KS - December 5 2024

FLASH…new Hutchinson YMCA…downtown Topeka ice rink…Berry Global acquired by Swiss plastics company for $8B…
1 - Kansas GOP Prioritizing Tax Relief
2 - Kansas 8th Graders Lag in Math and Science
3 - Mass Layoffs in Kansas: Over 3,500 workers faced layoffs in 2024, with major cuts from General Motors, Tyson Foods, and Walmart
4 - CULTURE WARS Trans Rights in Kansas: Republican supermajorities prepare to push for bans on gender-affirming care for minors, facing opposition from advocates and the governor
5 - Boeing Legal Trouble: A federal judge rejected Boeing's plea deal, adding uncertainty to the company’s compliance oversight and future
Sports

FLASH…Construction on new Hutchinson YMCA to begin…Topeka City Council voted to approve downtown ice rink…Berry Global, Lawrence’s largest commercial employer, being acquired by Swiss plastics company for $8B…

1 - Kansas GOP Prioritizing Tax Relief

Kansas Republicans are poised to turn the campaign trail promise of property tax relief into reality with expanded supermajorities in the Legislature and potentially unprecedented control over the state’s budget process.  However, state tax revenue continues to trend below projections, and Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly wants legislators to hit pause before taking action in 2025. House Speaker Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, said property tax relief will be “job one” when the Legislature convenes in January. Lawmakers’ ideas for relief are bound by the state’s limited authority over local property taxes. Legislators could further modify the state mill levy or, like Iowa lawmakers in 2023, cap the tax levy rates for cities and counties. In an updated revenue estimate for fiscal year 2025, which ends June 30, the state was projected to take in $400 million less than the year before and $72 million less in tax revenue than initial estimates.

Article Source: KS Reflector

2 - Kansas 8th Graders Lag in Math and Science

A recent study compared 8th-grade science and math performance in Kansas to other U.S. states and countries worldwide using the 2019 NAEP and TIMSS assessments. Kansas had 33% of students reaching the NAEP Proficient level, compared to 47% in Massachusetts, the top-performing U.S. state, and 76% in Singapore, the best-performing country.  

Article Source: TIMSS

3 - Mass Layoffs in Kansas: Over 3,500 workers faced layoffs in 2024, with major cuts from General Motors, Tyson Foods, and Walmart

Kansas employers laid off over 3,500 people in mass layoffs and workplace closures in 2024, according to federally required WARN notices. Many of the layoffs occurred in the Kansas City metro area. Kansas workers received 12 WARN notifications in 2024, announcing the layoffs of an estimated 3,542 people — higher than the 2023 total of 2,923. Here’s where this year’s layoffs happened. The majority of Kansas’ mass layoffs announced through WARN notices this year happened in Kansas City, Kansas. The largest was from General Motors, which announced layoffs of an estimated 1,695 people Sept. 19. The second-largest mass layoff in Kansas in 2024 was by Tyson Foods Inc., which announced it would lay off an estimated 809 people from its Emporia facility Monday, Dec. 2. Walmart also announced layoffs of an estimated 318 people in Edgerton on May 17.

Article Source: Wichita Eagle

4 - CULTURE WARS Trans Rights in Kansas: Republican supermajorities prepare to push for bans on gender-affirming care for minors, facing opposition from advocates and the governor

Transgender Kansans and their advocates are bracing for another fight with Republican lawmakers in 2025 over whether trans minors should be allowed access to gender-affirming care. Despite Republicans enacting a series of anti-trans laws in 2023, a ban on gender transition surgeries, puberty blockers and hormone treatment for youth has proven elusive, as lawmakers have failed to override Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto each of the last two years. Now, with expanded Republican supermajorities in the House and Senate and most GOP members who opposed the ban last session leaving office in January, party leaders say they’re confident they’ll have the numbers to outlaw treatment they see as objectionable.

Article Source: KC Star

5 - Boeing Legal Trouble: A federal judge rejected Boeing's plea deal, adding uncertainty to the company’s compliance oversight and future

A federal judge in Texas rejected Boeing’s plea deal with the Justice Department in a case related to two deadly 737 MAX crashes, criticizing the agreement’s diversity aims.  U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor said that the plea deal inappropriately tied the court’s hands by imposing diversity considerations on the appointment of an outside monitor who would oversee Boeing’s future legal compliance. O’Connor wrote that prosecutors gave “shifting and contradictory explanations” of the role that race or diversity would play in the selection of a monitor. “In a case of this magnitude, it is in the utmost interest of justice that the public is confident this monitor selection is done based solely on competency,” wrote O’Connor, an appointee of President George W. Bush. The judge’s decision injects another variable into Boeing’s current crisis. The company has recently considered asset sales as it seeks to refocus its business and raise cash. It endured a weekslong strike with its largest labor union that stalled factories, and its credit rating has flirted with junk status. It isn’t clear what immediately comes next. The judge ordered both sides to update him within 30 days on how they plan to proceed. Boeing shares declined 1% Thursday, while U.S. stock indexes moved slightly lower.

Article Source: WSJ

Sports

Creighton upsets No. 1 Kansas, 76-63   

Shot Clocks in Kansas High School Basketball: A new era begins as shot clocks debut in games  

Kansas high school basketball will look a bit different when the season tips off this week. The Kansas High School Activities Association (KSHSAA) is testing shot clocks for the first time at the varsity level only. All 340 teams in the state had the choice to add them to their home courts. 125 of them; 37% opted in, including all nine schools in the United Kansas Conference (UKC).

Article Source: FOX4KC

Sources

2. https://kansasreflector.com/2024/12/05/tax-relief-job-one-for-kansas-gop-lawmakers-amid-revenue-shortfalls-governors-caution/

3. TIMSS

4. https://www.kansas.com/news/business/article296577294.html

5. https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article296570569.html

6. https://www.wsj.com/business/airlines/judge-rejects-boeing-guilty-plea-deal-in-737-max-criminal-case-1717bcc3?st=D1mErj&reflink=article_copyURL_share

7. https://fox4kc.com/news/kansas-news/shot-clocks-to-make-high-school-hoops-debut-in-kansas/