Considering that Sedgwick County voters approved a downtown arena nearly five years ago, nobody would say that the process has been speedy from start to finish. But it was surprising to learn last week that Dondlinger and Sons might have the Intrust Bank Arena finished by Nov. 1 rather than the contractual date of Jan. 22. How often do multimillion-dollar construction projects come in ahead of schedule? Anticipation was further stoked by recent announcements about the arena leasing club seats, booking the Class 6A and 5A wrestling tournaments for February, and bidding to host first- and second-round games in the 2011, 2012 or 2013 NCAA Tournament. Pretty soon, those who’ve long dreamed of a downtown arena will be able to take their seats in one.
Faced with a deep state spending cut, the Kansas Board of Regents and the state’s universities had to find more money somewhere for the fall. Unfortunately, the natural place to look was to students and their families, in the form of newly approved tuition increases ranging from 3.9 to 8.5 percent. Wichita State University is to be credited for trying to use stimulus money to offset the pain with automatic scholarships for in-state students. Still, there’s no telling how many wannabe students will be deterred by any tuition increase — and there have been many this decade. Put “more affordable tuition” on the lengthening list of things the state needs to work on once the economy improves.
The good will that Kansans had for President Obama at his inauguration, when he had a 62 percent approval rating in the SurveyUSA poll, continues to erode. The latest poll, co-sponsored by KWCH, Channel 12, showed Kansans split 49 to 49 percent on whether they approve or disapprove of the job he’s doing. He polls best in northeast Kansas (52 percent approval) and worst out west (64 percent disapproval). Still, he’s ahead of where he started in the state on Election Day, when he lost to John McCain 41.6 to 56.6 percent.
Meanwhile, new Gov. Mark Parkinson lost some ground in public opinion in a matter of weeks on the job, sliding from 52 percent approval a month ago to 46 percent in mid-June — the same point Kathleen Sebelius was in the poll before joining Obama’s Cabinet.
“Outside of the Capitol, no one knows who I am. They don’t know that I’m the governor.” — Gov. Mark Parkinson, on his new blog, on trying to get a pizza delivered to Cedar Crest and being mistaken in St. Louis for a member of his security detail
“Rep. Tiahrt’s campaign logo looks like he stole it off of a note passed to him by a 13 year-old girl.” — An unnamed “former state party official” to Politico’s Shenanigans blog, about the logo’s “T” and heart
