Sign in Subscribe
hcj

heartland - October 29 2024

Kansas GOP supermajority in the balance; Medicaid expansion support high; Kansas death penalty challenged; Mississippi River low; DUST DOWL!

Greg Loving

• 4 min read
heartland - October 29 2024
SUBSCRIBE

1. Kansas Election to Decide Fate of Republican Supermajority in State Legislature

Voters will soon decide many races beyond the White House contest. As voters know, those down-ballot races have an impact. In Kansas, voters will determine the potential influence of Republicans in the state legislature. This election cycle, the Kansas GOP aims to strengthen its supermajority while state Democrats are looking to break it. Republicans have maintained a supermajority for years in the Kansas House and Senate. This has made it easier for them to pass bills with a Democratic governor, as the GOP holds just more than enough seats to override a veto without including Democrats - something we’ve seen happen during sessions these last few years. But Democrats are putting a lot of effort this election into breaking the supermajority. Dems need to pick up two seats in the House and three seats in the Senate. Dr. Middlewood said Johnson County is where those candidates stand the best chance, as the population has been shifting Democratic with more college-educated and women voters moving into that area.

Article Source: KWCH

2. Strong Support for Medicaid Expansion in Kansas, But Will It Sway Voters?

Support for Medicaid expansion in Kansas remains high, according to a new survey by the Docking Institute of Public Affairs at Fort Hays State University. But it’s unclear whether those views will inform how Kansans vote this election. More than 72% of respondents to the Kansas Speaks survey said they support expanding Medicaid, up slightly from last year. That includes over 63% of Republicans and nearly 90% of Democrats. Medicaid expansion would allow an estimated 152,000 more low-income Kansans to receive coverage under the government health care program, according to the Kansas Health Institute. The existing Medicaid program already covers low-income children, pregnant women, elderly Kansans and people with disabilities. Federal money pays for the bulk of the cost of expansion, and Kansas is one of only 10 states that has not yet done so. Analysts say many people who would be covered by expansion are working jobs that don’t offer health insurance. Opponents of expansion say the proposal is too costly and argue that the policy would primarily benefit working-age adults who have the ability to obtain jobs that provide them with better wages or health insurance. Around half of Kansans who responded to the Kansas Speaks survey said the issue is highly or extremely important as they decide who to vote to represent them in the state legislature. It remains to be seen whether the issue will motivate voters to break the legislature’s Republican supermajority. “We can see that a huge portion of Kansans say that [Medicaid expansion] is important to some degree,” said Alexandra Middlewood, a political science professor at Wichita State University who contributed to the survey’s development. “But there are so many other issues, too, that they’re being forced to consider when making decisions about who to vote for.”

Article Source: KSN

Attorneys and expert witnesses from across the country crammed into a stuffy Wyandotte County District courtroom on Monday to put the death penalty on trial. National legal advocacy groups set off a series of hearings to argue that the way capital punishment is applied in Kansas is unconstitutional. It’s one of the earliest suits of its kind filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, a legal advocacy group, joined in this case by the Kansas Death Penalty Unit and law firms Hogan Lovells and Ali & Lockwood. Critics have long argued that capital punishment is inhumane, expensive and ineffective at deterring crime. Kansas is one of 27 states where the practice is still legal, though the last state execution here was in 1965.

Article Source: KAKE

4. Mississippi River’s Low Waters Hinder Farmers’ Export Routes Amid Prolonged Drought

The Mississippi River is suffering from low waters for the third straight autumn, a crucial time of year when American farmers rely on the route to deliver their crops to the world. Months of limited rainfall — with few chances for more during the rest of the season — have left the vital waterway so shallow that barges are starting to run aground, even after shippers started running lighter loads to prevent boats from hitting the river bottom. While the situation isn’t as chaotic as in years past, the lack of water is again creating headaches for shippers and farmers. The drying of the Mississippi over the past three years is raising shipping costs and hindering farmers’ ability to compete for markets overseas. During the best of times, nearly two-thirds of US crop exports are shipped on the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.

Article Source: Bloomberg

5.  DUST BOWL! KS Air Quality Unsafe for Vulnerable Groups

If you are outside in Wichita, it is pretty easy to see all the dirt in the air. The City of Wichita advises people that the current Air Quality Index is 154, which is considered unsafe for people with heart or lung disease, older adults, children and teens.  

View from back porch, it’s not overcast that’s dust:  

Article Source: KSN

Sources

1. https://www.kwch.com/2024/10/29/voters-will-decide-fate-republican-supermajority-kansas-legislature/

2. https://www.ksn.com/news/health/survey-finds-most-kansans-support-medicaid-expansion-and-abortion-access/

3. https://www.kake.com/home/legal-groups-challenge-the-death-penalty-in-kansas-60-years-after-the-state-s-last/article_6456ed20-963c-11ef-9eb7-cf4915a3563e.html

4. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-10-25/mississippi-river-dries-up-again-at-worst-time-for-us-farmers

5. https://www.ksn.com/weather/weather-stories/wichita-air-quality-unsafe-for-some/

SUBSCRIBE

Sign up for more like this.

Enter your email
Subscribe