Fifty years after the U.S. Supreme Court nixed school-initiated prayers as a violation of the First Amendment, 74 percent of Kansans think that public schools should open their day with either a spoken prayer (36 percent) or a silent one (38 percent), according to a SurveyUSA poll conducted for KWCH, Channel 12. Similarly large majorities also favor some kind of prayer to open local and legislative meetings, with 71 percent saying it’s OK for such prayers to mention Jesus. Though 58 percent of those surveyed said they’d be willing to listen to a public prayer in a religion other than their own, 54 percent said it would be unacceptable for a prayer to mention Allah in a public meeting where the majority of citizens are Muslim.
The state says that problems with a new computer system have been fixed and there shouldn’t be such long waits to renew a driver’s license or register a vehicle. In other words, the waits will be excruciating, just not as interminable. There have been waits of multiple hours at the Division of Motor Vehicles office in Wichita and the Sedgwick County tag offices, causing much frustration and prompting citizens to ask such good questions as: Don’t we pay enough taxes to add a few more clerks? Couldn’t more clerks work at once? And shouldn’t a city the size of Wichita have more than one driver’s license office?
Having lost so many headquarters to other cities via mergers and acquisitions, Wichita needs to prize its hometown companies and encourage their growth. So it was exciting news that Koch Industries is considering an expansion of its headquarters near 37th Street North and Oliver. The company employs 2,600 people in Wichita, and 67,000 worldwide, and has 200 vacant positions locally. Wichita and Sedgwick County leaders should stand ready to help however they can. Koch’s continued well-being is crucial to that of the Wichita economy.
Good for Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., and Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., the ranking minority member and the chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, for demonstrating bipartisanship and getting a new farm bill formally filed Thursday in advance of a possible June floor debate. In crafting this latest bill, the senators had to account for not only the usual competing agricultural interests that stem from geography but also the Capitol Hill fever to reduce the federal deficit. Stabenow’s goal was to achieve at least $23 billion in savings over the next decade. Roberts’ goals include seeing the bill move quickly. “We have a Sept. 30 deadline; farmers and ranchers and lenders – especially lenders – are getting nervous,” he said.
Fifty years after the U.S. Supreme Court nixed school-initiated prayers as a violation of the First Amendment, 74 percent of Kansans think that public schools should open their day with either a spoken prayer (36 percent) or a silent one (38 percent), according to a SurveyUSA poll conducted for KWCH, Channel 12. Similarly large majorities also favor some kind of prayer to open local and legislative meetings, with 71 percent saying it’s OK for such prayers to mention Jesus. Though 58 percent of those surveyed said they’d be willing to listen to a public prayer in a religion other than their own, 54 percent said it would be unacceptable for a prayer to mention Allah in a public meeting where the majority of citizens are Muslim.
