Daily Archives: March 29, 2012

City’s video didn’t need to be that crude

March 29, 20121:23 p.m.

Good for City Hall staff for responding to a fake tourism ad aired on Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show that spoofed our city as “Wichitawesome.” But the city didn’t need to lower the bar. The city’s video has a cardboard cutout of Kimmel imbibing from a beer bong in Old Town, throwing up in the Arkansas River, getting “lei-ed” (ha, ha) and being friskily frisked by an airport security officer. The video was targeted at Kimmel and the younger audience that watches his show. But a video can be clever without being crude. For example, Grand Rapids, Mich., created a positive music video last year in response to Newsweek including it on a list of “America’s Dying Cities.” It’s received more than 4.6 million views on YouTube.

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under Wichita government | Comments Off

Is hammer about to come down on waiting lists?

March 29, 20126:00 a.m.

Leon Rodriguez, director of the Office for Civil Rights within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is scheduled to meet today with Gov. Sam Brownback about the state’s long waiting lists for services for the disabled, the Kansas Health Institute News Service reported. HHS and U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom have been concerned that the waiting lists violate disabled individuals’ right to live in the “least restrictive environment.” The Brownback administration (like past administrations) has shown little interest in reducing the waiting lists, preferring to focus on tax cuts. But the federal government appears to be tired of waiting. Those on the waiting lists certainly are.

By Phillip Brownlee | Filed under Health and safety, Kansas government, Sam Brownback | Comments Off