It was clever of several American Indian tribes to offer the state a quick $150 million to allow three off-reservation casinos in Sedgwick and Wyandotte counties and southeast Kansas, because that would cover the Supreme Court’s school funding mandate. But legislators are unlikely to bite, especially with state revenues on the rise. And up-front cash to the state seems unlikely to soften the inexplicable resistance of Wichita area officials to the Park City casino proposal. Just what would it take?
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline’s silence on the Kansas Supreme Court’s schools order has been dumbfounding, especially because he was an architect of the school finance law under assault, had been a vocal critic of the litigation and has been known to travel hours to get behind a mike. A spokeswoman has said Kline is waiting to see how the governor and Legislature respond, but it’s hard not to wonder what he’s up to. A long-shot appeal? An out-of-the-box fix? For a guy so used to holding forth, holding his tongue can’t be healthy.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
It’s not just senior citizens who can’t afford high prescription drug prices. UnitedHealthcare is giving away free pill-splitters as a way to lower the cost of certain medications, the Associated Press reported. Next, the insurance company will start importing drugs from Canada.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
A National Public Radio report Tuesday discussed the tremendous popularity of whitewater parks, which attract kayakers and rafters and, in the process, boost local economies. Turns out these in-stream attractions aren’t just for mountain regions: Wichita has an informal one at the spillway at I-235 and the Arkansas River.
Jim Johnson, president of the Kansas Canoe and Kayak Association, and contributor to Wednesday’s Reader Views, has long pitched the idea of improving and promoting the spillway site as a whitewater park — something that would take leadership and cooperation among the city, county, state and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. “The economic realities of it are apparent,” Johnson told The Eagle. “It is a bandwagon nationally.”
Posted by Rhonda Holman
As House Minority Leader Dennis McKinney, D-Greensburg, noted in an article in Tuesday’s Eagle, many lawmakers who are saying that they won’t raise taxes to pay increased education spending are the same lawmakers who voted to give local school districts more authority to raise property taxes. Apparently tax increases are OK as long as someone else makes the tough decision.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Employing the disabled isn’t just good for the community. It can also be good for business. Check out an article in Tuesday’s Eagle about a contract Cox Communications has with Envision, a Wichita organization that works with the blind.
“This is not a gift,” Cox executive Tony Matthews said about the contract to assemble Internet starter kits. “They provide us the best value for the work they do.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Methamphetamine takes a toll on users’ mouths, and dentists are seeing more and more patients showing up with “meth mouth.” Two Kansas dentists were featured in a New York Times article on the subject.
“The real market for dentistry is in saving teeth, in helping people have dental health,” Richard Stein, a Dodge City dentist, told the Times. “But I’ve seen a lot. I’m not a drug counselor, and I’m long past lecturing, but this is a sorry situation.”
Posted by Melissa Cooley
Roger Harms, a social worker with the Wichita public schools, dropped off some information about a “Smart Marriages” conference June 23-26 in Dallas. The conference focuses on educational programs that “teach couples what they need to know to build healthy, satisfying marriages and happy, successful families.” It’s aimed at professionals but the public is also welcome. To download a brochure, click here.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
