The latest SurveyUSA polling sponsored by KWCH, Channel 12, found the percentage of Kansans who approve of Gov. Sam Brownback’s job performance the same as in February, 34 percent. That compares with 51 percent last summer. Meanwhile, 44 percent of those polled April 20-23 said they disapproved of the governor’s performance, down from 50 percent two months ago. The other job-approval numbers in the April poll of 510 registered voters (42 percent Republicans, 33 percent Democrats) showed little change in two months: Sen. Jerry Moran, 44 percent; President Obama and Sen. Pat Roberts, 43 percent each; and Secretary of State Kris Kobach, 32 percent.
Because it’s a “she-said-they-said” incident, it’s hard to know exactly what happened earlier this month when Michelle Brademeyer’s 4-year-old daughter went through the Transportation Security Administration checkpoint at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport. As described by Brademeyer on Facebook and recounted widely via media, the encounter cast the TSA agents as insensitive at best and overzealous at worst. Safeguarding the airplanes from terrorism shouldn’t necessitate terrifying 4-year-olds. But the stakes are high and TSA’s vigilance has worked, making it hard to argue for less scrutiny. In a SurveyUSA poll, co-sponsored by KWCH, Channel 12, just 29 percent of Kansans surveyed said the screening was too thorough, while 62 percent said they thought relaxing security would make sabotage easier.
Congratulations to John Bardo on being selected as the next president of Wichita State University. And welcome back to Wichita. Bardo, who was chancellor of Western Carolina University from 1995 to 2011, was chairman of WSU’s Department of Sociology and Social Work from 1978 to 1983. His wife, Deborah, is a Wichita native. It will certainly be a challenge to fill the shoes of retiring WSU president Donald Beggs. But Bardo has impressive credentials and knows Wichita. It will be good to have him back.
“I would refer to my notes, but I can’t see them. And I’m wondering if there’s a phone book or something I could sit on. It’s a very intimidating chair.” – diminutive Rep. Lynn Jenkins (in photo), R-Topeka, whose testimony to a House subcommittee on a railway tax-break bill was complicated by a tall table and low chair
“The water’s over there.” – Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., touting the heat of his “Prairie Fire” recipe (cream-cheese-filled, bacon-wrapped peppers) at the March of Dimes Congressional Cookoff in Washington, D.C.
“I pray for both sides, Lord, today, the losers and the winners. All the winners are not angels, and not all the losers sinners.” – Kansas Senate Chaplain Fred S. Hollomon, in his invocation opening the Legislature’s wrap-up session
The latest SurveyUSA polling sponsored by KWCH, Channel 12, found the percentage of Kansans who approve of Gov. Sam Brownback’s job performance the same as in February, 34 percent. That compares with 51 percent last summer. Meanwhile, 44 percent of those polled April 20-23 said they disapproved of the governor’s performance, down from 50 percent two months ago. The other job-approval numbers in the April poll of 510 registered voters (42 percent Republicans, 33 percent Democrats) showed little change in two months: Sen. Jerry Moran, 44 percent; President Obama and Sen. Pat Roberts, 43 percent each; and Secretary of State Kris Kobach, 32 percent.
