The shooting at Fort Hood is so tragic and terrible. As President Obama stated, “these are men and women who have made the selfless and courageous decision to risk and at times give their lives to the rest of us on a daily basis. It is horrifying that they should come under fire at an Army base on American soil.” Suspect Maj. Nidal M. Hasan is in stable condition, and authorities are still trying to piece together what may have prompted the attack. In the meantime, our prayers should go out to the families of those killed and to the wounded, which includes a woman from Kansas.
This week’s opening of the Kellogg freeway at Rock Road — eastbound lanes Wednesday, westbound lanes today — represents a major milestone for Wichita’s transportation system that arguably deserved fireworks and a marching band. Then again, the ability to drive 14 miles along Kellogg without stopping may suffice, especially for those who remember when the thoroughfare was a 19-stoplight nightmare. It will take a while not only for the city to open all the through and turn lanes at Kellogg and Rock but also for drivers to adjust to the changes. And watch the speed out there: As more of Kellogg becomes a freeway, it must not also become a free-for-all.
Kansans’ thoughts and prayers are with the family of William Avery, the former Republican governor who died Wednesday at age 98. Avery was the last Kansas governor to feel the weight of the death penalty on his shoulders, having dealt with the appeals of the “In Cold Blood” killers and two others among the last to be hanged in the state, in 1965. Yet he advocated in 1985 that Kansas reinstate the death penalty, viewing it as reasonable protection for law-abiding citizens. Avery, who billed himself as “Kansas’ No. 1 salesman” and served 10 years in Congress before running for governor, actually took pride in tax increases — though the 1965 package of income and sales taxes, intended to fund education and provide property-tax relief, denied him re-election in 1966. “The teachers told me they appreciated that. But when it got to election time, I saw no evidence they told anybody,” Avery said decades later. Given that Gov. Mark Parkinson and legislators could face a fiscal 2011 budget shortfall of $500 million, it was sobering to realize Thursday that the shortfall Avery aimed to bridge back then was a mere $50 million.
When Politico blogger Ben Smith heard that Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, was among the more than two dozen House members who are the subject of an ethics inquiry, he wondered whether it meant Rep. Jerry Moran, R-Hays, will be a senator soon. “It’s tough enough running in a GOP primary in a conservative state as an appropriator. . . . And when you have even a whiff of scandal surrounding your role as a congressional spender, you’re in an even tougher spot,” Smith wrote. “Tiahrt will need to clear his name quickly on this.”
