Leaders in higher education struggle operate within caps and budget cuts, families wrestle with increased tuition, legislators grapple with fiscal accountability, and Governor Brownback signs the cuts into budget.
Kansas universities and colleges are beginning to come to grips with what they are calling "devastating" budget cuts imposed by the state Legislature. Leaders at the University of Kansas, Kansas State University and Wichita State University are warning that the cuts, along with what legislators called a "salary cap," will damage everything from farming programs to the ability to educate doctors to the ability to help Wichita's aerospace industries create new jobs.
Advances in technology, along with an unusual alliance of green and red politics, have spurred the growth of wind energy across the plains states. Yet the uncertainty of short-term tax credits has also created cycles of boom and bust that may harm the industry in the long run. The Economist magazine provides a good overview of the current state of play.
ON A breezy day in October last year the governor of Kansas, Sam Brownback, took a tour of his state's flourishing oil- and gas-exploration industry. But as the bus travelled across the open plains it was difficult not to notice a new phenomenon in Kansan energy: wind turbines. Lots of them.
The 1996 farm bill authorized an incentive program to help farmers buy more efficient irrigation equipment to save water. An estimated $4.2 billion in conservation subsidy payments have been made since 1997 and the program is under scrutiny in the current debate over a new five-year farm bill. And questions are being raised over whether the water conservation promoted by the program has actually led to more overall water use.
WASHINGTON - Millions of dollars in farm subsidies for irrigation equipment aimed at water conservation have led to more water use, not less, threatening vulnerable aquifers and streams. From Wyoming to the Texas Panhandle, water tables have fallen 150 feet in some areas - ranging from 15 percent to 75 percent - since the 1950s, scientists say, because the subsidies give farmers the incentive to irrigate more acres of land.
Some farmers are feeling a bit defensive – or put-upon -- these days. Take the recent experiences of Bob Young, for instance. The 69 year old raises 36-hundred hogs on the land where he grew up near Rochester in central Illinois. When he was getting ready to build a hog confinement facility seven years ago some area residents, concerned about the potential smell of the place, filed suit. A court order stopped construction for 18 months.
Kansas Bureau of Investigation documents suggest that the events described in two crucial chapters of Truman Capote's "non-fiction novel", In Cold Blood, differ significantly from what actually happened. Writer Kevin Helliker explores this new evidence and other findings in a recent Wall Street Journal article.
GARDEN CITY, Kan.-Truman Capote's masterwork of murder, "In Cold Blood," cemented two reputations when first published almost five decades ago: his own, as a literary innovator, and detective Alvin Dewey Jr.'s as the most famous Kansas lawman since Wyatt Earp.
An unlikely coalition of business and social interests tried last year to get the legislature to establish a state program that would help ag businesses hire undocumented workers and let them legally stay in the state. Conservative lightning rod Grover Norquist – more known for his anti-tax crusades than his immigration beliefs – endorsed the plan during a speech in Topeka this week. He likened current U-S immigration law to the 55-mile-per-hour speed limit enacted in the 70s. Norquist says most people broke that law, too.
Kansas faces a $234 million budget deficit. How would you resolve the problem? Cut taxes or raise them? Increase spending or downsize government? The Kansas Health Institute has created the Budget Puzzle as a tool that allows you to fashion your own version of the next state budget. Give it a try.
Kansas faces a very challenging budget picture next year. Policymakers must resolve a large imbalance between revenue and expenditures, but how? Should they raise revenue or cut spending? Would maintaining a 6.3 percent sales tax rate solve the problem? What about cutting education funding?
St. Olaf Christmas Festival from St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN
The glorious voices of Chanticleer, a 12-voice men's choir, on Chanticleer Christmas 2012
An illustration from the book of the Cantigas de Santa Maria, a vast repertoire of poetry, songs, stories, and recitations about the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The Dale Warland Singers featured on Echoes of Christmas
Music from classic movies that take us back to wonderful Christmases past on Roll Credits: A Hollywood Holiday
Christmas classics from popular song and Broadway music of the early and mid 20th-century on The Great American Songbook: Holiday Special 2012
Holiday cheer, snarky barbs and the best holiday songs from new and emerging breakout bands on All Songs Considered for the Holidays
Stay tuned to HPPR throughout Christmas Day and enjoy a full schedule of special programs drawn from the greatest Christmas traditions of music and words spanning the centuries of time and the continents of the world.
Keep HPPR with you this Christmas Eve and enjoy a full schedule of special programs drawn from the greatest Christmas traditions of music and words spanning the centuries of time and the continents of the world.
Most of HPPR's network of stations will be on-and-off the air on Thursday, December 6th between 1 and 3 pm CT due to required maintenance work. During this time technicians from the Public Radio Satellite Service will be making adjustments and upgrades to satellite system that HPPR uses to distribute programming to its 21 FM stations. The most likely period for being off-air will be between 1:30 and 2:30 pm.
Books and films about the Dust Bowl era, including Ken Burn’s new documentary The Dust Bowl, draw heavily from the deep archive of photographs and films created by the Resettlement Administration and Farm Security Administration from 1935-1942. You can peruse this collection yourself at the Library of Congress’ online catalogue of the collection. The catalogue is indexed and easily searchable by place names and subject area
Kansas has voted for every Republican presidential candidate since Barry Goldwater, and is expected to deliver Mitt Romney a comfortable victory this year. Senator John McCain carried the state by 15 points in 2008. But an even clearer example of the state's current reliability as a Republican stronghold can be seen in the Third Congressional District, where Representative Kevin Yoder, a Republican, was elected in 2010.
Tune to HPPR for continuous election coverage on its FM stations and web stream from 7pm-2am CT. Coverage may extend past 2am if the presidential race remains undecided.
Note: The Texas Secretary of State only displays election results for statewide races. For local election results, please contact your county elections officials.
KTDH, 89.3 FM is now on the air providing public radio service for the first time to Dalhart, TX and surrounding Dallam and Hartley counties of the northwest Texas panhandle. HPPR thanks and congratulates everyone in the Dalhart community who has made this station possible, especially Scot and Sylvia Renick, Jim McDaniel and Sherry Hanshew, Gerald Burney and Dean Graham. We look forward to serving everyone in the Dalhart community for years to come.
HPPR will provide live coverage of the final presidential debate on all of its broadcast stations and web stream on Monday, October 22, starting at 8 pm CT.
HPPR will provide live coverage of the second presidential debate on all of its broadcast stations and its web stream on Tuesday, October 16, starting at 8 pm CT. HPPR.org will feature a live chat hosted by NPR's Frank James as well as live blogging from NPR’s It’s All Politics blog.
Kansas governor Sam Brownback is raising concerns about the national and global economy to justify state budget cut planning, deflecting concern over the impact of large tax reductions approved last year.
Gov. Sam Brownback's administration already has developed talking points to deflect anticipated criticism of the newly enacted massive income tax cuts should Kansas face significant budget problems next year. Critics said their fears about the aggressiveness of the cuts were confirmed by the conservative Republican governor's budget director in July, when he told state agencies to draft proposals for slicing up to 10 percent of their spending.
Emails were sent last week by Kansas Commerce Department Secretary Pat George to 25 Main Street programs, including Garden City Downtown Vision, informing them of elimination of the program.
HUTCHINSON - The abrupt demise of a popular Kansas program that helped participating communities with downtown revitalization and small-business development has left many disappointed and perplexed.Kansas Commerce Department Secretary Pat George announced the elimination of the 27-year-old Kansas Main Street program in an email Thursday to officials of the 25 local programs around the state.
The record drought in the U.S. is forecast to ease in some regions during the fall, but a majority of the drought-stricken regions from the West to the High Plains may be left high and dry by prevailing weather patterns through the end of November, according to the federal government's latest seasonal drought outlook.
Growing urban areas adjoining the High Plains are becoming major customers for the region's water. What was once considered a production input is now the final harvest in southeast Colorado.
