Stanley money market account with more than $1 million alone as well as several mutual funds worth more than half a million dollars each.Dolan also reports a handful of retirement accounts, partial ownership of several LLCs and real estate. One residential building brought in more than $50,000 in rent.In addition to his income Dolan holds personal line of credit with Morgan Stanley worth at least $5 million. The interest rate for that credit line is just 5.96% according to Dolan's amended report — roughly 2.5 percentage points below the current prime rate.Dolan has loaned his campaign a total of $7 million.Next, there's Bernie MorenoIf anything, Moreno's disclosure is even more complex. The Westlake entrepreneur began his business career selling cars, and his report describes his role as director of 17 different automotive business entities, most of which are no longer operating. But from cars, Moreno has branched into several other lines of business including real estate and tech.Moreno's assets are held in a series of trusts, and the report includes several notes about partial ownership and recent sales. He owns 65% of Dryver, LLC, for instance, which the report values at between $5 million and $25 million. Moreno recently sold off his stake in a different company called Champ Titles, and reports making more than $5 million on the deal.He has investments worth at least half a million dollars in handful of Tel Aviv companies working technology, social media investing and healthcare AI. Moreno has also invested in Narya, the venture capital firm U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, R-OH, started before running for office. Vance has endorsed Moreno's senate bid.Moreno also reports owning millions in residential and commercial real estate. He owns 43% of a home in Ocean Reef, FL worth at least $5 million. It appears the property is a rental because it generated more than $50,000 in income. Moreno also owns a 1% stake condos located in Washington, D.C., and New York City, as well as a $1 million unimproved parcel in Zapotal, Costa Rica, and at least $1.5MM sitting in two checking accounts.Moreno has loaned his campaign $3 million.https://kansasreflector.com/briefs/veterans-health-care-coverage-expanded-by-biden-administration/Biden Administratoin expands Veterans' health care coverage BY: JACOB FISCHLER - NOVEMBER 10, 2023 4:01 AM     Officials said the Department of Veterans Affairs will expand health care coverage for certain groups of veterans and their families, and create new programs meant to make care more accessible.The VA will make coverage of certain toxic burn pit-related conditions available sooner than anticipated. Family members of veterans who served at North Carolina's Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune from between 1953 and 1987 will be eligible to have the costs of treating Parkinson's disease covered. And all living World War II veterans will be eligible for no-cost health care, including at nursing homes, the department said in a series of news releases.The administration will also create a new graduate medical education program to help expand health care availability for veterans in rural, tribal and other underserved communities. And the VA will spend $5 million on an advertising campaign aimed at having more veterans sign up for services.https://michiganadvance.com/2023/11/16/dan-kildee-dean-of-michigans-u-s-house-delegation-wont-run-for-reelection-in-2024/Dan Kildee, dean of Michigan's U.S. House delegation, won't run for reelection in 2024Retirement leaves open a key seat made more competitive with redistrictingBY: KEN COLEMAN - NOVEMBER 16, 2023 1:53 PM     Kildee, who is 65, said a cancer diagnosis this year caused him to reassess his career plans. Kildee's retirement from the 8th Congressional District including Genesee, Bay and Saginaw counties and portions of Midland County, leaves open a seat made more competitive during the last redistricting process. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report with Amy Walter has moved the seat from “leans Democratic” to a “tossup.”A number of candidates could line up to run in 2024 from both parties. Republican Martin Blank, a surgeon, has already declared. Other Republicans who could run are last year's nominee Paul Junge, former House Speaker Tom Leonard and state Rep. Bill G. Schuette (R-Midland).On the Democratic side, potential candidates could include former Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich (D-Flint), Flint Mayor Sheldon Neely, state Sen. Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-Bay City), former state Rep. Pam Farris (D-Clio) and state Sen. John Cherry (D-Flint).In a 2020 interview with the Michigan Advance, Kildee recalled having only been in Congress for a few years when news of the Flint water crisis broke.“That was one of those moments where I knew why I was there. I knew exactly why I was in Congress. I had to go to bat for my hometown because they only had one member of Congress, and I had to persuade a whole bunch of people to help me out with Flint.”Kildee has served as a leader in the House Democratic caucus and has been a close ally of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). He is the co-chair of the House Democratic Steering Committee. Pelosi told the Advance in 2020 that Kildee “has proudly carried on his family's long legacy of service, becoming a tremendous champion for the people of Flint and all Michiganders” as part of leadership.“As a powerful member of the Ways and Means Committee, his persistent, dissatisfied leadership has delivered critical resources to strengthen and develop his community and ensure that our budget remains a reflection of our nation's values. Congressman Kildee's bold vision and expert guidance as chief deputy whip has been invaluable to House Democrats as we work to advance progress that make a difference in the lives of hard-working families in Michigan and across the country.”Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said through a statement that “no one fights harder for his constituents than Dan Kildee.“Congressman Kildee knows the Bay region like the back of his Michigan mitten, and I am so grateful for our productive partnership,” Whitmer said. “I am grateful for our collaboration to bring progress to areas of Michigan that too many left behind. We brought good-paying, middle-class manufacturing jobs back to Flint, worked to lower the cost of prescription drugs with President Biden, and delivered on the issues that make a real difference in people's lives.”   U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Holly) called Kildee's retirement “a huge loss for Congress, for Michigan, and for me personally. The center of his work is and always has been his hometown of Flint, for which he has fiercely advocated especially in the darkest hour of the Flint water crisis,” Slotkin said. “While I'm thankful I have another year to work with him, and thrilled that he is moving on to his next chapter, this departure stings.”U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Ann Arbor) said that Kildee “will be missed. His deep knowledge of many issues and his concern for others has made a difference in countless lives, and his years of service have benefited our country in many ways,”Advance Editor Susan J. Demas contributed to this story.We will definitely have more on the developing primary picture for this open seat in Michigan, as well as the new open seat in Virginia as Abby Spanberger runs for Governor, and everything else that happens as we are now just a couple of short months from the 2024 primary season.Well that's it for me. From Denver I'm Sean Diller. Stories featured in today's show appeared first in the Kansas Reflector, Michigan Advance, Ohio Capitol Journal, Missouri Independent and Capital News Illinois. Thanks for listening, see you next time. 

It's been nearly three months since the law enforcement raid on the Marion County Record newspaper. Since then, the town's police chief has resigned, and reporters have kept digging into the situation. Kansas Reflector opinion editor Clay Wirestone leads a conversation with Marion County Record editor and publisher Eric Meyer, and Kansas Reflector editor in chief Sherman Smith.

Kansas Reflector opinion editor Clay Wirestone joins senior reporter Tim Carpenter in talking about Fort Hays State University's annual Kansas Speaks poll. The new results show how Kansans are feeling about Medicaid expansion, marijuana, abortion, climate change and guns, among other issues.

@TheHeartlandPOD on Twitter and ThreadsCo-HostsSean Diller @SeanDillerCO   (Twitter and Post)https://heartlandpod.com/JOIN PATREON FOR MORE - AND JOIN OUR SOCIAL NETWORK!“Change The Conversation”Outro Song: “The World Is On Fire” by American Aquarium http://www.americanaquarium.com/This week on the Friday Flyover: MO GOP candidates cashing big checks, Kansas Gov Laura Kelly announces huge budget surplus, Biden Admin announces $9 B more in student loan forgiveness, Gov. Abbott's got a fever - and the only prescription, is school vouchers, and Bidden-Harris campaign ads hit battleground states. Alright, let's get into it.http://missouriindependent.com/briefs/st-louis-mega-donor-drops-425k-into-missouri-campaigns-in-last-week/St. Louis mega-donor drops $425K into Missouri campaigns - in one weekBY: JASON HANCOCK - OCTOBER 3, 2023 10:00 AMRex Sinquefield, a retired investor from St. Louis and Missouri's most prolific political donor, cut $425,000 worth of checks to PACs supporting eight different candidates in the last week — with the largest going to bolster Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe's bid for governor. His $250,000 3rd quarter contribution to Kehoe brings Sinquefield's total to $750,000. That's right - Mike Kehoe has taken $750,000 from Rex Sinquefeld.Sinquefield also donated $25,000 each to two GOP candidates for state treasurer — state Sen. Andrew Koenig and state Rep. Cody Smith. He gave $25,000 to Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden, who is rumored to be eyeing a run for secretary of state, and to Sen. Denny Hoskins, who is already in that GOP primary. He also donated $25,000 to two state representatives running for the state Senate: Phil Christofanelli and Chris Dinkins, and to a state senator who is term-limited, Tony Luetkemeyer. Sinquefield has given more than $42 million in campaign contributions in Missouri — mostly to Republicans, though not exclusively. His main policy priorities are defunding the state's public education system and eliminating income taxes.In neighboring Kansas, he helped bankroll a group called Kansans for No Income Tax that promoted, in 2012, one of the largest state tax cuts in history with the support of Republican Gov. Sam Brownback. Sinquefield called the cuts “unbelievably brilliant” and predicted that “there's going to be a cloud of dust … as the businesses move from Missouri to Kansas.”By 2017, National Public Radio reported state lawmakers were seeking to close a $900 million budget gap,[2][Note 2] following nine previous budget cuts.[43] Earlier efforts to close budget gaps had left Kansas "well below national averages" in a wide range of public services from K-12 education to housing to police and fire protection.[4][17]Kansas' sharply reduced revenues following the income-tax repeal led rating agency Moody's to cut the state's bond rating in April from its second-highest bond rating to its third highest. Creative Commons LicenseREPUBLISHOur stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our web site. Please see our republishing guidelines for use of photos and graphics.https://kansasreflector.com/2023/10/03/kansas-on-track-for-2-6-billion-state-revenue-surplus-1-6-billion-stash-in-rainy-day-fund/Kansas on track for $2.6 billion state revenue surplus, $1.6 billion stash in rainy day fundMountain of cash guarantees political fight over tax, education, health spendingBY: TIM CARPENTER - OCTOBER 3, 2023 1:16 PMDemocratic governor Laura Kelly said, “Because of my administration's work to put our state on solid financial footing, we have been able to grow our economy and make historic investments in schools, roads and law enforcement. Now, it's time to give money back to Kansans through responsible tax cuts.”She urged the Republican-led Legislature to reduce property taxes, grocery sales taxes and drive down taxes on retirees. In addition, Kelly is recommending additional spending on K-12 special education and to expand eligibility for Medicaid to working-poor families. Adam Proffitt, the state budget director, said the Kansas unemployment rate contracted from double digits during the pandemic to 2.7% in August of this year.He also said Kansas has two job openings for every available person in the workforce. Thank you, Governor Kelly. You are my ultra dark horse candidate for Democratic nominee for U.S. President in 2024. Creative Commons LicenseRepublished under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our web site. White House provides another $9 billion in student debt relief as pandemic pause endsBY: ARIANA FIGUEROA - OCTOBER 4, 2023 6:03 PM WASHINGTON — As federal student loan repayments restart, the Biden administration Wednesday announced an additional $9 billion in student loan forgiveness for 125,000 borrowers.“For years, millions of eligible borrowers were unable to access the student debt relief they qualified for, but that's all changed thanks to President Biden and this Administration's relentless efforts to fix the broken student loan system,” U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a statement.The announcement comes days after federal student loan repayments restarted following a nearly three-year pause due to the pandemic. Borrowers with federal student loans have the option of an on-ramp program, where they can delay making payments for 12 months, but interest will still accrue.The $9 billion in new relief includes $5.2 billion in forgiveness for 53,000 borrowers in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program; $2.8 billion in forgiveness for 51,000 borrowers from a one-time fix to income-driven repayment plans; and $1.2 billion in forgiveness for 22,000 borrowers with permanent disabilities.The PSLF program forgives remaining student loan debt after qualifying public sector and non-profit employees have made 10 years' worth of monthly payments. Since October 2021, the Biden administration has forgiven more than 715,000 borrowers with PSLF loans, totaling $50.8 billion.With Wednesday's announcement, more than 854,870 federal student loan borrowers have had their student loan debt forgiven through the IDR adjustment, totaling nearly $42 billion in relief, the administration said.The Department of Education also implemented a new income driven repayment program known as Saving on A Valuable Education, or SAVE, and many borrowers have been automatically funneled into the program. It's a plan that, for some borrowers, could result in no monthly payments.So far, the Biden administration has approved up to $127 billion in student debt cancellation for about 3.6 million borrowers.https://www.texastribune.org/2023/09/29/greg-abbott-texas-leglislature-school-vouchers/Gov. Greg Abbot wants school vouchers and he wants them right now!BY BRIAN LOPEZ AND WILLIAM MELHADOSEPT. 29, 2023[He] has notified the Texas Legislature that a third special session will begin on Oct. 9.A Sept. 26 letter signed by Abbott and addressed to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dade Phelan, did not indicate the focus of this special session. But the governor has said repeatedly the next special session would focus on public education, including the issue of school vouchers that would allow parents to use taxpayer dollars to pay for their children's private schooling. Lawmakers are to return to Austin on Oct. 9 at 1 p.m. This year's regular legislative session ended in a stalemate between the House and Senate over education savings accounts, a voucher program that would allow parents access to a state-managed account to pay for private school tuition.The Senate tried different ways to pass an education savings account program — even tacking it on to the only school finance bill the House advanced during the session — but Democrats and rural Republicans blocked it from moving forward.Abbott recently said that if lawmakers fail to pass a school choice proposal, he won't hesitate to bring lawmakers back. And he promised political consequences for those who get in his way.Abbott said “If we do not win in that first special session, we will have another special special session and we'll come back again. And then if we don't win that time, I think it's time to send this to the voters themselves.”Biden touts blue-collar roots in latest AZ adBY: JIM SMALL - OCTOBER 3, 2023 5:00 AMThe Biden campaign today is launching a new TV ad in Arizona and other battleground states that spotlights how the president's agenda is lowering costs for America's middle class.The ad, titled “Never Left,” is part of a 16-week, $25 million campaign that launched last month. The ad focuses on Joe Biden's roots in Scranton, a blue-collar city in northeastern Pennsylvania, and his pursuit of policies that benefit low- and middle-income Americans.The narrator says of Biden, “He knows what life is like for working people and knows middle-class life is too expensive right now,”The ad highlights Biden administration policies capping insulin costs at $35 for some seniors, allowing Medicare to negotiate certain drug prices and investments in the American clean energy sector, which the campaign said would lower power costs for families.The Biden campaign said the ad will run on broadcast TV and cable channels, and will target programming that is widely watched by general election voters, including “Dancing with the Stars,” “Bachelor in Paradise” and NFL games.Julie Chavez Rodriguez, the campaign manager for Biden-Harris 2024 said “This ad serves as an early reminder of the choice Americans will face next year: between MAGA Republicans whose agenda would give tax handouts to the ultra-rich at the expense of working people, or Joe Biden and Kamala Harris' agenda for the middle class.”We'll see what happens!Welp that's it for me. Stories for today's show originally published by States Newsroom outlets the Missouri Independent, Kansas Reflector, Texas Tribune, Arizona Mirror. Additional Rex Sinquefeld information from National Public Radio.

@TheHeartlandPOD on Twitter and ThreadsCo-HostsSean Diller @SeanDillerCO   (Twitter and Post)https://heartlandpod.com/JOIN PATREON FOR MORE - AND JOIN OUR SOCIAL NETWORK!“Change The Conversation”Outro Song: “The World Is On Fire” by American Aquarium http://www.americanaquarium.com/This week on the Friday Flyover: MO GOP candidates cashing big checks, Kansas Gov Laura Kelly announces huge budget surplus, Biden Admin announces $9 B more in student loan forgiveness, Gov. Abbott's got a fever - and the only prescription, is school vouchers, and Bidden-Harris campaign ads hit battleground states. Alright, let's get into it.http://missouriindependent.com/briefs/st-louis-mega-donor-drops-425k-into-missouri-campaigns-in-last-week/St. Louis mega-donor drops $425K into Missouri campaigns - in one weekBY: JASON HANCOCK - OCTOBER 3, 2023 10:00 AMRex Sinquefield, a retired investor from St. Louis and Missouri's most prolific political donor, cut $425,000 worth of checks to PACs supporting eight different candidates in the last week — with the largest going to bolster Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe's bid for governor. His $250,000 3rd quarter contribution to Kehoe brings Sinquefield's total to $750,000. That's right - Mike Kehoe has taken $750,000 from Rex Sinquefeld.Sinquefield also donated $25,000 each to two GOP candidates for state treasurer — state Sen. Andrew Koenig and state Rep. Cody Smith. He gave $25,000 to Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden, who is rumored to be eyeing a run for secretary of state, and to Sen. Denny Hoskins, who is already in that GOP primary. He also donated $25,000 to two state representatives running for the state Senate: Phil Christofanelli and Chris Dinkins, and to a state senator who is term-limited, Tony Luetkemeyer. Sinquefield has given more than $42 million in campaign contributions in Missouri — mostly to Republicans, though not exclusively. His main policy priorities are defunding the state's public education system and eliminating income taxes.In neighboring Kansas, he helped bankroll a group called Kansans for No Income Tax that promoted, in 2012, one of the largest state tax cuts in history with the support of Republican Gov. Sam Brownback. Sinquefield called the cuts “unbelievably brilliant” and predicted that “there's going to be a cloud of dust … as the businesses move from Missouri to Kansas.”By 2017, National Public Radio reported state lawmakers were seeking to close a $900 million budget gap,[2][Note 2] following nine previous budget cuts.[43] Earlier efforts to close budget gaps had left Kansas "well below national averages" in a wide range of public services from K-12 education to housing to police and fire protection.[4][17]Kansas' sharply reduced revenues following the income-tax repeal led rating agency Moody's to cut the state's bond rating in April from its second-highest bond rating to its third highest. Creative Commons LicenseREPUBLISHOur stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our web site. Please see our republishing guidelines for use of photos and graphics.https://kansasreflector.com/2023/10/03/kansas-on-track-for-2-6-billion-state-revenue-surplus-1-6-billion-stash-in-rainy-day-fund/Kansas on track for $2.6 billion state revenue surplus, $1.6 billion stash in rainy day fundMountain of cash guarantees political fight over tax, education, health spendingBY: TIM CARPENTER - OCTOBER 3, 2023 1:16 PMDemocratic governor Laura Kelly said, “Because of my administration's work to put our state on solid financial footing, we have been able to grow our economy and make historic investments in schools, roads and law enforcement. Now, it's time to give money back to Kansans through responsible tax cuts.”She urged the Republican-led Legislature to reduce property taxes, grocery sales taxes and drive down taxes on retirees. In addition, Kelly is recommending additional spending on K-12 special education and to expand eligibility for Medicaid to working-poor families. Adam Proffitt, the state budget director, said the Kansas unemployment rate contracted from double digits during the pandemic to 2.7% in August of this year.He also said Kansas has two job openings for every available person in the workforce. Thank you, Governor Kelly. You are my ultra dark horse candidate for Democratic nominee for U.S. President in 2024. Creative Commons LicenseRepublished under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our web site. White House provides another $9 billion in student debt relief as pandemic pause endsBY: ARIANA FIGUEROA - OCTOBER 4, 2023 6:03 PM WASHINGTON — As federal student loan repayments restart, the Biden administration Wednesday announced an additional $9 billion in student loan forgiveness for 125,000 borrowers.“For years, millions of eligible borrowers were unable to access the student debt relief they qualified for, but that's all changed thanks to President Biden and this Administration's relentless efforts to fix the broken student loan system,” U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a statement.The announcement comes days after federal student loan repayments restarted following a nearly three-year pause due to the pandemic. Borrowers with federal student loans have the option of an on-ramp program, where they can delay making payments for 12 months, but interest will still accrue.The $9 billion in new relief includes $5.2 billion in forgiveness for 53,000 borrowers in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program; $2.8 billion in forgiveness for 51,000 borrowers from a one-time fix to income-driven repayment plans; and $1.2 billion in forgiveness for 22,000 borrowers with permanent disabilities.The PSLF program forgives remaining student loan debt after qualifying public sector and non-profit employees have made 10 years' worth of monthly payments. Since October 2021, the Biden administration has forgiven more than 715,000 borrowers with PSLF loans, totaling $50.8 billion.With Wednesday's announcement, more than 854,870 federal student loan borrowers have had their student loan debt forgiven through the IDR adjustment, totaling nearly $42 billion in relief, the administration said.The Department of Education also implemented a new income driven repayment program known as Saving on A Valuable Education, or SAVE, and many borrowers have been automatically funneled into the program. It's a plan that, for some borrowers, could result in no monthly payments.So far, the Biden administration has approved up to $127 billion in student debt cancellation for about 3.6 million borrowers.https://www.texastribune.org/2023/09/29/greg-abbott-texas-leglislature-school-vouchers/Gov. Greg Abbot wants school vouchers and he wants them right now!BY BRIAN LOPEZ AND WILLIAM MELHADOSEPT. 29, 2023[He] has notified the Texas Legislature that a third special session will begin on Oct. 9.A Sept. 26 letter signed by Abbott and addressed to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dade Phelan, did not indicate the focus of this special session. But the governor has said repeatedly the next special session would focus on public education, including the issue of school vouchers that would allow parents to use taxpayer dollars to pay for their children's private schooling. Lawmakers are to return to Austin on Oct. 9 at 1 p.m. This year's regular legislative session ended in a stalemate between the House and Senate over education savings accounts, a voucher program that would allow parents access to a state-managed account to pay for private school tuition.The Senate tried different ways to pass an education savings account program — even tacking it on to the only school finance bill the House advanced during the session — but Democrats and rural Republicans blocked it from moving forward.Abbott recently said that if lawmakers fail to pass a school choice proposal, he won't hesitate to bring lawmakers back. And he promised political consequences for those who get in his way.Abbott said “If we do not win in that first special session, we will have another special special session and we'll come back again. And then if we don't win that time, I think it's time to send this to the voters themselves.”Biden touts blue-collar roots in latest AZ adBY: JIM SMALL - OCTOBER 3, 2023 5:00 AMThe Biden campaign today is launching a new TV ad in Arizona and other battleground states that spotlights how the president's agenda is lowering costs for America's middle class.The ad, titled “Never Left,” is part of a 16-week, $25 million campaign that launched last month. The ad focuses on Joe Biden's roots in Scranton, a blue-collar city in northeastern Pennsylvania, and his pursuit of policies that benefit low- and middle-income Americans.The narrator says of Biden, “He knows what life is like for working people and knows middle-class life is too expensive right now,”The ad highlights Biden administration policies capping insulin costs at $35 for some seniors, allowing Medicare to negotiate certain drug prices and investments in the American clean energy sector, which the campaign said would lower power costs for families.The Biden campaign said the ad will run on broadcast TV and cable channels, and will target programming that is widely watched by general election voters, including “Dancing with the Stars,” “Bachelor in Paradise” and NFL games.Julie Chavez Rodriguez, the campaign manager for Biden-Harris 2024 said “This ad serves as an early reminder of the choice Americans will face next year: between MAGA Republicans whose agenda would give tax handouts to the ultra-rich at the expense of working people, or Joe Biden and Kamala Harris' agenda for the middle class.”We'll see what happens!Welp that's it for me. Stories for today's show originally published by States Newsroom outlets the Missouri Independent, Kansas Reflector, Texas Tribune, Arizona Mirror. Additional Rex Sinquefeld information from National Public Radio.

During a Kansas Reflector podcast, Mark McCormick, deputy executive director of strategic initiatives at the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas, discussed racism in the state as seen through the lens of his recent report on Quindaro, “Same Water Comin' Round: Quindaro as a Vision for Kansas.”

The Top Hat crew sits down with editor-in-chief of the Kansas Reflector, Sherman Smith, to break down the still developing story of what happened in Marion County last week where Police staged a "Gestapo-style" raid on The Marion County Record, seizing computers, records, cellphones, and contributing to the death of the newspaper's 98-year-old co-owner.

Eli Woody, a former educator and political newcomer, is challenging Republican U.S. Rep. Jake LaTurner for a shot at the 2nd District seat. Woody, a Democrat, discussed his campaign goals of focusing on education, reproduction rights and gun reform with Kansas Reflector senior reporter Tim Carpenter.

Michigan AG files felony charges against 16 fake Trump electors | Missouri regulators say federal radioactive groundwater contamination efforts are not working | MO Gov Mike Parson signs bill easing restrictions on retired educators' ability to teach | Illinois Supreme Court rules SAFE-T Act Constitutional, making Illinois the first state to ban cash bail | Education Secretary Miguel Cardona announces 800,000 student loan borrowers to receive forgiveness in the next month. Support this show and all of the work in the Heartland POD universe by going to heartlandpod.com and clicking the patreon link to sign up. Membership starts at $1/month and goes up from there with extra shows and special access at the higher levels. Heartlandpod.com, click the patreon link or just go to Patreon and search for the heartland pod. No matter the level you choose, your membership helps us create these independent shows as we work together to change the conversation.INTRO: Welcome to Flyover View, a member of the Heartland Pod family of podcasts and a look at heartland news from 30,000 feet. I'm your host, Sean Diller, and I want to thank you for joining me today.Here we go! DETROIT NEWS:16 false Trump electors face felony charges in MichiganCraig MaugerBeth LeBlancThe Detroit NewsLansing — Attorney General Dana Nessel has filed felony charges against 16 Republicans who signed a certificate falsely stating that Donald Trump won Michigan's 2020 presidential election, launching criminal cases against top political figures inside the state GOP.Each of the 16 electors have been charged with eight felony counts, including forgery and conspiracy to commit election law forgery, according to Nessel's office.The revelation capped six months of investigation and produced the most serious allegations yet in Michigan over the campaign to overturn Trump's loss to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020. Biden won Michigan by 154,000 votes or 3 percentage points, but Trump and his supporters maintained false claims that fraud swung the result.As part of the push to undermine Biden's victory, Trump supporters gathered inside the Michigan Republican Party headquarters on Dec. 14, 2020, and signed a certificate, claiming to cast the state's 16 electoral votes for Trump.Eventually the false certificate was sent to the National Archives and Congress. The document falsely claimed the Trump electors had met inside the Michigan State Capitol on Dec. 14.  But that's not what happened. In fact Dec. 14 at the real state capitol is where the real electors met to cast their real electoral votes for the real winner, Joe Biden. The Michigan Attorney General said "The false electors' actions undermined the public's faith in the integrity of our elections and, we believe, also plainly violated the laws by which we administer our elections in Michigan.""My department has prosecuted numerous cases of election law violations throughout my tenure, and it would be malfeasance of the greatest magnitude if my department failed to act here in the face of overwhelming evidence of an organized effort to circumvent the lawfully cast ballots of millions of Michigan voters in a presidential election."Ryan Goodman, a law professor New York University School of Law, called the charges "a strong case" and noted the fake electors signed a sworn statement attesting "we convened and organized in the State Capitol.""In truth, they met (secretly) in GOP headquarters basement," Goodman wrote on Twitter.The felony complaints indicate the warrants for each of the electors were signed Thursday and Friday of last week, according to copies of the documents.The names and positions of the electors are available in news articles, and include several current and former state GOP committee chairs and local elected officials.Each of the 16 electors is charged with eight felonies: two counts of election law forgery; two counts of forgery; and one count each of uttering and publishing, conspiracy to commit forgery, conspiracy to commit election law forgery and conspiracy to commit forgery. Conspiracy to commit forgery carries one of the steepest penalties, punishable by up to 14 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.The conspiracy charges allege the defendants worked with specific named others to falsely make a public record: which was the false certificate of votes of the 2020 fake electors from Michigan.The 16 fake electors convened in the basement of Michigan GOP headquarters on Dec. 14, 2020, and produced a certificate that claimed Trump had won the state's 16 electoral votes.An affidavit prepared by Michigan AG Nessel's office in support of the complaint indicated Republican staffers in interviews with investigators said that non-electors were blocked from entering the building and the electors themselves were required to surrender their cellphones to prevent any recording of the event. GOP elector Mayra Rodriguez would later tell the Jan. 6 Select Committee that Trump campaign aide Shawn Flynn was present and spoke to the fake electors at the site.Attorney Ian Northon attempted to deliver a manila envelope similar to the size of the false electoral vote certificate to the Michigan Senate, claiming it contained the Republican electoral votes, the filing said. The U.S. National Archives and U.S. Senate Archives reported receiving a copy of the false certificate as well. Michigan election law bans someone from knowingly making or publishing a false document "with the intent to defraud."Each defendant, or their attorneys, has been notified of the charges, and the court will provide each with a date to appear in Ingham County district court for an arraignment. In a statement, AG Nessel's office also said "This remains an ongoing investigation, and the Michigan Department of Attorney General has not ruled out charges against additional defendants," Nessel's office said.YIKES: 14 years for conspiracy to commit forgery. And I'm not a practicing attorney, but I would bet anyone connected to Rudy Giuoini, Sydney Powell, Lindsey Graham, and some of these other goofballs could be looking at conspiracy charges as well. Because the tough thing about conspiracy crimes - so here it's conspiracy to commit election forgery and conspiracy to commit forgery - so the tough part if you're a defendant, is that once you talk with another person about the plan, and anyone involved takes even the smallest step toward moving on it, the crime of conspiracy is complete. You'll be found guilty if the prosecutor can prove it. MISSOURI INDEPENDENT: Something in the water.BY: ALLISON KITE - JULY 17, 2023 4:40 PM     A joint investigation by The Independent and MuckRock.In 2021, Missouri environmental regulators warned the federal government that radioactive contamination of groundwater from a uranium processing site near St. Louis was not improving despite cleanup efforts, according to documents reviewed by The Missouri Independent and MuckRock.Officials with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources wrote a letter to the U.S. Department of Energy in May 2021, responding to the agency's five-year review of its cleanup efforts at a Weldon Spring site where uranium was refined during the Cold War.While the radioactive waste and contaminated debris from the uranium processing site have been contained, Missouri regulators said contamination in the surrounding groundwater wasn't getting better.The letter, which has not been reported publicly, is the latest example of Missouri officials pushing the federal government to do more to protect the health of St. Louis-area residents near the litany of World War II and Cold War-era nuclear sites in the region. A six-month investigation by The Independent, MuckRock and The Associated Press found that federal agencies and private companies, for decades, downplayed concerns about radiological contamination or failed to investigate it fully at sites in St. Louis and St. Charles counties.St. Louis and surrounding areas played a key role in the development of the first atomic bomb during World War II. Uranium processed in downtown St. Louis was used in the first sustained nuclear reaction in Chicago. After the war, Mallinckrodt, which operated the downtown plant, started similar operations at a new facility on Missouri Highway 94 just north of the Missouri River.The more than 200-acre site has been contaminated for decades by radium, thorium and uranium as well as dangerous non-radioactive chemicals from its use to manufacture explosives and process uranium ore. The Weldon Spring plant was demolished and the debris buried, along with residue leftover from uranium processing, in a 41-acre containment cell covered with rock. The containment cell, the highest point in St. Charles County, is accessible to the public and has a monument to the communities displaced by the war effort and information on the cleanup effort at the top.Closer to the Missouri River, a quarry the federal government used to store radioactive waste was also contaminated. It's separated from the main site but part of the same cleanup and monitoring effort.Remediation of the plant is complete, but monitoring has shown uranium contamination is not decreasing. The Environmental Protection Agency shared some of the state's concerns that the groundwater monitoring network was insufficient and the groundwater is not projected to be restored in a reasonable timeframe. Beyond that, the state says, the extent of the contamination hasn't been sufficiently defined, meaning it could be more widespread than the Department of Energy knows based on its sampling. The federal sampling program, the state argues, is inadequate.Missouri regulators, in their letter, repeatedly corrected the Department of Energy when the federal agency said uranium levels were falling in groundwater wells at the site.In a response to the state, the federal government said it would revise its conclusion that the remedy was working. MISSOURI INDEPENDENT: Pulled out of retirementNew law tackles Missouri teacher shortage by encouraging retirees to return to classroomGov. Mike Parson signed legislation last week that allows educators to return to work without losing retirement benefitsBY: ANNELISE HANSHAW - JULY 13, 2023 9:00 AMMissouri's school districts are struggling - not just with a teacher shortage but a scarcity of bus drivers, custodians and other essential personnel.In the most recent school year, teachers with inadequate teaching certification taught over 8% of Missouri public school classes, according to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.The crisis has led larger school districts to consider adopting four-day school weeks to address teacher retention and recruitment problems.Sen. Rusty Black, R-Chillicothe, has been working on one way to address the problem for four years. And last week, the governor signed a bill into law, set to take effect Aug. 28, that will allow retired public-school staff to work full-time for a district for up to four years without losing retirement benefits.Prior to Black's legislation, teachers and non-certificated staff could work full-time for only two years post-retirement without losing benefits.The law also addresses other positions, like bus drivers and janitors. Retired school employees can work in positions that don't require a teaching certificate for more hours. CAPITOL NEWS ILLINOIS:UPDATED: Cash bail will end in Illinois as state supreme court rules the SAFE-T Act is constitutionalTuesday, July 18, 2023By JERRY NOWICKICapitol News Illinoisjnowicki@capitolnewsillinois.comSPRINGFIELD – A landmark criminal justice reform that eliminates cash bail in Illinois is constitutional, the state's Supreme Court ruled Tuesday, paving the way for the change to take effect Sept. 18. The 5-2 decision – handed down on partisan lines – means that an individual's wealth will no longer play a role in whether they are incarcerated while awaiting trial. Judges can still order someone to be detained as they await trial, but the new system will instead be based on an offender's level of risk of reoffending or fleeing prosecution. With the new law's implementation, Illinois will become the first state in the U.S. to fully eliminate cash bail – and all provisions of the SAFE-T Act criminal justice reform will have taken full effect.Short for Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today, the wide-ranging measure was an initiative of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus that passed in the wake of a nationwide reckoning with racism in the criminal justice system following the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer.The act reformed police training, certification and use-of-force standards, expanded detainee rights, and gave the attorney general's office authority to investigate alleged civil rights violations by law enforcement. It also requires body cameras at all police departments by 2025. Some larger departments are already required to use body cameras under the law.State Rep. Justin Slaughter, a Chicago Democrat who sponsored the measure in the House, said the pretrial detention overhaul addresses an “overly punitive criminal justice system” for impoverished Illinoisans – especially those in Black and brown communities.It's a system that often forces innocent individuals to take plea deals – and to accept a criminal record – to obtain their freedom when they don't have money to post bail.“So this is not about being tough on crime or soft on crime,” he said. “This is about being smart on crime, reworking our system, streamlining our system to address those higher-level, more violent, dangerous alleged offenses. It's not about having someone unnecessarily sit in jail.”While opponents of the new law have argued it will strain smaller court systems and hinder judicial discretion, the lawsuit centered on the meaning of two mentions of the word “bail” in the Illinois Constitution, and the interplay between branches of government.The Supreme Court ruled on a set of consolidated cases filed against Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, Gov. JB Pritzker and the state's Democratic legislative leaders by state's attorneys and sheriffs from over 60 counties.The lawsuit specifically cited Article VIII of the state constitution, which states, “all persons” accused of crimes “shall be bailable by sufficient sureties.” Any changes to the language, the lawsuit argued, would require a constitutional amendment to be approved by voters.While a Kankakee County judge ruled with the state's attorneys and sheriffs late last year, Chief Justice Mary Jane Theis, writing for the majority, said the lower court misinterpreted the state constitution..  She wrote, “The Illinois Constitution does not mandate that monetary bail is the only means to ensure criminal defendants appear for trials or the only means to protect the public,”Theis' majority opinion also said that the pretrial release provisions “expressly take crime victims into account.”“As we have already mentioned, those provisions require a court to consider the ‘nature and seriousness of the real and present threat to the safety of any person or persons that would be posed by the defendant's release,' including crime victims and their family members,” she wrote.  The pretrial detention changes – often referred to as the Pretrial Fairness Act, or PFA – will create a “presumption” in favor of pretrial release, meaning “the state bears the burden of establishing a defendant's eligibility for pretrial detention,” Theis wrote.Advocates say the intent of that provision is to divert lower-level nonviolent offenders from pretrial incarceration while giving judges authority to detain individuals accused of more serious crimes if they are deemed dangerous or at risk of fleeing prosecution.Another facet of the reform entitles defendants to a more intensive first appearance in court. During that appearance, defendants will now have a right to legal representation and prosecutors can detail their reasons for continued detention.The new hearings replace standard bail hearings, which often last less than five minutes and end with a judge deciding the conditions of release, including how much money the defendant must post to be released.Advocates for the bail reform have noted that it gives judges greater authority to detain individuals accused of crimes such as domestic battery and violations of orders of protection prior to trial than does prior law.Kaethe Morris Hoffer, the executive director of the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation, spoke in favor of the reform at a virtual news conference Tuesday.  “I want to be clear – safety and interests and voices of people who have endured rape and violence in the sex trade have never been prioritized when the criminal legal system is asked to make decisions about the liberty of people who are accused of serious crimes of violence. This changes that.”While the new law directs law enforcement officers to cite and release anyone accused of a crime below a Class A misdemeanor, they would maintain discretion to make an arrest if the person is a threat or if making the arrest is necessary to prevent further lawbreaking.Lake County State's Attorney Eric Rinehart was one of two state's attorneys in Illinois who backed the SAFE-T Act alongside Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx. He noted that many smaller jurisdictions will lose revenue from cash bail payments when the system is eliminated – a point that reform advocates have repeatedly noted shows a flaw in the system.Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government. It is distributed to hundreds of print and broadcast outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, along with major contributions from the Illinois Broadcasters Foundation and Southern Illinois Editorial Association.KANSAS REFLECTOR: Promises made, promises kept.White House announces more than 800,000 student loan borrowers to have debt forgiven. You heard that right. BY: ARIANA FIGUEROA - JULY 14, 2023 10:41 AM    WASHINGTON — The $39 billion in debt relief will come through fixes to mismanagement of the agency's income-driven repayment plans. Many long-time borrowers, including those who had been making payments for 20 years or more, were denied relief they were eligible for under the repayment plans. This happens when qualified payments were made but aren't being counted accurately. U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a statement.“For far too long, borrowers fell through the cracks of a broken system that failed to keep accurate track of their progress towards forgiveness,” The Department of Education has already begun to notify those 804,000 borrowers of their forgiveness, and within 30 days their debts will be wiped out.The plan includes borrowers with Direct Loans or Federal Family Education Loans held by the department who have reached a forgiveness threshold specified by the department.Cardona said “By fixing past administrative failures, we are ensuring everyone gets the forgiveness they deserve, just as we have already done for public servants, students who were cheated by their colleges, veterans and other borrowers with permanent disabilities”A 2022 NPR investigation found numerous problems with the agency's handling of IDR plans, which are meant to help low-income borrowers. Loan servicers failed to keep track of borrowers' progress toward forgiveness and payment histories were not properly transferred from one loan servicer to another. In January of this year, The Department of Education announced plans to overhaul the income-driven repayment plan.Under the new plan, monthly payments would decline to 5% of a borrower's income — down from 10% — and the repayment timeline for loan forgiveness would be decreased to 10 years from 20 or 25 if the initial loan is less than $12,000.The announcement Friday followed the Supreme Court's decision in late June to strike down the Biden administration's student debt relief program that would have canceled up to $20,000 in student loan debt for some borrowers.Under the Biden administration, the Department of Education has canceled about $116 billion in student loan debt for borrowers who were misled by for-profit institutions, borrowers with disabilities and those with loans in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.Welp, that's it for me. From Denver I'm Sean Diller, original reporting for the stories in todays show is from Capitol News Illinois, Missouri Independent, Detroit News, and Kansas Reflector.

Michigan AG files felony charges against 16 fake Trump electors | Missouri regulators say federal radioactive groundwater contamination efforts are not working | MO Gov Mike Parson signs bill easing restrictions on retired educators' ability to teach | Illinois Supreme Court rules SAFE-T Act Constitutional, making Illinois the first state to ban cash bail | Education Secretary Miguel Cardona announces 800,000 student loan borrowers to receive forgiveness in the next month. Support this show and all of the work in the Heartland POD universe by going to heartlandpod.com and clicking the patreon link to sign up. Membership starts at $1/month and goes up from there with extra shows and special access at the higher levels. Heartlandpod.com, click the patreon link or just go to Patreon and search for the heartland pod. No matter the level you choose, your membership helps us create these independent shows as we work together to change the conversation.INTRO: Welcome to Flyover View, a member of the Heartland Pod family of podcasts and a look at heartland news from 30,000 feet. I'm your host, Sean Diller, and I want to thank you for joining me today.Here we go! DETROIT NEWS:16 false Trump electors face felony charges in MichiganCraig MaugerBeth LeBlancThe Detroit NewsLansing — Attorney General Dana Nessel has filed felony charges against 16 Republicans who signed a certificate falsely stating that Donald Trump won Michigan's 2020 presidential election, launching criminal cases against top political figures inside the state GOP.Each of the 16 electors have been charged with eight felony counts, including forgery and conspiracy to commit election law forgery, according to Nessel's office.The revelation capped six months of investigation and produced the most serious allegations yet in Michigan over the campaign to overturn Trump's loss to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020. Biden won Michigan by 154,000 votes or 3 percentage points, but Trump and his supporters maintained false claims that fraud swung the result.As part of the push to undermine Biden's victory, Trump supporters gathered inside the Michigan Republican Party headquarters on Dec. 14, 2020, and signed a certificate, claiming to cast the state's 16 electoral votes for Trump.Eventually the false certificate was sent to the National Archives and Congress. The document falsely claimed the Trump electors had met inside the Michigan State Capitol on Dec. 14.  But that's not what happened. In fact Dec. 14 at the real state capitol is where the real electors met to cast their real electoral votes for the real winner, Joe Biden. The Michigan Attorney General said "The false electors' actions undermined the public's faith in the integrity of our elections and, we believe, also plainly violated the laws by which we administer our elections in Michigan.""My department has prosecuted numerous cases of election law violations throughout my tenure, and it would be malfeasance of the greatest magnitude if my department failed to act here in the face of overwhelming evidence of an organized effort to circumvent the lawfully cast ballots of millions of Michigan voters in a presidential election."Ryan Goodman, a law professor New York University School of Law, called the charges "a strong case" and noted the fake electors signed a sworn statement attesting "we convened and organized in the State Capitol.""In truth, they met (secretly) in GOP headquarters basement," Goodman wrote on Twitter.The felony complaints indicate the warrants for each of the electors were signed Thursday and Friday of last week, according to copies of the documents.The names and positions of the electors are available in news articles, and include several current and former state GOP committee chairs and local elected officials.Each of the 16 electors is charged with eight felonies: two counts of election law forgery; two counts of forgery; and one count each of uttering and publishing, conspiracy to commit forgery, conspiracy to commit election law forgery and conspiracy to commit forgery. Conspiracy to commit forgery carries one of the steepest penalties, punishable by up to 14 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.The conspiracy charges allege the defendants worked with specific named others to falsely make a public record: which was the false certificate of votes of the 2020 fake electors from Michigan.The 16 fake electors convened in the basement of Michigan GOP headquarters on Dec. 14, 2020, and produced a certificate that claimed Trump had won the state's 16 electoral votes.An affidavit prepared by Michigan AG Nessel's office in support of the complaint indicated Republican staffers in interviews with investigators said that non-electors were blocked from entering the building and the electors themselves were required to surrender their cellphones to prevent any recording of the event. GOP elector Mayra Rodriguez would later tell the Jan. 6 Select Committee that Trump campaign aide Shawn Flynn was present and spoke to the fake electors at the site.Attorney Ian Northon attempted to deliver a manila envelope similar to the size of the false electoral vote certificate to the Michigan Senate, claiming it contained the Republican electoral votes, the filing said. The U.S. National Archives and U.S. Senate Archives reported receiving a copy of the false certificate as well. Michigan election law bans someone from knowingly making or publishing a false document "with the intent to defraud."Each defendant, or their attorneys, has been notified of the charges, and the court will provide each with a date to appear in Ingham County district court for an arraignment. In a statement, AG Nessel's office also said "This remains an ongoing investigation, and the Michigan Department of Attorney General has not ruled out charges against additional defendants," Nessel's office said.YIKES: 14 years for conspiracy to commit forgery. And I'm not a practicing attorney, but I would bet anyone connected to Rudy Giuoini, Sydney Powell, Lindsey Graham, and some of these other goofballs could be looking at conspiracy charges as well. Because the tough thing about conspiracy crimes - so here it's conspiracy to commit election forgery and conspiracy to commit forgery - so the tough part if you're a defendant, is that once you talk with another person about the plan, and anyone involved takes even the smallest step toward moving on it, the crime of conspiracy is complete. You'll be found guilty if the prosecutor can prove it. MISSOURI INDEPENDENT: Something in the water.BY: ALLISON KITE - JULY 17, 2023 4:40 PM     A joint investigation by The Independent and MuckRock.In 2021, Missouri environmental regulators warned the federal government that radioactive contamination of groundwater from a uranium processing site near St. Louis was not improving despite cleanup efforts, according to documents reviewed by The Missouri Independent and MuckRock.Officials with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources wrote a letter to the U.S. Department of Energy in May 2021, responding to the agency's five-year review of its cleanup efforts at a Weldon Spring site where uranium was refined during the Cold War.While the radioactive waste and contaminated debris from the uranium processing site have been contained, Missouri regulators said contamination in the surrounding groundwater wasn't getting better.The letter, which has not been reported publicly, is the latest example of Missouri officials pushing the federal government to do more to protect the health of St. Louis-area residents near the litany of World War II and Cold War-era nuclear sites in the region. A six-month investigation by The Independent, MuckRock and The Associated Press found that federal agencies and private companies, for decades, downplayed concerns about radiological contamination or failed to investigate it fully at sites in St. Louis and St. Charles counties.St. Louis and surrounding areas played a key role in the development of the first atomic bomb during World War II. Uranium processed in downtown St. Louis was used in the first sustained nuclear reaction in Chicago. After the war, Mallinckrodt, which operated the downtown plant, started similar operations at a new facility on Missouri Highway 94 just north of the Missouri River.The more than 200-acre site has been contaminated for decades by radium, thorium and uranium as well as dangerous non-radioactive chemicals from its use to manufacture explosives and process uranium ore. The Weldon Spring plant was demolished and the debris buried, along with residue leftover from uranium processing, in a 41-acre containment cell covered with rock. The containment cell, the highest point in St. Charles County, is accessible to the public and has a monument to the communities displaced by the war effort and information on the cleanup effort at the top.Closer to the Missouri River, a quarry the federal government used to store radioactive waste was also contaminated. It's separated from the main site but part of the same cleanup and monitoring effort.Remediation of the plant is complete, but monitoring has shown uranium contamination is not decreasing. The Environmental Protection Agency shared some of the state's concerns that the groundwater monitoring network was insufficient and the groundwater is not projected to be restored in a reasonable timeframe. Beyond that, the state says, the extent of the contamination hasn't been sufficiently defined, meaning it could be more widespread than the Department of Energy knows based on its sampling. The federal sampling program, the state argues, is inadequate.Missouri regulators, in their letter, repeatedly corrected the Department of Energy when the federal agency said uranium levels were falling in groundwater wells at the site.In a response to the state, the federal government said it would revise its conclusion that the remedy was working. MISSOURI INDEPENDENT: Pulled out of retirementNew law tackles Missouri teacher shortage by encouraging retirees to return to classroomGov. Mike Parson signed legislation last week that allows educators to return to work without losing retirement benefitsBY: ANNELISE HANSHAW - JULY 13, 2023 9:00 AMMissouri's school districts are struggling - not just with a teacher shortage but a scarcity of bus drivers, custodians and other essential personnel.In the most recent school year, teachers with inadequate teaching certification taught over 8% of Missouri public school classes, according to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.The crisis has led larger school districts to consider adopting four-day school weeks to address teacher retention and recruitment problems.Sen. Rusty Black, R-Chillicothe, has been working on one way to address the problem for four years. And last week, the governor signed a bill into law, set to take effect Aug. 28, that will allow retired public-school staff to work full-time for a district for up to four years without losing retirement benefits.Prior to Black's legislation, teachers and non-certificated staff could work full-time for only two years post-retirement without losing benefits.The law also addresses other positions, like bus drivers and janitors. Retired school employees can work in positions that don't require a teaching certificate for more hours. CAPITOL NEWS ILLINOIS:UPDATED: Cash bail will end in Illinois as state supreme court rules the SAFE-T Act is constitutionalTuesday, July 18, 2023By JERRY NOWICKICapitol News Illinoisjnowicki@capitolnewsillinois.comSPRINGFIELD – A landmark criminal justice reform that eliminates cash bail in Illinois is constitutional, the state's Supreme Court ruled Tuesday, paving the way for the change to take effect Sept. 18. The 5-2 decision – handed down on partisan lines – means that an individual's wealth will no longer play a role in whether they are incarcerated while awaiting trial. Judges can still order someone to be detained as they await trial, but the new system will instead be based on an offender's level of risk of reoffending or fleeing prosecution. With the new law's implementation, Illinois will become the first state in the U.S. to fully eliminate cash bail – and all provisions of the SAFE-T Act criminal justice reform will have taken full effect.Short for Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today, the wide-ranging measure was an initiative of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus that passed in the wake of a nationwide reckoning with racism in the criminal justice system following the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer.The act reformed police training, certification and use-of-force standards, expanded detainee rights, and gave the attorney general's office authority to investigate alleged civil rights violations by law enforcement. It also requires body cameras at all police departments by 2025. Some larger departments are already required to use body cameras under the law.State Rep. Justin Slaughter, a Chicago Democrat who sponsored the measure in the House, said the pretrial detention overhaul addresses an “overly punitive criminal justice system” for impoverished Illinoisans – especially those in Black and brown communities.It's a system that often forces innocent individuals to take plea deals – and to accept a criminal record – to obtain their freedom when they don't have money to post bail.“So this is not about being tough on crime or soft on crime,” he said. “This is about being smart on crime, reworking our system, streamlining our system to address those higher-level, more violent, dangerous alleged offenses. It's not about having someone unnecessarily sit in jail.”While opponents of the new law have argued it will strain smaller court systems and hinder judicial discretion, the lawsuit centered on the meaning of two mentions of the word “bail” in the Illinois Constitution, and the interplay between branches of government.The Supreme Court ruled on a set of consolidated cases filed against Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, Gov. JB Pritzker and the state's Democratic legislative leaders by state's attorneys and sheriffs from over 60 counties.The lawsuit specifically cited Article VIII of the state constitution, which states, “all persons” accused of crimes “shall be bailable by sufficient sureties.” Any changes to the language, the lawsuit argued, would require a constitutional amendment to be approved by voters.While a Kankakee County judge ruled with the state's attorneys and sheriffs late last year, Chief Justice Mary Jane Theis, writing for the majority, said the lower court misinterpreted the state constitution..  She wrote, “The Illinois Constitution does not mandate that monetary bail is the only means to ensure criminal defendants appear for trials or the only means to protect the public,”Theis' majority opinion also said that the pretrial release provisions “expressly take crime victims into account.”“As we have already mentioned, those provisions require a court to consider the ‘nature and seriousness of the real and present threat to the safety of any person or persons that would be posed by the defendant's release,' including crime victims and their family members,” she wrote.  The pretrial detention changes – often referred to as the Pretrial Fairness Act, or PFA – will create a “presumption” in favor of pretrial release, meaning “the state bears the burden of establishing a defendant's eligibility for pretrial detention,” Theis wrote.Advocates say the intent of that provision is to divert lower-level nonviolent offenders from pretrial incarceration while giving judges authority to detain individuals accused of more serious crimes if they are deemed dangerous or at risk of fleeing prosecution.Another facet of the reform entitles defendants to a more intensive first appearance in court. During that appearance, defendants will now have a right to legal representation and prosecutors can detail their reasons for continued detention.The new hearings replace standard bail hearings, which often last less than five minutes and end with a judge deciding the conditions of release, including how much money the defendant must post to be released.Advocates for the bail reform have noted that it gives judges greater authority to detain individuals accused of crimes such as domestic battery and violations of orders of protection prior to trial than does prior law.Kaethe Morris Hoffer, the executive director of the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation, spoke in favor of the reform at a virtual news conference Tuesday.  “I want to be clear – safety and interests and voices of people who have endured rape and violence in the sex trade have never been prioritized when the criminal legal system is asked to make decisions about the liberty of people who are accused of serious crimes of violence. This changes that.”While the new law directs law enforcement officers to cite and release anyone accused of a crime below a Class A misdemeanor, they would maintain discretion to make an arrest if the person is a threat or if making the arrest is necessary to prevent further lawbreaking.Lake County State's Attorney Eric Rinehart was one of two state's attorneys in Illinois who backed the SAFE-T Act alongside Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx. He noted that many smaller jurisdictions will lose revenue from cash bail payments when the system is eliminated – a point that reform advocates have repeatedly noted shows a flaw in the system.Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government. It is distributed to hundreds of print and broadcast outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, along with major contributions from the Illinois Broadcasters Foundation and Southern Illinois Editorial Association.KANSAS REFLECTOR: Promises made, promises kept.White House announces more than 800,000 student loan borrowers to have debt forgiven. You heard that right. BY: ARIANA FIGUEROA - JULY 14, 2023 10:41 AM    WASHINGTON — The $39 billion in debt relief will come through fixes to mismanagement of the agency's income-driven repayment plans. Many long-time borrowers, including those who had been making payments for 20 years or more, were denied relief they were eligible for under the repayment plans. This happens when qualified payments were made but aren't being counted accurately. U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a statement.“For far too long, borrowers fell through the cracks of a broken system that failed to keep accurate track of their progress towards forgiveness,” The Department of Education has already begun to notify those 804,000 borrowers of their forgiveness, and within 30 days their debts will be wiped out.The plan includes borrowers with Direct Loans or Federal Family Education Loans held by the department who have reached a forgiveness threshold specified by the department.Cardona said “By fixing past administrative failures, we are ensuring everyone gets the forgiveness they deserve, just as we have already done for public servants, students who were cheated by their colleges, veterans and other borrowers with permanent disabilities”A 2022 NPR investigation found numerous problems with the agency's handling of IDR plans, which are meant to help low-income borrowers. Loan servicers failed to keep track of borrowers' progress toward forgiveness and payment histories were not properly transferred from one loan servicer to another. In January of this year, The Department of Education announced plans to overhaul the income-driven repayment plan.Under the new plan, monthly payments would decline to 5% of a borrower's income — down from 10% — and the repayment timeline for loan forgiveness would be decreased to 10 years from 20 or 25 if the initial loan is less than $12,000.The announcement Friday followed the Supreme Court's decision in late June to strike down the Biden administration's student debt relief program that would have canceled up to $20,000 in student loan debt for some borrowers.Under the Biden administration, the Department of Education has canceled about $116 billion in student loan debt for borrowers who were misled by for-profit institutions, borrowers with disabilities and those with loans in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.Welp, that's it for me. From Denver I'm Sean Diller, original reporting for the stories in todays show is from Capitol News Illinois, Missouri Independent, Detroit News, and Kansas Reflector.

In the final hour of The Chris & Amy Show, they begin by recapping the show so far. They then are joined by Allison Kite, a data reporter for The Missouri Independent and Kansas Reflector. She discusses the dangers of ignoring the risks of St Louis radioactive waste.

Listen to this segment from The Chris & Amy Show with Allison Kite, data reporter for The Missouri Independent and Kansas Reflector as she discusses ignoring risks of St Louis radioactive waste.

Heartland POD on Twitter - @TheHeartlandPOD https://heartlandpod.com/JOIN PATREON FOR MORE - AND JOIN OUR SOCIAL NETWORK!“Change The Conversation”  STORIES ON SHOW RED STATES ACCEPT BIDEN ADMINISTRATION MONEY, AGAIN The Biden admin has announced a $42.5 Billion project to connect every american to high speed broadband internet. And Missouri should see $1.7 billion of that money. Alabama is set to get about $1.4 billionArkansas just over $1 billionIndiana more than $850 millionKansas over $450,000Iowa over $400,00According to administration estimates some 24 million folks are without high speed internet access to their homes, many of which are located in the areas largely represented by and governed by Republican members of congress like Jason Smith in the Missouri 8th District one of the single most impoverished districts in America. Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, noted Federal money glut who pretends to hate the government for political points said that the money will “greatly assist our ongoing investments in Missouri's broadband infrastructure”This comes as part of the Biden administrations “Internet For all” initiative. “What we're doing is, as I said, not unlike what Franklin Delano Roosevelt did when he brought electricity to nearly every American home and farm in our nation. Today (Vice President) Kamala (Harris) and I are making an equally historic investment to connect everyone in America to high speed internet, and affordable high speed internet, by 2030,”So far none of the Republican governors have denounced this redistribution of wealth as a massive government overreach or bloated spending. Wonder why? https://missouriindependent.com/2023/06/27/white-house-unveils-42-5b-to-connect-every-american-to-high-speed-broadband-internet/https://arkansasadvocate.com/2023/06/26/white-house-unveils-42-5b-to-connect-every-american-to-high-speed-broadband-internet/LIBRARY MEETING DRAWS A CROWDMore than 350 people crowded into a St. Charles County library board meeting Tuesday night, in Missouri, a new chapter in a fight about a library employee's clothing choices.The heated meeting included three hours of public comment, centered on a woman's complaint that when she visited a branch of the Library, an unnamed worker was wearing makeup, nail polish and also had… (gasp) a goatee. LGBTQ supporters were swift to push back on the woman's complaints, and they showed up in droves Tuesday night to counter complaints by the woman and her supporters.Some say the employee is dressing like a stripper, and only appropriate for night clubs. The public comment portion of the meeting lasted three hours before the board decided to end comment and allow others to simply email their diatribes. Sadie Anderson, who described themselves as being the partner of the library staff member, urged the library board to continue to support the employee.“My partner is having to do something that no person on earth should have to do, they are having to fight for their mere right to exist,” Anderson said. “My partner, myself, and every single person in this room should be able to express themselves and feel comfortable in the clothing they choose and wear those clothes without fear of ridicule. It is as simple as that.”https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/stcharles/more-than-350-people-pack-st-charles-library-meeting-in-fight-over-dress-code-lgbtq/article_363f3d66-1069-11ee-afd9-a7e1bfb0bc7d.htmlKANSAS VOTING RIGHTS CASE GOES SUPREMENo, they didn't add sour cream and tomatoes - but the Kansas election law from 2021 is being challenged in court and it's headed to the Kansas state supreme courtto review portions of a voting rights lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of mandates created in 2021 in response to election fraud conspiracy theories - all of which were lies.The question is whether Kansans' right to vote is undermined by state law restricting the number of advance ballots a person can deliver to an election office and the new state law requiring election volunteers to verify signatures on advance ballots.The plaintiffs challenging the laws filed have asked for an injunction during the pendency of the case.Davis Hammet with Loud Light, one of the groups involved in the case. said “It should be concerning to every Kansan, the idea that you do everything right, and then the state just alleges that someone didn't think your signature match so your vote isn't counted.”The law also created new penalties for touching somebody else's ballot, distributing ballots or altering the postmark on an advanced ballot. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed both bills, but was overridden.So if you're in Kansas, keep your hands and arms inside the voting booth at all times.Wisconsin Elections Commission Still Impacted By Trump's Big LieThe Wisconsin Elections Commission failed to reappoint administrator Meagan Wolfe in a vote Tuesday that three Democratic commission members are banking on to protect her from a Senate confirmation process - Wolfe is expected to lose a confirmation vote. Democrats argued a Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling in 2022 allows Wolfe to remain in the seat indefinitely — defying the efforts of election deniers to oust her after falsely accusing her of helping to steal the 2020 election, a claim that has been shown to have no merit, and is simply put: Not true.Before the “Big Lie” of 2020, Wolfe was unanimously endorsed by the commission for the administrator's job in 2019 and confirmed by the Republican majority in the Senate. It appears that while she was qualified to do the job prior, the only change is that she told the truth in 2020 which made former President and current federal indictment facer, Donald Trump, grumpy.Biden won Wisconsin by over 20,000 votes but that didn't stop Trump and his supporters from attacking Wolfe, who again was confirmed by a republican state senate, and claiming that she was a secret democrat or Biden agent, among other baseless attacks.Earlier this month, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported on a campaign by some Republican state senators against confirming Wolfe for another term. https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2023/06/28/election-commission-fails-to-reappoint-wolfe-in-maneuver-to-keep-her-on-the-job/Iowa Governor Costs Taxpayers For Keeping SecretsThe Polk County District Court approved an agreement between the governor's office and three Iowa journalists and their media organizations following the Supreme Court's decision allowing an open records lawsuit to proceed in April.The Governor's office agreed to pay $135,000 (of tax payer money) in legal fees and costs incurred during the legal battle, as well as agreeing to undergo a one-year period of judicial oversight in regard to open records requests by the plaintiffs to ensure the office continues to comply with the state Open Records Act. In other words, Iowans will also be paying for judges to babysit the Governor's office because they can't play nice. Thomas Story, an attorney for the ACLU of Iowa, said:“Throughout this litigation, we have emphasized one crucial point: that nobody is above the law,” “The Iowa Supreme Court reinforced that point and set valuable precedent that supports the right of all Iowans to a transparent, responsive government at every level.”https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2023/06/26/district-court-approves-settlement-in-open-records-lawsuit-against-governor/Missouri Independent, Arkansas Advocate, St. Louis Post Dispatch, Kansas Reflector, Wisconsin Examinor, and  Iowa Capital Dispatch

Heartland POD on Twitter - @TheHeartlandPOD https://heartlandpod.com/JOIN PATREON FOR MORE - AND JOIN OUR SOCIAL NETWORK!“Change The Conversation”  STORIES ON SHOW RED STATES ACCEPT BIDEN ADMINISTRATION MONEY, AGAIN The Biden admin has announced a $42.5 Billion project to connect every american to high speed broadband internet. And Missouri should see $1.7 billion of that money. Alabama is set to get about $1.4 billionArkansas just over $1 billionIndiana more than $850 millionKansas over $450,000Iowa over $400,00According to administration estimates some 24 million folks are without high speed internet access to their homes, many of which are located in the areas largely represented by and governed by Republican members of congress like Jason Smith in the Missouri 8th District one of the single most impoverished districts in America. Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, noted Federal money glut who pretends to hate the government for political points said that the money will “greatly assist our ongoing investments in Missouri's broadband infrastructure”This comes as part of the Biden administrations “Internet For all” initiative. “What we're doing is, as I said, not unlike what Franklin Delano Roosevelt did when he brought electricity to nearly every American home and farm in our nation. Today (Vice President) Kamala (Harris) and I are making an equally historic investment to connect everyone in America to high speed internet, and affordable high speed internet, by 2030,”So far none of the Republican governors have denounced this redistribution of wealth as a massive government overreach or bloated spending. Wonder why? https://missouriindependent.com/2023/06/27/white-house-unveils-42-5b-to-connect-every-american-to-high-speed-broadband-internet/https://arkansasadvocate.com/2023/06/26/white-house-unveils-42-5b-to-connect-every-american-to-high-speed-broadband-internet/LIBRARY MEETING DRAWS A CROWDMore than 350 people crowded into a St. Charles County library board meeting Tuesday night, in Missouri, a new chapter in a fight about a library employee's clothing choices.The heated meeting included three hours of public comment, centered on a woman's complaint that when she visited a branch of the Library, an unnamed worker was wearing makeup, nail polish and also had… (gasp) a goatee. LGBTQ supporters were swift to push back on the woman's complaints, and they showed up in droves Tuesday night to counter complaints by the woman and her supporters.Some say the employee is dressing like a stripper, and only appropriate for night clubs. The public comment portion of the meeting lasted three hours before the board decided to end comment and allow others to simply email their diatribes. Sadie Anderson, who described themselves as being the partner of the library staff member, urged the library board to continue to support the employee.“My partner is having to do something that no person on earth should have to do, they are having to fight for their mere right to exist,” Anderson said. “My partner, myself, and every single person in this room should be able to express themselves and feel comfortable in the clothing they choose and wear those clothes without fear of ridicule. It is as simple as that.”https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/stcharles/more-than-350-people-pack-st-charles-library-meeting-in-fight-over-dress-code-lgbtq/article_363f3d66-1069-11ee-afd9-a7e1bfb0bc7d.htmlKANSAS VOTING RIGHTS CASE GOES SUPREMENo, they didn't add sour cream and tomatoes - but the Kansas election law from 2021 is being challenged in court and it's headed to the Kansas state supreme courtto review portions of a voting rights lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of mandates created in 2021 in response to election fraud conspiracy theories - all of which were lies.The question is whether Kansans' right to vote is undermined by state law restricting the number of advance ballots a person can deliver to an election office and the new state law requiring election volunteers to verify signatures on advance ballots.The plaintiffs challenging the laws filed have asked for an injunction during the pendency of the case.Davis Hammet with Loud Light, one of the groups involved in the case. said “It should be concerning to every Kansan, the idea that you do everything right, and then the state just alleges that someone didn't think your signature match so your vote isn't counted.”The law also created new penalties for touching somebody else's ballot, distributing ballots or altering the postmark on an advanced ballot. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed both bills, but was overridden.So if you're in Kansas, keep your hands and arms inside the voting booth at all times.Wisconsin Elections Commission Still Impacted By Trump's Big LieThe Wisconsin Elections Commission failed to reappoint administrator Meagan Wolfe in a vote Tuesday that three Democratic commission members are banking on to protect her from a Senate confirmation process - Wolfe is expected to lose a confirmation vote. Democrats argued a Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling in 2022 allows Wolfe to remain in the seat indefinitely — defying the efforts of election deniers to oust her after falsely accusing her of helping to steal the 2020 election, a claim that has been shown to have no merit, and is simply put: Not true.Before the “Big Lie” of 2020, Wolfe was unanimously endorsed by the commission for the administrator's job in 2019 and confirmed by the Republican majority in the Senate. It appears that while she was qualified to do the job prior, the only change is that she told the truth in 2020 which made former President and current federal indictment facer, Donald Trump, grumpy.Biden won Wisconsin by over 20,000 votes but that didn't stop Trump and his supporters from attacking Wolfe, who again was confirmed by a republican state senate, and claiming that she was a secret democrat or Biden agent, among other baseless attacks.Earlier this month, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported on a campaign by some Republican state senators against confirming Wolfe for another term. https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2023/06/28/election-commission-fails-to-reappoint-wolfe-in-maneuver-to-keep-her-on-the-job/Iowa Governor Costs Taxpayers For Keeping SecretsThe Polk County District Court approved an agreement between the governor's office and three Iowa journalists and their media organizations following the Supreme Court's decision allowing an open records lawsuit to proceed in April.The Governor's office agreed to pay $135,000 (of tax payer money) in legal fees and costs incurred during the legal battle, as well as agreeing to undergo a one-year period of judicial oversight in regard to open records requests by the plaintiffs to ensure the office continues to comply with the state Open Records Act. In other words, Iowans will also be paying for judges to babysit the Governor's office because they can't play nice. Thomas Story, an attorney for the ACLU of Iowa, said:“Throughout this litigation, we have emphasized one crucial point: that nobody is above the law,” “The Iowa Supreme Court reinforced that point and set valuable precedent that supports the right of all Iowans to a transparent, responsive government at every level.”https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2023/06/26/district-court-approves-settlement-in-open-records-lawsuit-against-governor/Missouri Independent, Arkansas Advocate, St. Louis Post Dispatch, Kansas Reflector, Wisconsin Examinor, and  Iowa Capital Dispatch

On this episode of The Journalism Salute, Mark Simon is joined by C.J. Janovy. C.J. is the director of content for KCUR, the NPR affiliate in Kansas City, Missouri.She has previously worked as editor of The Pitch, Kansas City's alt-weekly, and as an editor at Kansas Reflector, a non-profit covering state government in Kansas.She's also the author of the book No Place Like Home, Lessons in Activism from LGBT Kansas. There's a documentary that serves as a sequel to the book, directed by Kevin Wilmott, who co-wrote Black KkKlansman.C.J. talked both about her long career as a journalist, both as a writer profiling people like Melissa Ethridge and her current work. She explained her role at KCUR and how she shapes the station's and the website's diverse content.She also talked about her book – about the people she got to meet as she traveled across Kansas and their ongoing battle for equal rights in a conservative state that is rich in great stories of LGBTQ activism.To learn more about her book, watch the talk she gave to the Kansas Historical Society.C.J.'s salutes: Nikole Hannah-Jones of The 1619 Project and Randy Shilts, who covered LGBTQ issues for the San Francisco ChronicleThank you as always for listening. Please send us feedback at journalismsalute@gmail.com, visit our website at thejournalismsalute.org and Mark's website (MarkSimonmedia.com) or tweet us at @journalismpod

This week we're in Kansas discussing a serial killer who stalked his victims before murdering them. Then, we'll talk about a teen that killed her abuser. Buckle up and join us on this dark and twisted ride through the Sunflower State. You may now join us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠buy us a Cocktail⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Be sure to subscribe on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and leave a review, or, email us at unitedstatesofmurder@gmail.com Follow us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Hunt A Killer's⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ immersive murder mystery games throw you into the center of brutal murders, eerie disappearances, suspicious poisonings, and even supernatural horrors. And it's up to you to examine the clues, evaluate the suspects, and find the thread that ties the case together. HUNTGA1010 - $10 off any item HUNTGA10 - 10% off Order HUNTGA20 - 20% off 6mo or 12mo Subscription   Watch: Fear Thy Roommate Sources: ⁠Murderpedia: Francis Donald Nemechek, State v. Nemechek, Salina Journal, Cinemaholic, Kansas Reflector, Kansas Reflector (Opinion Piece), Michelle's Response to OP, Topeka Capital-Journal, KC Confidential Music by⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Pixabay⁠ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/unitedstatesofmurder/support

Opinion editor Clay Wirestone leads editor Sherman Smith and reporter Rachel Mipro in a discussion of Kansas Reflector's six-part church and state series, which examined the influence of religious views on state government.

YWCA of Northeast Kansas' monthlong exploration of social justice anticipates some people might feel uncomfortable before talking more comfortably about the issue in terms of disability rights, housing, music and mental health. Allison Marker and Romae Isom of the YWCA talked about their effort on the Kansas Reflector podcast.

Republican lawmakers in Kansas have been religion to justify anti-LGBTQ bills, anti-abortion laws and funding for private education vouchers in the state. The Kansas Reflector took a deep dive into the influence of religious beliefs on state politics.

Wendy Doyle, president and CEO of United WE, a nonpartisan nonprofit that advocates for women in business and civic leadership, said her women's bill of rights would include family leave, lowering barriers for women to open businesses and ensuring affordable child care. Doyle and Jen Earle, CEO of the National Association of Women Business Owners, sat down for the latest installment of Kansas Reflector's podcast.

Host: Kevin Smith Dives into the weekly news most impactful to the HeartlandHEADLINESSecretary Cardona Says, Teachers Need More Than Just Pay Raises Education Week - https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/teachers-need-more-than-just-pay-raises-secretary-cardona-says/2023/05State takeover of St. Louis police, prosecutor's office blocked by Senate DemocratsMissouri Independent - https://missouriindependent.com/2023/05/02/state-takeover-of-st-louis-police-prosecutors-office-blocked-by-senate-democrats/LIGHTNING ROUNDTexas,U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, D-Dallas, announced Wednesday he is challenging U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, for reelection. Texas Tribune - https://www.texastribune.org/2023/05/03/ted-cruz-colin-allred-2024/Three out of four Texas voters support the idea of enacting stricter gun control measures KXAN Texas - https://www.kxan.com/news/texas/poll-76-of-texas-voters-support-raising-gun-purchase-age/Montana,Republican governor, Greg Gianforte, signed a bill banning gender affirming healthcare despite plea from own son.Mother Jones - https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/04/david-gianforte-greg-gianforte/Missouri,A federal investigation found that two hospitals violated federal law by denying a Joplin woman an emergency abortion when her water broke at 17 weeks. Springfield News-Leader - https://www.news-leader.com/story/news/local/missouri/2023/05/01/cms-mo-ks-hospitals-violated-law-by-denying-joplin-woman-abortion-mylissa-farmer/70170053007/Indiana,New bills in IndianaIndiana Capital Chronical - https://indianacapitalchronicle.com/2023/05/02/indiana-bills-on-birth-control-speed-cameras-military-tax-exemptions-are-latest-to-become-law/Kansas,A top Republican election lawyer tells GOP donors that the party should work to make it harder for college students to vote in key states. Kansas Reflector - https://kansasreflector.com/2023/04/30/a-top-gop-lawyer-wants-to-crack-down-on-the-college-vote-states-already-are/Ohio,The resolution to make it harder to amend the Ohio constitution is not being voted on this week.Ohio Capital Journal - https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2023/05/03/vote-on-proposal-to-make-it-harder-to-amend-oh-constitution-delayed-as-some-house-gop-members-express-concern/And lastly, An Anti-Trans Doctor Group seems to have Leaked 10,000 Confidential FilesWired - https://www.wired.com/story/american-college-pediatricians-google-drive-leak/Lastly, lastly a send off for our teachers!

Kansas Reflector staff talk about taxes, LGBTQ attacks, abortion, public education and other prominent topics from this legislative session.

A Leavenworth county landfill has, in the words of a county commissioner, threatened an "unfolding environmental disaster" for Kansas. Neighbors, the landfill's owner and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment have become entangled in a fiery dispute that has a times involves real flames. Opinion editor Clay Wirestone talks to reporter Allison Kite about her in-depth story on the dispute.

Host: Kevin Smith Dives into the weekly news most impactful to the HeartlandHEADLINESAs Nashville reels from school shooting, Tenn. lawmakers consider loosening gun restrictionsChalkbeat Tennessee - https://tn.chalkbeat.org/2023/3/28/23661164/nashville-school-shooting-tennessee-covenant-gun-policy-protest-legislatureThe Onion - https://www.theonion.com/no-way-to-prevent-this-says-only-nation-where-this-r-1850269373NBC - https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/tennessee-rep-burchett-says-school-shootings-re-not-gonna-fix-rcna77185Michigan is passing gun safety laws. Most counties may not enforce themBridge Michigan - https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-government/michigan-passing-gun-safety-laws-most-counties-may-not-enforce-themLIGHTNING ROUNDMissouri,Hundreds gathered at the Capitol to protest on behalf of trans rights. Fox - https://fox2now.com/news/missouri/hundreds-protest-anti-transgender-legislation-at-missouri-capitol/Senate Democrats filibuster attack on Initiative petition.Missouri Independent - https://missouriindependent.com/2023/03/29/democratic-filibuster-blocks-vote-on-bill-making-it-harder-to-amend-missouri-constitution/Missouri House lawmakers voted on Tuesday to strip all state funding from public libraries.KY3 Missouri - https://www.ky3.com/2023/03/29/missouri-house-votes-strip-state-funding-public-libraries/Two GOP senators are at odds over red flag law ban.STLPR - https://news.stlpublicradio.org/government-politics-issues/2023-03-29/bid-to-ban-red-flag-laws-defeated-in-missouri-senate-committeeIllinois, The Rosenberg Moon Habitat named 2023's "Coolest Thing Made in Illinois" Daily Herald - https://www.dailyherald.com/business/20230329/moon-habitat-named-coolest-thing-made-in-illinois$200 million investment to improve freight mobility throughout the state of Illinois. WSILTV - https://www.wsiltv.com/news/illinois/200-million-to-improve-freight-routes-throughout-illinois/article_af3e8804-cf12-11ed-988b-8f19cd78baa6.htmlWisconsin,The St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Cottage Grove WI engaged in potentially illegal political campaigning.Wisconsin State Journal - https://madison.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/elections/blatant-electioneering-wisconsin-group-calls-for-irs-investigation-into-cottage-grove-church/article_1e9849b9-75bb-5b6d-87a9-4af24613a464.htmlKansas, Senate republicans gut opioid assistance bill in order to virtue signal.Kansas Reflector - https://kansasreflector.com/2023/03/29/senate-clashes-over-gutting-of-kansas-overdose-fatality-bill-unanimously-passed-by-house/And Lastly,Let's round off this week with a showcase of states attempting to loosen gun regulations yet further.Donald gets gotVOTE!

Host: Kevin Smith Dives into the weekly news most impactful to the HeartlandHEADLINESAs Nashville reels from school shooting, Tenn. lawmakers consider loosening gun restrictionsChalkbeat Tennessee - https://tn.chalkbeat.org/2023/3/28/23661164/nashville-school-shooting-tennessee-covenant-gun-policy-protest-legislatureThe Onion - https://www.theonion.com/no-way-to-prevent-this-says-only-nation-where-this-r-1850269373NBC - https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/tennessee-rep-burchett-says-school-shootings-re-not-gonna-fix-rcna77185Michigan is passing gun safety laws. Most counties may not enforce themBridge Michigan - https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-government/michigan-passing-gun-safety-laws-most-counties-may-not-enforce-themLIGHTNING ROUNDMissouri,Hundreds gathered at the Capitol to protest on behalf of trans rights. Fox - https://fox2now.com/news/missouri/hundreds-protest-anti-transgender-legislation-at-missouri-capitol/Senate Democrats filibuster attack on Initiative petition.Missouri Independent - https://missouriindependent.com/2023/03/29/democratic-filibuster-blocks-vote-on-bill-making-it-harder-to-amend-missouri-constitution/Missouri House lawmakers voted on Tuesday to strip all state funding from public libraries.KY3 Missouri - https://www.ky3.com/2023/03/29/missouri-house-votes-strip-state-funding-public-libraries/Two GOP senators are at odds over red flag law ban.STLPR - https://news.stlpublicradio.org/government-politics-issues/2023-03-29/bid-to-ban-red-flag-laws-defeated-in-missouri-senate-committeeIllinois, The Rosenberg Moon Habitat named 2023's "Coolest Thing Made in Illinois" Daily Herald - https://www.dailyherald.com/business/20230329/moon-habitat-named-coolest-thing-made-in-illinois$200 million investment to improve freight mobility throughout the state of Illinois. WSILTV - https://www.wsiltv.com/news/illinois/200-million-to-improve-freight-routes-throughout-illinois/article_af3e8804-cf12-11ed-988b-8f19cd78baa6.htmlWisconsin,The St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Cottage Grove WI engaged in potentially illegal political campaigning.Wisconsin State Journal - https://madison.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/elections/blatant-electioneering-wisconsin-group-calls-for-irs-investigation-into-cottage-grove-church/article_1e9849b9-75bb-5b6d-87a9-4af24613a464.htmlKansas, Senate republicans gut opioid assistance bill in order to virtue signal.Kansas Reflector - https://kansasreflector.com/2023/03/29/senate-clashes-over-gutting-of-kansas-overdose-fatality-bill-unanimously-passed-by-house/And Lastly,Let's round off this week with a showcase of states attempting to loosen gun regulations yet further.Donald gets gotVOTE!

Host: Kevin Smith Dives into the weekly news most impactful to the HeartlandHEADLINESAgape Boarding School will close its doors this month after years of abuse allegationsMissouri Independent - https://missouriindependent.com/2023/01/11/agape-boarding-school-will-close-its-doors-this-month-after-years-of-abuse-allegation/Missourians are set to head two of the most powerful committees in this Congress Kansas City Star - https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article270991742.html#storylink=cpyLIGHTNING ROUNDArkansasArkansas Gov. Executive Orders NBC - https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/arkansas-gov-sarah-huckabee-sanders-bans-term-latinx-first-day-office-rcna65351Senate Bill 43 The Hill - https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/3806087-arkansas-bill-would-classify-drag-show-as-adult-oriented-business-adds-location-restrictions/OklahomaState Sen. Nathan Dahm's Russian comradesOK News 4 - https://kfor.com/news/local/state-senator-fighting-to-stop-ukrainian-troops-to-ok/Gov. Kevin Stitt is reshaping The State Board of EducationKGOU OK - https://www.kgou.org/politics-and-government/2023-01-12/stitt-reshapes-oklahoma-state-boards-for-education-veterans-affairs-as-he-starts-second-termKansasKansas GOP fears “woke ideology”  Kansas Reflector  - https://kansasreflector.com/2023/01/10/kansas-gop-rails-against-woke-agenda-will-work-toward-stricter-abortion-rules/NebraskaState Sen. Joni Albrecht's Heartbeat Bill ABC - https://www.ketv.com/article/lincoln-nebraska-state-senator-introduces-fetal-heartbeat-abortion-bill/42467281ColoradoNative American's Speak to General Assembly The Denver Post - https://www.denverpost.com/2023/01/12/colorado-ute-tribes-address-legislature-sports-betting/Burning down the Transformer AP - https://news.yahoo.com/colorado-man-vegas-solar-fire-010241283.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAC0w7VYw-GaTGgX_Sag-H_KGiSNMmUoTV-guPk1zMHIiWq6ElqjVSIbQP1V2fjFNp0O85u6KDtUcd65QSfWs9smXmaseKejgSRDZqgsDDXHtlghe8hGU3FUlneM3poBGn3GSgLvphWwQXEfRS60ug9eY5cDjBzF_MxJXH4CVhzU3IOWAGov Kim Reynolds Seeks to defund public education Des Moines Register -  https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2023/01/11/kim-reynolds-proposes-private-school-scholarships-iowa-condition-state-2023/69731249007/WisconsinThe Wisconsin GOP seeks to overturn ‘conversion therapy' banAP - https://apnews.com/article/politics-health-wisconsin-state-government-district-of-columbia-1530351ffa2e4fc96f8bbae00f4e283eClimate change in Wisconsin PBS - https://pbswisconsin.org/news-item/climate-change-is-warming-wisconsin-winters-faster-than-other-seasons/IndianaParty FlipWTHR Indiana - https://www.wthr.com/article/news/politics/howey-party-switching-candidates-are-rare-in-indiana-jennifer-mccormick/531-cbd22970-83e8-4e46-bd77-d861894ec04bHoosiers defining Hoosiers Indiana Capital Chronicle - https://indianacapitalchronicle.com/2023/01/12/where-did-hoosier-come-from-an-indiana-bill-seeks-to-answer-that-question-for-good/ILLINOIS - Semiautomatic weapon ban AP - https://apnews.com/article/politics-illinois-district-of-columbia-shootings-violence-e8f6523bc0ce295a5cbabfdf000c3399KentuckyCharter School Challenge Fox News - https://fox56news.com/news/kentucky/lawsuit-takes-aim-at-blocking-kentuckys-charter-school-law/Rebecca Blankenship makes history Spectrum News 1 - https://spectrumnews1.com/ky/louisville/news/2023/01/11/kentucky-s-first-transgender-elected-officialTennessee Democratic lawmakers are renewing efforts to legalize marijuana The Tennessean - https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2023/01/12/marijuana-in-tennessee-democrats-introduce-bill-to-legalize-it/69801494007/Missouri20 year murder mystery solvedKSDK - https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/crime/maryland-heights-man-charged-2004-headless-torso-case-mike-clardy-deanna-denise-howland/63-39342cbc-7e72-4309-bf44-04f197553a2f 

The year 2022 was like few others in Kansas politics. Journalists at the Kansas Reflector began by covering a breakneck legislative session. Toward the end of the year, we followed a bitter midterm election contest. And in the middle of it all, August, we saw a landmark vote on abortion rights. Our staffers make sense of these stories and others that defined a remarkable year.