"After careful consideration of my responsibility to protect the public health and environment from actual, threatened or potential harm from air pollution, I have decided to deny the Sunflower Electric Power Corporation application for an air quality permit," Kansas Department of Health and Environment Secretary Rod Bremby (in photo) announced today. I’m a bit surprised. I was betting that that Bremby would approve it, but with some agreement for the plants to meet higher environmental standards. But Bremby said that he believed "it would be irresponsible to ignore emerging information about the contribution of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to climate change and the potential harm to our environment and health if we do nothing." Ultimately, it may not really matter what Bremby believes. Regardless of what he decided, the issue was certain to go to court.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
If Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback confirms what people close to him are saying by dropping out of the presidential race Friday, he will be making the right decision for his constituents. Doing well in Iowa was a must for Brownback, and his fundraising and campaign took a fatal blow with his third-place finish in August in Iowa’s GOP straw poll. He has given the bid his best shot for 10 long months now, raising the state’s profile along with his own via countless debates, interviews and appearances. But enough already, especially of his missedvotes in the Senate.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
"I don’t want to be invited to the family hunting party," Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., jokedWednesday night to Jay Leno about news that Obama and Vice President Dick Cheney are distant cousins. And on Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., acting as if she is the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, Obama told Leno that Clinton wasn’t the first person in Washington, D.C., to declare "mission accomplished" a little too soon.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
It’s not too surprising that Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline, who has defined himself largely as an anti-abortion crusader, Wednesday charged a Planned Parenthood clinic in Overland Park with 107 counts of lawbreaking, including performing late-term abortions.
Planned Parenthood denies doing any late-term abortions. “We always provide high-quality care in full accord with state and federal law,” said Peter Brownlie, president of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri.
Kline’s move comes a few months after Attorney General Paul Morrison found no evidence of wrongdoing by Planned Parenthood in another Kline-initiated investigation.
Given Kline’s record, here’s the first question most Kansans will have about this latest flurry of charges: Will any of them hold up in court?
Posted by Randy Scholfield
Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., wants to bust myths being spread by some opponents of the bill reauthorizing the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. Here are the facts, Roberts says:
“This bill does not grant SCHIP coverage to children whose families have incomes more than $40,000. In fact, the only way a state can cover children in families at higher income levels is if the administration grants approval for the state to do so. This is already current law, and this bill does not change that. However, this bill for the first time puts tough standards into place to ensure states are truly focusing their programs on low-income children.
“This bill only covers children 18 or younger. This is current law, and this bill does not change that. More important, this bill actually fixes the problem created by this administration, which granted waivers to states to cover adults under this program meant for low-income children.“This bill . . . builds on the current private structure, better allowing states to provide health insurance to children through the private market.”
Roberts’ conclusion: “This is a good bill, and it will provide health insurance to children who would otherwise have no access to health care.”
Rep. Todd Tiahrt, who was the only Kansas House member to vote against the bill, has a commentary on today’s Opinion pages arguing that the expanded program isn’t focused enough on low-income kids. Tiahrt writes: “Unfortunately, the bill the president vetoed expands coverage to adults without covering all of our low-income children, which is why I will vote to sustain his veto.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Yes, it seems odd that Congress would think twice about labeling the deaths of up to 1.5 million people as a genocide. But these are odd times, so it’s welcome news that hopes are dimming for passage of the House resolution about the World War I-era killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks. Passing the resolution, long sought by Armenian-Americans, could hurt the United States’ ability to continue delivering 70 percent of the air cargo and one-third of the fuel to the U.S. military in Iraq via Turkey. That could put more troops’ lives at risk. The proposed resolution also is complicating the Bush administration’s efforts to keep Turkey from launching a major offensive into northern Iraq against Kurdish rebels, a plan endorsed Wednesday by the Turkish parliament.
Posted by Rhonda Holman