What’s happening?&nbsp;The Kansas Department of Transportation closed portions of I-70 in Gove and Trego counties at&nbsp;4 a.m. on Wednesday.&nbsp;

Crews are removing the bridge carrying 150 Avenue over I-70 in Trego County. The closure will be in place until the work is completed and will not exceed a period of 24 hours.

Why is the bridge being removed?&nbsp;KDOT has safety concerns about structural deficiencies caused by strikes to the bridge from above-height loads. The bridge has been hit several times since it was closed to traffic in March, and plans for its replacement are currently in development.

Where will I-70 be closed?&nbsp;Westbound lanes will be closed from Exits 115 and 128 between Collyer and WaKeeney. Eastbound lanes will be closed from Exits 95 and 120 between Grainfield and Voda Road.

How will traffic be detoured?&nbsp;The signed detour will be on K-23, U.S. 24 and U.S. 283. Note: construction on U.S. 283 in Graham County will be suspended on Sept. 4. These routes were selected to minimize the length of the closed section on I-70.&nbsp;Motorists may follow the signed detour or use other routes.

What should travelers expect?&nbsp;Increased traffic volume should be expected in the communities along the detour route. Drivers should plan for delays and consider using other alternative routes if possible. KDOT crews will assist with directing traffic, and law enforcement has indicated plans to increase patrols along the detour route. KDOT has also enacted a 12-foot width restriction and 100-foot length restriction on the entirety of the detour route for the duration of the closure.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/9/1725484975898.png" alt="Imag KanDriver 4:20p.m. Wednesday" />
 <figcaption>Imag KanDriver 4:20p.m. Wednesday</figcaption>
 </figure><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">I-70 is back open both directions. Thankfully, we did not have any major problems throughout the day! <a href="https://t.co/YKQBFHarqm">pic.twitter.com/YKQBFHarqm</a>&mdash; Trooper Tod (@TrooperTodKHP) <a href="https://twitter.com/TrooperTodKHP/status/1831482415543722274?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 5, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">🟢 WESTBOUND I-70 REOPEN AT WAKEENEY Eastbound lanes remain closed at Exit 95 near Grainfield for debris cleanup from the bridge demolition at mile marker 117 earlier today. Slow down and stay alert for workers in the area. <a href="https://t.co/Nl9g6zpVyU">pic.twitter.com/Nl9g6zpVyU</a>&mdash; NWKansasKDOT (@NWKansasKDOT) <a href="https://twitter.com/NWKansasKDOT/status/1831441077485670479?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 4, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">How it started...and how it&#39;s going. Thanks for your patience as we continue cleanup. The detour route is still in effect. Please do not try to go around the closure or use gravel roads. We&#39;ll have reopening updates as soon as we receive them. <a href="https://t.co/ICsszEwDjj">pic.twitter.com/ICsszEwDjj</a>&mdash; NWKansasKDOT (@NWKansasKDOT) <a href="https://twitter.com/NWKansasKDOT/status/1831397545282589010?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 4, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>What’s happening?&nbsp;The Kansas Department of Transportation closed portions of I-70 in Gove and Trego counties at&nbsp;4 a.m. on Wednesday.&nbsp;Crews are removing the bridge carrying 150 Avenue over I-70 in Trego County. The closure will be in place until the work is completed and will not exceed a period of 24 hours.Why is the bridge being removed?&nbsp;KDOT has safety concerns about structural deficiencies caused by strikes to the bridge from above-height loads. The bridge has been hit several times since it was closed to traffic in March, and plans for its replacement are currently in development.Where will I-70 be closed?&nbsp;Westbound lanes will be closed from Exits 115 and 128 between Collyer and WaKeeney. Eastbound lanes will be closed from Exits 95 and 120 between Grainfield and Voda Road.How will traffic be detoured?&nbsp;The signed detour will be on K-23, U.S. 24 and U.S. 283. Note: construction on U.S. 283 in Graham County will be suspended on Sept. 4. These routes were selected to minimize the length of the closed section on I-70.&nbsp;Motorists may follow the signed detour or use other routes.What should travelers expect?&nbsp;Increased traffic volume should be expected in the communities along the detour route. Drivers should plan for delays and consider using other alternative routes if possible. KDOT crews will assist with directing traffic, and law enforcement has indicated plans to increase patrols along the detour route. KDOT has also enacted a 12-foot width restriction and 100-foot length restriction on the entirety of the detour route for the duration of the closure.

KHP: I-70 reopened in both directions after bridge removal

KANSAS CITY —Law enforcement are investigating after the discovery of human remains near a trail in eastern Jackson County, Missouri.

Just after 7a.m. on Wednesday, deputies with the Jackson County Sheriff's Office were called to Blue Mills and Old Blue Mills Roads near Little Blue Trace County Park, according to Sheriff Daryl Forte'.

Deputies were directed to human remains of a woman that had been found along a trail in the park.

&nbsp;The Medical Examiner’s Office will determine cause of death.&nbsp; The sheriff's office did not release details on the condition of the ramains.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/9/1725480731441.png" alt="Google image" />
 <figcaption>Google image</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY —Law enforcement are investigating after the discovery of human remains near a trail in eastern Jackson County, Missouri.Just after 7a.m. on Wednesday, deputies with the Jackson County Sheriff's Office were called to Blue Mills and Old Blue Mills Roads near Little Blue Trace County Park, according to Sheriff Daryl Forte'.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/9/1725480775777.png" alt="Jackson County Parks and Rec" />
 <figcaption>Jackson County Parks and Rec</figcaption>
 </figure>Deputies were directed to human remains of a woman that had been found along a trail in the park.&nbsp;The Medical Examiner’s Office will determine cause of death.&nbsp; The sheriff's office did not release details on the condition of the ramains.

Sheriff: Woman's remains found near trail in Kansas City area

TREGO COUNTY —Crews with the Kansas Department of Transportation are
working to remove the 150th Ave. bridge over Interstate 70 in
Trego County.

The Northwest Kansas KDOT Facebook page shared video of the
demolition and said now the cleanup process is underway.

Traffic is being detoured around the bridge location off of
I-70. 

Work began at 4 a.m. Wednesday and is expected to take less
than 24 hours to complete.

TREGO COUNTY —Crews with the Kansas Department of Transportation are
working to remove the 150th Ave. bridge over Interstate 70 in
Trego County.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">The bridge at mile post 117 on I-70 has successfully been demolished. Now onto the clean up so we can get I-70 back open! If you are on the detour, please refrain from taking county side roads. We’re already starting to see problems with people doing that. <a href="https://t.co/dvK0AkMUmg">pic.twitter.com/dvK0AkMUmg</a>&mdash; Trooper Tod (@TrooperTodKHP) <a href="https://twitter.com/TrooperTodKHP/status/1831351195031548137?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 4, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Aerial view of the bridge at mile post 117, courtesy of KHP Aircraft! <a href="https://t.co/on4xIcc2E8">pic.twitter.com/on4xIcc2E8</a>&mdash; Trooper Tod (@TrooperTodKHP) <a href="https://twitter.com/TrooperTodKHP/status/1831352978709873039?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 4, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>The Northwest Kansas KDOT Facebook page shared video of the
demolition and said now the cleanup process is underway.<div><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=314&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FNWKansasKDOT%2Fvideos%2F823413066529716%2F&show_text=false&width=560&t=0" width="560" height="314" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowFullScreen="true"></iframe></div>Traffic is being detoured around the bridge location off of
I-70. Work began at 4 a.m. Wednesday and is expected to take less
than 24 hours to complete.Why is the bridge being removed?&nbsp;KDOT has safety concerns about structural deficiencies caused by strikes to the bridge from above-height loads. The bridge has been hit several times since it was closed to traffic in March, and plans for its replacement are currently in development.Where will I-70 be closed?&nbsp;Westbound lanes will be closed from Exits 115 and 128 between Collyer and WaKeeney. Eastbound lanes will be closed from Exits 95 and 120 between Grainfield and Voda Road.How will traffic be detoured?&nbsp;The signed detour will be on K-23, U.S. 24 and U.S. 283. Note: construction on U.S. 283 in Graham County will be suspended on Sept. 4. These routes were selected to minimize the length of the closed section on I-70.&nbsp;Motorists may follow the signed detour or use other routes.What should travelers expect?&nbsp;Increased traffic volume should be expected in the communities along the detour route. Drivers should plan for delays and consider using other alternative routes if possible. KDOT crews will assist with directing traffic, and law enforcement has indicated plans to increase patrols along the detour route. KDOT has also enacted a 12-foot width restriction and 100-foot length restriction on the entirety of the detour route for the duration of the closure.

🎥: KDOT implodes bridge over I-70 in NW Kansas

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The chief executive officers of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kroger-albertsons-grocery-merger-ftc-9fdb26cc044ee21a7a486c03caae6a5d">Kroger and Albertsons</a>&nbsp;were set to testify in federal court Wednesday, midway through a three-week hearing in which the grocery chains have defended their proposed merger from the U.S. government's attempt to stop it.

The two companies proposed what would be the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-albertsons-companies-inc-0cfbd68f81ba8aab7c1d3012c69804d9">largest supermarket merger</a>&nbsp;in U.S. history in October 2022. The Federal Trade Commission sued to prevent the $24.6 billion deal and has asked a U.S. District Court judge in Oregon for an injunction that would block the merger while the complaint goes before an FTC administrative law judge.

The FTC alleges the merger would&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kroger-albertsons-antitrust-grocery-merger-competition-71b47dc86ec7449f29b2b488c1d3f9de">eliminate competition</a>&nbsp;and raise grocery prices at a time of already high&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kamala-harris-price-gouging-ban-inflation-65dc8844bb41159d76886f752b6cab28">food price inflation</a>. Kroger and Albertsons say the deal would allow them to compete with big rivals like Walmart and hold down prices by giving them more leverage with suppliers.

The testimony of Albertsons CEO Vivek Sankaran and Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen was expected to mark a key moment in the hearing, as what they say under oath about prices, potential store closures and the impact on workers will likely be scrutinized in the years ahead if the merger goes through.

During the proceedings, FTC attorneys have noted that Kroger and Albertsons currently compete in 22 states, closely matching each other on price, quality, private label products and services like store pickup. Shoppers benefit from that competition and would lose those benefits if the merger is allowed to proceed, they argued.

The FTC and labor union leaders also claim that workers’ wages and benefits would decline if Kroger and Albertsons no longer compete with each other. They’ve additionally expressed concern that potential store closures could create so-called food and pharmacy “deserts” for consumers.

Albertsons has argued the deal could actually bolster union jobs, since many of it and Kroger’s competitors, like Walmart, have few unionized workers.

Under the deal, Kroger and Albertsons would&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kroger-albertsons-merger-cs-grocery-9a1d40ba06f752d3c5c3d5db78fede4c">sell 579 stores</a>&nbsp;in places where their locations overlap to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kroger-albertsons-merger-cs-wholesale-grocer-401520f2a25ea2ae5fd06be4973b7c48">C&amp;S Wholesale Grocers</a>, a New Hampshire-based supplier to independent supermarkets that also owns the Grand Union and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-b50f18e7e7dc4701823b2d4346a8bd28">Piggly Wiggly</a>&nbsp;store brands.

Speaking in 2022 before the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-prices-alex-padilla-congress-rodney-mcmullen-54929ed8d702642fbc33269fb69b0373">U.S. Senate subcommittee</a>&nbsp;on competition policy, antitrust and consumer rights, the Albertsons CEO said his company’s acquisition of brands such as Safeway over the previous decade had allowed it to increase the number of its stores from 192 to 2,300.

“The intent is not to close stores. The intent is to divest stores,” Sankaran said at the time.

The FTC alleges that C&amp;S is ill-prepared to take on those stores. Laura Hall, the FTC’s senior trial counsel, cited internal documents that indicated C&amp;S executives were skeptical about the quality of the stores they would get and may want the option to sell or close them.

C&amp;S CEO Eric Winn, for his part, testified last week in Portland that he thinks his company can be successful in the venture.

In his own statement to the U.S. Senate subcommittee in 2022, McMullen said Kroger has lowered prices after other mergers, like its 2013 acquisition of Harris Teeter.

“From a business standpoint, that is our commitment,” he said..

The attorneys general of Arizona, California, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon and Wyoming all joined the case on the FTC’s side. Washington and Colorado filed separate cases in state courts seeking to block the merger.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/opioid-crisis-settlement-kroger-79356d42ded9c5099e1c2b88d3ffc061">Kroger</a>, based in Cincinnati, Ohio, operates 2,800 stores in 35 states, including brands like Dillons,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ralphs-supermarkets-california-job-applicants-46a287ac76515ffbbd196202c4ee3c38">Ralphs</a>, Smith’s and Harris Teeter.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-dividends-8c6e67bf9fb0cc3da523c672a6ca9141">Albertsons</a>, based in Boise, Idaho, operates 2,273 stores in 34 states, including brands like Safeway, Jewel Osco and Shaw’s. Together, the companies employ around 710,000 people.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/8/1724718577355.png" alt="Photo from an August press conference courtesy United Food and commercial workers union local 3000" />
 <figcaption>Photo from an August press conference courtesy United Food and commercial workers union local 3000</figcaption>
 </figure>PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The chief executive officers of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kroger-albertsons-grocery-merger-ftc-9fdb26cc044ee21a7a486c03caae6a5d">Kroger and Albertsons</a>&nbsp;were set to testify in federal court Wednesday, midway through a three-week hearing in which the grocery chains have defended their proposed merger from the U.S. government's attempt to stop it.The two companies proposed what would be the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-albertsons-companies-inc-0cfbd68f81ba8aab7c1d3012c69804d9">largest supermarket merger</a>&nbsp;in U.S. history in October 2022. The Federal Trade Commission sued to prevent the $24.6 billion deal and has asked a U.S. District Court judge in Oregon for an injunction that would block the merger while the complaint goes before an FTC administrative law judge.The FTC alleges the merger would&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kroger-albertsons-antitrust-grocery-merger-competition-71b47dc86ec7449f29b2b488c1d3f9de">eliminate competition</a>&nbsp;and raise grocery prices at a time of already high&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kamala-harris-price-gouging-ban-inflation-65dc8844bb41159d76886f752b6cab28">food price inflation</a>. Kroger and Albertsons say the deal would allow them to compete with big rivals like Walmart and hold down prices by giving them more leverage with suppliers.The testimony of Albertsons CEO Vivek Sankaran and Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen was expected to mark a key moment in the hearing, as what they say under oath about prices, potential store closures and the impact on workers will likely be scrutinized in the years ahead if the merger goes through.During the proceedings, FTC attorneys have noted that Kroger and Albertsons currently compete in 22 states, closely matching each other on price, quality, private label products and services like store pickup. Shoppers benefit from that competition and would lose those benefits if the merger is allowed to proceed, they argued.The FTC and labor union leaders also claim that workers’ wages and benefits would decline if Kroger and Albertsons no longer compete with each other. They’ve additionally expressed concern that potential store closures could create so-called food and pharmacy “deserts” for consumers.Albertsons has argued the deal could actually bolster union jobs, since many of it and Kroger’s competitors, like Walmart, have few unionized workers.Under the deal, Kroger and Albertsons would&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kroger-albertsons-merger-cs-grocery-9a1d40ba06f752d3c5c3d5db78fede4c">sell 579 stores</a>&nbsp;in places where their locations overlap to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kroger-albertsons-merger-cs-wholesale-grocer-401520f2a25ea2ae5fd06be4973b7c48">C&amp;S Wholesale Grocers</a>, a New Hampshire-based supplier to independent supermarkets that also owns the Grand Union and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-b50f18e7e7dc4701823b2d4346a8bd28">Piggly Wiggly</a>&nbsp;store brands.Speaking in 2022 before the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-prices-alex-padilla-congress-rodney-mcmullen-54929ed8d702642fbc33269fb69b0373">U.S. Senate subcommittee</a>&nbsp;on competition policy, antitrust and consumer rights, the Albertsons CEO said his company’s acquisition of brands such as Safeway over the previous decade had allowed it to increase the number of its stores from 192 to 2,300.“The intent is not to close stores. The intent is to divest stores,” Sankaran said at the time.The FTC alleges that C&amp;S is ill-prepared to take on those stores. Laura Hall, the FTC’s senior trial counsel, cited internal documents that indicated C&amp;S executives were skeptical about the quality of the stores they would get and may want the option to sell or close them.C&amp;S CEO Eric Winn, for his part, testified last week in Portland that he thinks his company can be successful in the venture.In his own statement to the U.S. Senate subcommittee in 2022, McMullen said Kroger has lowered prices after other mergers, like its 2013 acquisition of Harris Teeter.“From a business standpoint, that is our commitment,” he said..The attorneys general of Arizona, California, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon and Wyoming all joined the case on the FTC’s side. Washington and Colorado filed separate cases in state courts seeking to block the merger.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/opioid-crisis-settlement-kroger-79356d42ded9c5099e1c2b88d3ffc061">Kroger</a>, based in Cincinnati, Ohio, operates 2,800 stores in 35 states, including brands like Dillons,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ralphs-supermarkets-california-job-applicants-46a287ac76515ffbbd196202c4ee3c38">Ralphs</a>, Smith’s and Harris Teeter.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-dividends-8c6e67bf9fb0cc3da523c672a6ca9141">Albertsons</a>, based in Boise, Idaho, operates 2,273 stores in 34 states, including brands like Safeway, Jewel Osco and Shaw’s. Together, the companies employ around 710,000 people.

CEOs of Kroger and Albertsons defend plans for a huge supermarket merger

BARBER COUNTY —The Silver Alert issued August 3, for 73-year-old David Reese remains active, according to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. He is still missing. Please keep an eye out for him or his vehicle, a white 2017 Chevy Silverado bearing Kansas tag 885NEW.

On Aug. 5, the Harper Police Department, the Barber County Sheriff’s Office, the Harper County Sheriff’s Office, the Elwood Township Fire, the Kansas Fire Marshall, Kiowa Police Department, Kansas Highway Patrol, Medicine Lodge Fire Department, Kiowa Fire Department, Barber County Rural Fire Department, and Barber County Emergency Management, conducted a search for Reese over 700 square miles in an 8-hour time frame.

The search utilized aircraft, multiple drones, vehicles, and off-road vehicles. The area searched was over half of Barber County surrounding the last known location of Reese which was near Little Mule and Hardtner Shortcut.

 No evidence of Reese or his vehicle were found. If you own property in Barber or Harper County, you are asked to check your land for anything out of the ordinary.&nbsp;Reese is a white male who is 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighs around 250 pounds. He has brown eyes, a white beard, and is balding. He may be traveling with a chocolate Labrador retriever, and is likely wearing a baseball cap. Reese has diabetes, anxiety, and a condition impairing cognition and memory. 

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/8/1722706150273.png" alt="David Reese courtesy photo" />
 <figcaption>David Reese courtesy photo</figcaption>
 </figure>BARBER COUNTY —The Silver Alert issued August 3, for 73-year-old David Reese remains active, according to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. He is still missing. Please keep an eye out for him or his vehicle, a white 2017 Chevy Silverado bearing Kansas tag 885NEW.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/8/1722939061343.png" alt="Photo Barber Co. Sheriff" />
 <figcaption>Photo Barber Co. Sheriff</figcaption>
 </figure>On Aug. 5, the Harper Police Department, the Barber County Sheriff’s Office, the Harper County Sheriff’s Office, the Elwood Township Fire, the Kansas Fire Marshall, Kiowa Police Department, Kansas Highway Patrol, Medicine Lodge Fire Department, Kiowa Fire Department, Barber County Rural Fire Department, and Barber County Emergency Management, conducted a search for Reese over 700 square miles in an 8-hour time frame.The search utilized aircraft, multiple drones, vehicles, and off-road vehicles. The area searched was over half of Barber County surrounding the last known location of Reese which was near Little Mule and Hardtner Shortcut. No evidence of Reese or his vehicle were found. If you own property in Barber or Harper County, you are asked to check your land for anything out of the ordinary.&nbsp;Reese is a white male who is 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighs around 250 pounds. He has brown eyes, a white beard, and is balding. He may be traveling with a chocolate Labrador retriever, and is likely wearing a baseball cap. Reese has diabetes, anxiety, and a condition impairing cognition and memory.

After a month, Silver Alert for missing Kansas man still active

WASHINGTON (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;is betting that Americans crave trillions of dollars in tax cuts — and that growth will be so fantastic that it's not worth worrying about budget deficits.

In short, he's hoping that most economic analyses of his ideas are dead wrong.

Vice President&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/kamala-harris">Kamala Harris</a>&nbsp;believes that big corporations and the ultra-wealthy should pay more in taxes — and wants to use those revenues to help spur the construction of 3 million homes and offer tax breaks for parents.

She's hoping to deliver on the types of policies that President Joe Biden has been unable to secure in a lasting way.

The two presidential nominees are using the week before their debate to sharpen their economic messages about who could do more for the middle class. Harris will discuss her policy plans Wednesday in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, while Trump will address the Economic Club of New York on Thursday.

The economy has historically been a dominant issue in presidential elections. In an August survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs, Trump did narrowly better on the economy with 45% saying he would handle it better and 38% saying Harris would.

There are high stakes in this showdown because the winner of November's election could rewrite much of the federal tax code next year, when parts of Trump's&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/united-states-government-486b4546115d42709ba56864bd6509c6">2017 tax cuts</a>&nbsp;are set to expire.

Trump and Harris have different ways of trying to help the middle class.

The former Republican president sees&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-economy-tariffs-project-2025-biden-b7fb80fd689ed773da83c80e52559b4f">tax cuts</a>&nbsp;for businesses and the wealthy as essential for promoting more investment, with those who've previously advised him saying average growth would top 3%. Mind you, overall economic growth never hit 3% a year when Trump was president. But between 2018 and 2019, the median household income jumped by $5,220 to an inflation-adjusted $78,250, according to the Census Bureau.

“What I tell people all the time: The Trump policies were designed to lift middle-class wages, re-onshore and re-industrialize,” said Joseph LaVorgna, an economist who worked in the Trump White House. “The intention is to get wages higher.”

By contrast, Harris wants to upgrade the middle-class promise of home ownership and ease the high costs of parenthood. She also wants&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/harris-small-business-tax-plan-new-hampshire-12f34210263458ddb1b02fbd846d2be5">tax breaks for entrepreneurs</a>. It's a message meant to show that Harris can address the problem of prices as people are still recovering from inflation spiking to a four-decade high in 2022.

First-time homebuyers could get $25,000 in down payment assistance that would be coupled with broader policies to encourage the construction of 3 million additional homes in four years. New parents could get a $6,000 tax credit and an expanded child tax credit.

“When working- and middle-class Americans have the opportunity to earn more, to build a business, to buy a home, to climb the economic ladder, it strengthens our economy and helps us grow," said Brian Nelson, a Harris adviser.

Trump has proposed&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/harris-trump-tips-taxes-pay-workers-election-9ed6e049a53b1943471ce2b6479b9ffb">no taxes on tips paid to workers</a>&nbsp;or Social Security income. Harris has embraced the idea of not taxing workers' tips.

As Ernie Tedeschi at the Yale Budget Lab noted, excluding tips from taxes is unlikely to provide much of an economic boost even if some individuals feel better off. He noted that just 2.5% of workers receive tips and that many don't earn enough money to owe income taxes to the federal government.

Trump would also exclude Social Security payments from taxation, which could cost $1.2 trillion over 10 years. The risk is those taxes help fund Social Security. Without those revenues, the program would be unable to pay full benefits starting in 2033, or two years earlier than currently forecast, according to an analysis by Brendan Duke, senior director of economic policy at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank.

As much as Trump talks about tax cuts, he would also want to engage in a massive tax hike by charging higher tariffs on imports in order to grow jobs.

How much would the tariff be? No one really knows. Trump has proposed a broad tariff of 10%, but at an August event in North Carolina suggested it could be as high as 20%. Against Chinese products, he would like a tax of somewhere between 60% to 100%.

The Republican insists his tariffs wouldn't jack up inflation, but the whole goal of the tax is to make imports more expensive so that more manufacturing occurs domestically. The Harris campaign says the middle class would face a higher tax burden, with the 20% tariff applied broadly costing a typical household $4,000 annually.

The Trump campaign did not answer questions about how the tariffs would work. If the goal is to bring jobs back from overseas, the tariffs would presumably be phased in over time so that manufacturing jobs could return to the U.S. But if the goal is to raise revenues, then they would be implemented immediately.

It's not clear that Trump could pay for his ambitious tax cuts.

He wants to extend the expiring provisions of his 2017 tax overhaul. He’s floated the idea of chopping the 21% corporate tax rate to 15%, in addition to no taxes on tips and Social Security income. The estimated price is close to $6 trillion, but it could be higher. And the Congressional Budget Office already estimates $22 trillion in deficits over the next decade without the tax overhaul being extended.

Growth would not appear to cover the price tag. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget surveyed economic analyses and found that Trump extending his tax cuts would have roughly no impact on overall growth over 10 years because of the additional debt.

“The overall agenda doesn’t seem to be all that pro-growth,” said Marc Goldwein, senior vice president and senior policy director for the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

According to the Harris campaign, all her spending plans would be funded. Officials with her campaign have suggested that her sources of revenue would largely mirror Biden's 2025 budget proposal.

Still, the Penn Wharton Budget Model estimates that her policies would add $2.3 trillion in spending. It forecasts that her plan to increase the corporate tax rate to 28% would produce $1.1 trillion in tax revenues. But the group did not include other proposals such as taxing the unrealized income gains of people worth $100 million or more, as there are not enough details to produce an accurate number. Nor did it include other revenue increases.

The Penn Wharton Budget Model suggests that the Harris plans would hurt growth more than Trump's would through 2034, though it excluded his proposed tariffs from the analysis.

The real difference of the plan is how tax burdens would change starting in 2026.

Under Trump's plans, someone in the top 0.1% of earners would after taxes get on average $376,910 more in income. The poorest 20% would get just $320 more.

Harris' policies would reduce the average incomes of the top 0.1% by $167,225. But the bottom 20% get $2,355 more in income and benefits.

“Bigger picture: both Harris and Trump are causing the debt path to rise even faster than the fast pace under current law,” said Kent Smetters, the faculty director of the Penn Wharton Budget Model.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/8/1724867447394.png" alt="File AP Photo" />
 <figcaption>File AP Photo</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;is betting that Americans crave trillions of dollars in tax cuts — and that growth will be so fantastic that it's not worth worrying about budget deficits.In short, he's hoping that most economic analyses of his ideas are dead wrong.Vice President&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/kamala-harris">Kamala Harris</a>&nbsp;believes that big corporations and the ultra-wealthy should pay more in taxes — and wants to use those revenues to help spur the construction of 3 million homes and offer tax breaks for parents.She's hoping to deliver on the types of policies that President Joe Biden has been unable to secure in a lasting way.The two presidential nominees are using the week before their debate to sharpen their economic messages about who could do more for the middle class. Harris will discuss her policy plans Wednesday in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, while Trump will address the Economic Club of New York on Thursday.The economy has historically been a dominant issue in presidential elections. In an August survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs, Trump did narrowly better on the economy with 45% saying he would handle it better and 38% saying Harris would.There are high stakes in this showdown because the winner of November's election could rewrite much of the federal tax code next year, when parts of Trump's&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/united-states-government-486b4546115d42709ba56864bd6509c6">2017 tax cuts</a>&nbsp;are set to expire.A look at the candidates' proposals:<h2>DIFFERENT PITCHES TO THE MIDDLE-CLASS</h2>Trump and Harris have different ways of trying to help the middle class.The former Republican president sees&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-economy-tariffs-project-2025-biden-b7fb80fd689ed773da83c80e52559b4f">tax cuts</a>&nbsp;for businesses and the wealthy as essential for promoting more investment, with those who've previously advised him saying average growth would top 3%. Mind you, overall economic growth never hit 3% a year when Trump was president. But between 2018 and 2019, the median household income jumped by $5,220 to an inflation-adjusted $78,250, according to the Census Bureau.“What I tell people all the time: The Trump policies were designed to lift middle-class wages, re-onshore and re-industrialize,” said Joseph LaVorgna, an economist who worked in the Trump White House. “The intention is to get wages higher.”By contrast, Harris wants to upgrade the middle-class promise of home ownership and ease the high costs of parenthood. She also wants&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/harris-small-business-tax-plan-new-hampshire-12f34210263458ddb1b02fbd846d2be5">tax breaks for entrepreneurs</a>. It's a message meant to show that Harris can address the problem of prices as people are still recovering from inflation spiking to a four-decade high in 2022.First-time homebuyers could get $25,000 in down payment assistance that would be coupled with broader policies to encourage the construction of 3 million additional homes in four years. New parents could get a $6,000 tax credit and an expanded child tax credit.“When working- and middle-class Americans have the opportunity to earn more, to build a business, to buy a home, to climb the economic ladder, it strengthens our economy and helps us grow," said Brian Nelson, a Harris adviser.<h2>NO TAXES ON TIPS, SOCIAL SECURITY</h2>Trump has proposed&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/harris-trump-tips-taxes-pay-workers-election-9ed6e049a53b1943471ce2b6479b9ffb">no taxes on tips paid to workers</a>&nbsp;or Social Security income. Harris has embraced the idea of not taxing workers' tips.As Ernie Tedeschi at the Yale Budget Lab noted, excluding tips from taxes is unlikely to provide much of an economic boost even if some individuals feel better off. He noted that just 2.5% of workers receive tips and that many don't earn enough money to owe income taxes to the federal government.Trump would also exclude Social Security payments from taxation, which could cost $1.2 trillion over 10 years. The risk is those taxes help fund Social Security. Without those revenues, the program would be unable to pay full benefits starting in 2033, or two years earlier than currently forecast, according to an analysis by Brendan Duke, senior director of economic policy at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank.<h2>TARIFFS</h2>As much as Trump talks about tax cuts, he would also want to engage in a massive tax hike by charging higher tariffs on imports in order to grow jobs.How much would the tariff be? No one really knows. Trump has proposed a broad tariff of 10%, but at an August event in North Carolina suggested it could be as high as 20%. Against Chinese products, he would like a tax of somewhere between 60% to 100%.The Republican insists his tariffs wouldn't jack up inflation, but the whole goal of the tax is to make imports more expensive so that more manufacturing occurs domestically. The Harris campaign says the middle class would face a higher tax burden, with the 20% tariff applied broadly costing a typical household $4,000 annually.The Trump campaign did not answer questions about how the tariffs would work. If the goal is to bring jobs back from overseas, the tariffs would presumably be phased in over time so that manufacturing jobs could return to the U.S. But if the goal is to raise revenues, then they would be implemented immediately.<h2>TRUMP'S NOT AFRAID OF DEBT</h2>It's not clear that Trump could pay for his ambitious tax cuts.He wants to extend the expiring provisions of his 2017 tax overhaul. He’s floated the idea of chopping the 21% corporate tax rate to 15%, in addition to no taxes on tips and Social Security income. The estimated price is close to $6 trillion, but it could be higher. And the Congressional Budget Office already estimates $22 trillion in deficits over the next decade without the tax overhaul being extended.Growth would not appear to cover the price tag. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget surveyed economic analyses and found that Trump extending his tax cuts would have roughly no impact on overall growth over 10 years because of the additional debt.“The overall agenda doesn’t seem to be all that pro-growth,” said Marc Goldwein, senior vice president and senior policy director for the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.<h2>HARRIS IS MORE CAUTIOUS WITH DEFICITS</h2>According to the Harris campaign, all her spending plans would be funded. Officials with her campaign have suggested that her sources of revenue would largely mirror Biden's 2025 budget proposal.Still, the Penn Wharton Budget Model estimates that her policies would add $2.3 trillion in spending. It forecasts that her plan to increase the corporate tax rate to 28% would produce $1.1 trillion in tax revenues. But the group did not include other proposals such as taxing the unrealized income gains of people worth $100 million or more, as there are not enough details to produce an accurate number. Nor did it include other revenue increases.The Penn Wharton Budget Model suggests that the Harris plans would hurt growth more than Trump's would through 2034, though it excluded his proposed tariffs from the analysis.The real difference of the plan is how tax burdens would change starting in 2026.Under Trump's plans, someone in the top 0.1% of earners would after taxes get on average $376,910 more in income. The poorest 20% would get just $320 more.Harris' policies would reduce the average incomes of the top 0.1% by $167,225. But the bottom 20% get $2,355 more in income and benefits.“Bigger picture: both Harris and Trump are causing the debt path to rise even faster than the fast pace under current law,” said Kent Smetters, the faculty director of the Penn Wharton Budget Model.

Raise taxes or cut them? Harris, Trump differ on how to boost the economy

SHAWNEE COUNTY —A Kansas teen died in an accident just after 8p.m. Tuesday in Shawnee County.

Sheriff's deputies and emergency crews responded to a 911 call regarding an injury accident involving a dirt bike in the 5100 Block of NW Leedy Road, according to Deputy Abigail Christian.

Despite first responders effort to provided life-saving measures at the scene, the teen rider was pronounced deceased.&nbsp; The accident remains under investigation.&nbsp; Check the Post for additional details as they become available.

SHAWNEE COUNTY —A Kansas teen died in an accident just after 8p.m. Tuesday in Shawnee County.Sheriff's deputies and emergency crews responded to a 911 call regarding an injury accident involving a dirt bike in the 5100 Block of NW Leedy Road, according to Deputy Abigail Christian.Despite first responders effort to provided life-saving measures at the scene, the teen rider was pronounced deceased.&nbsp; The accident remains under investigation.&nbsp; Check the Post for additional details as they become available.

Kansas teen dies in dirt bike accident

KANSAS CITY —Law enforcement are investigating a gunfight in Kansas City that left one man dead and another hospitalized.

Just before 11.m. Tuesday, police were dispatched to shooting at a house in 9600 block of Ditman Way, according to KCPD Captain Jake Becchina.

First responders located two shooting victims in front of the home. EMS transported both men to the hospital with gunshot injuries. One of the victims was being treated for non-life threatening injuries. The other victim was declared deceased by hospital staff, according to Becchina.

Preliminary information according to people that were at the scene when police arrived indicates that prior to the shooting the deceased victim arrived at the residence and an argument erupted which escalated and led to gunfire between both shooting victims, and both victims were struck. The victims are known to one another and detectives are not looking for any additional suspects.

KANSAS CITY —Law enforcement are investigating a gunfight in Kansas City that left one man dead and another hospitalized.Just before 11.m. Tuesday, police were dispatched to shooting at a house in 9600 block of Ditman Way, according to KCPD Captain Jake Becchina.First responders located two shooting victims in front of the home. EMS transported both men to the hospital with gunshot injuries. One of the victims was being treated for non-life threatening injuries. The other victim was declared deceased by hospital staff, according to Becchina.Preliminary information according to people that were at the scene when police arrived indicates that prior to the shooting the deceased victim arrived at the residence and an argument erupted which escalated and led to gunfire between both shooting victims, and both victims were struck. The victims are known to one another and detectives are not looking for any additional suspects.

1 dead after argument led to gunfight at Kansas City home

TOPEKA&nbsp;– Governor Laura Kelly announced Tuesday that the August 2024 total tax collections were $665.6 million. That is $22.8 million, or 3.5% more than the estimate. Total tax collections are up 4.0% from August 2023, according to a media release from the Kansas Department of Revenue.

Click&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://links-2.govdelivery.com/CL0/https:%2F%2Fcontent.govdelivery.com%2Fattachments%2FKSOG%2F2024%2F09%2F03%2Ffile_attachments%2F2985515%2F02_August_Revenue_FY2025_09-03-2024_Final.pdf/1/01010191b919ce15-4978c760-ddd9-444a-adab-1c97d0f281fb-000000/pRx3LMux7jqxW4sjs4kWbpe9sDV5LQTLCZtoFYiotyY=369">here</a>&nbsp;to view the August 2024 revenue numbers.

“While we are seeing collections higher than the estimate, we likely won’t see the impact of the income tax cuts from Senate Bill 1 on monthly collections until the beginning of next year,”&nbsp;Governor Laura Kelly said. “Because of that timing, we must continue to be fiscally responsible for our long-term outlook.”

Individual income tax collections were $329.4 million, which is $19.4 million, or 6.3% more than the estimate and up 10.1% from August 2023. Corporate income tax collections were $20.2 million, which is $9.8 million, or 32.8% less than the estimate and down 19.7% from August 2023.

Combined retail sales and compensating use tax receipts were $294.6 million, which is $12.6 million, or 4.5% more than the estimate and up $2.2 million, or 0.7% from August 2023.

TOPEKA&nbsp;– Governor Laura Kelly announced Tuesday that the August 2024 total tax collections were $665.6 million. That is $22.8 million, or 3.5% more than the estimate. Total tax collections are up 4.0% from August 2023, according to a media release from the Kansas Department of Revenue.Click&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://links-2.govdelivery.com/CL0/https:%2F%2Fcontent.govdelivery.com%2Fattachments%2FKSOG%2F2024%2F09%2F03%2Ffile_attachments%2F2985515%2F02_August_Revenue_FY2025_09-03-2024_Final.pdf/1/01010191b919ce15-4978c760-ddd9-444a-adab-1c97d0f281fb-000000/pRx3LMux7jqxW4sjs4kWbpe9sDV5LQTLCZtoFYiotyY=369">here</a>&nbsp;to view the August 2024 revenue numbers.“While we are seeing collections higher than the estimate, we likely won’t see the impact of the income tax cuts from Senate Bill 1 on monthly collections until the beginning of next year,”&nbsp;Governor Laura Kelly said. “Because of that timing, we must continue to be fiscally responsible for our long-term outlook.”Individual income tax collections were $329.4 million, which is $19.4 million, or 6.3% more than the estimate and up 10.1% from August 2023. Corporate income tax collections were $20.2 million, which is $9.8 million, or 32.8% less than the estimate and down 19.7% from August 2023.Combined retail sales and compensating use tax receipts were $294.6 million, which is $12.6 million, or 4.5% more than the estimate and up $2.2 million, or 0.7% from August 2023.

August total tax collections in Kan. surpass estimate by $22.8M

KANSAS CITY —Law enforcement investigating a double-fatal accident that occurred just before 8:30p.m. Sunday in Kansas City have identified the victims as 36-year-old Amber Rainey and 33-year-old Christa R.&nbsp;Brodigan, according to&nbsp;Kansas City Police Captain Jake Becchina.

Investigators determined a Mitsubishi Outlander driven by Amber Rainey was eastbound on Parvin Road. at a high rate of speed. For reasons unknown, the SUV crossed the double yellow lines and struck a westbound Ford Transit van driven by&nbsp;Christa R. Brodigan, head-on.

 The Rainey declared deceased at the scene. EMS transported two juvenile passengers of the Mitsubishi, Brodigan and an adult and juvenile passengers of the Ford to a local hospital.&nbsp; Rainey was later pronounced deceased. The others had non-life-threatening injuries. Rainey was not wearing a seat belt, according to Becchina.

&nbsp;This is Fatalities #65 and #66 compared to #61 at this time last year, according to Becchina.

KANSAS CITY —Law enforcement investigating a double-fatal accident that occurred just before 8:30p.m. Sunday in Kansas City have identified the victims as 36-year-old Amber Rainey and 33-year-old Christa R.&nbsp;Brodigan, according to&nbsp;Kansas City Police Captain Jake Becchina.Investigators determined a Mitsubishi Outlander driven by Amber Rainey was eastbound on Parvin Road. at a high rate of speed. For reasons unknown, the SUV crossed the double yellow lines and struck a westbound Ford Transit van driven by&nbsp;Christa R. Brodigan, head-on. The Rainey declared deceased at the scene. EMS transported two juvenile passengers of the Mitsubishi, Brodigan and an adult and juvenile passengers of the Ford to a local hospital.&nbsp; Rainey was later pronounced deceased. The others had non-life-threatening injuries. Rainey was not wearing a seat belt, according to Becchina.&nbsp;This is Fatalities #65 and #66 compared to #61 at this time last year, according to Becchina.

Police ID 2 victims in head-on KC crash that injured 3 children

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Marines assigned to the USS Wasp amphibious warship that is in port in Turkey have had their shore leave canceled following&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/turkey-american-youth-military-izmir-assault-1f5a6006340e6623508fb498a2890cc8">an attack on two Marines</a>&nbsp;during a port visit to Izmir, a U.S. defense official told The Associated Press.

The Wasp has been sailing in the eastern Mediterranean in a show of support for Israel and to be able to come to Israel’s defense if the war in Gaza escalates into a larger regional conflict.

A second military official said that no changes are anticipated to the Wasp’s in-port schedule. The official didn't have further details to share on what prompted the attack on Monday, saying that the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) was still looking into it.

Both officials spoke Tuesday on the condition of anonymity to provide details not made public.

Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Monday that authorities detained 15 members of an anti-American youth organization who physically assaulted two U.S. military personnel in the city of Izmir.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Marines assigned to the USS Wasp amphibious warship that is in port in Turkey have had their shore leave canceled following&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/turkey-american-youth-military-izmir-assault-1f5a6006340e6623508fb498a2890cc8">an attack on two Marines</a>&nbsp;during a port visit to Izmir, a U.S. defense official told The Associated Press.The Wasp has been sailing in the eastern Mediterranean in a show of support for Israel and to be able to come to Israel’s defense if the war in Gaza escalates into a larger regional conflict.A second military official said that no changes are anticipated to the Wasp’s in-port schedule. The official didn't have further details to share on what prompted the attack on Monday, saying that the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) was still looking into it.Both officials spoke Tuesday on the condition of anonymity to provide details not made public.Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Monday that authorities detained 15 members of an anti-American youth organization who physically assaulted two U.S. military personnel in the city of Izmir.

US Marines assigned to warship have shore leave canceled after attack in Turkey

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/9/1725458287269.png" alt="Image KanDrive" />
 <figcaption>Image KanDrive</figcaption>
 </figure>What’s happening?&nbsp;The Kansas Department of Transportation closed portions of I-70 in Gove and Trego counties at&nbsp;4 a.m. on Wednesday.&nbsp;Crews are removing the bridge carrying 150 Avenue over I-70 in Trego County. The closure will be in place until the work is completed and will not exceed a period of 24 hours.Why is the bridge being removed?&nbsp;KDOT has safety concerns about structural deficiencies caused by strikes to the bridge from above-height loads. The bridge has been hit several times since it was closed to traffic in March, and plans for its replacement are currently in development.Where will I-70 be closed?&nbsp;Westbound lanes will be closed from Exits 115 and 128 between Collyer and WaKeeney. Eastbound lanes will be closed from Exits 95 and 120 between Grainfield and Voda Road.How will traffic be detoured?&nbsp;The signed detour will be on K-23, U.S. 24 and U.S. 283. Note: construction on U.S. 283 in Graham County will be suspended on Sept. 4. These routes were selected to minimize the length of the closed section on I-70.&nbsp;Motorists may follow the signed detour or use other routes.What should travelers expect?&nbsp;Increased traffic volume should be expected in the communities along the detour route. Drivers should plan for delays and consider using other alternative routes if possible. KDOT crews will assist with directing traffic, and law enforcement has indicated plans to increase patrols along the detour route. KDOT has also enacted a 12-foot width restriction and 100-foot length restriction on the entirety of the detour route for the duration of the closure.

I-70 closure in NW Kansas forces traffic down county roads

SALINE COUNTY —Law enforcement are investigating a woman for alleged public nudity.

Just before 3 p.m. Monday, police responded to a call reporting unusual behavior by a woman in the 600 block of West Prescott in Salina, according&nbsp; to Salina Police Captain.James Feldman, 

A Salina resident called police to report that a woman wearing a bikini swimsuit had accessed a cooler on their front porch and took a beer before leaving the area.

Officers were dispatched to the neighborhood and a resident there told police the woman they were looking for was southbound on 11th Street, according to Feldman. The reporting party also told police the suspect had flashed them by lifting up her bikini top.

Police located the suspect, identified as Nicole Hoffschneider, 39, of Bennington in the 600 block of South 11th Street. Police took Hoffschneider into custody on requested charges of public nudity.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/9/1725366622587.png" alt="Hoffschneider -photo Saline Co." />
 <figcaption>Hoffschneider -photo Saline Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>SALINE COUNTY —Law enforcement are investigating a woman for alleged public nudity.Just before 3 p.m. Monday, police responded to a call reporting unusual behavior by a woman in the 600 block of West Prescott in Salina, according&nbsp; to Salina Police Captain.James Feldman, A Salina resident called police to report that a woman wearing a bikini swimsuit had accessed a cooler on their front porch and took a beer before leaving the area.Officers were dispatched to the neighborhood and a resident there told police the woman they were looking for was southbound on 11th Street, according to Feldman. The reporting party also told police the suspect had flashed them by lifting up her bikini top.Police located the suspect, identified as Nicole Hoffschneider, 39, of Bennington in the 600 block of South 11th Street. Police took Hoffschneider into custody on requested charges of public nudity.

Police arrest Kansas woman for alleged public nudity

NORTON, Kansas. –&nbsp;Norton Correctional Facility inmate Joshua Wilburn, 46, died unexpectedly on Tuesday, according to a media release from the Kansas Department of Corrections. He was found unresponsive in his cell Tuesday afternoon. Staff began life-saving measures immediately and continued after emergency medical services arrived but were unsuccessful.

Wilburn was serving an 18-month sentence for five counts of violating the Kansas Offender Registration Act stemming from convictions in Wisconsin. In 2009 he was convicted of repeated acts of sexual assault against the same child, according to the Kansas Sex Offender Registry.

The cause of death is pending the results of an independent autopsy.

Per protocol, when a resident dies in the custody of the KDOC, the death is under investigation by the KDOC and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. The investigation is ongoing.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/9/1725411317129.png" alt="Wilburn photo KBI Offender Registry" />
 <figcaption>Wilburn photo KBI Offender Registry</figcaption>
 </figure>NORTON, Kansas. –&nbsp;Norton Correctional Facility inmate Joshua Wilburn, 46, died unexpectedly on Tuesday, according to a media release from the Kansas Department of Corrections. He was found unresponsive in his cell Tuesday afternoon. Staff began life-saving measures immediately and continued after emergency medical services arrived but were unsuccessful.Wilburn was serving an 18-month sentence for five counts of violating the Kansas Offender Registration Act stemming from convictions in Wisconsin. In 2009 he was convicted of repeated acts of sexual assault against the same child, according to the Kansas Sex Offender Registry.The cause of death is pending the results of an independent autopsy.Per protocol, when a resident dies in the custody of the KDOC, the death is under investigation by the KDOC and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. The investigation is ongoing.

Sex offender found dead in his Kansas prison cell

Editor's note: The video may be difficult for some to watch.

KANSAS CITY —A 13-month-old boy is alive and recovering after a medical emergency at Worlds of Fun.

On Monday, the Clay County sheriff's office released body camera footage of August 3, when several deputies working off-duty security at Worlds of Fun were the first to respond to the scene of an unresponsive baby in the parking lot.

Initially they thought the 1-year-old, Taji, was choking. They did back strikes multiple times trying to dislodge whatever might be stuck. When the park's medic got on scene, they soon realized it might be a seizure instead. 

Deputies continued to assist the medic, and by the time the Kansas City Fire Department arrived, the boy was breathing on his own, had a good pulse and was beginning to regain consciousness. 

An ambulance took him to the hospital. His mom reports Taji turned out to have had a febrile seizure. He appeared fine earlier in the day but apparently had an ear infection that worsened during their time at the park. He made a full recovery and is back to normal now. 

Taji's mom gave the sheriff's office permission to share video because she was so grateful for the assistance the deputies provided.

Editor's note: The video may be difficult for some to watch.KANSAS CITY —A 13-month-old boy is alive and recovering after a medical emergency at Worlds of Fun.On Monday, the Clay County sheriff's office released body camera footage of August 3, when several deputies working off-duty security at Worlds of Fun were the first to respond to the scene of an unresponsive baby in the parking lot.<div><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=314&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FSheriffClayCo%2Fvideos%2F2262034800811014%2F&show_text=false&width=560&t=1" width="560" height="314" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowFullScreen="true"></iframe></div>Initially they thought the 1-year-old, Taji, was choking. They did back strikes multiple times trying to dislodge whatever might be stuck. When the park's medic got on scene, they soon realized it might be a seizure instead. Deputies continued to assist the medic, and by the time the Kansas City Fire Department arrived, the boy was breathing on his own, had a good pulse and was beginning to regain consciousness. An ambulance took him to the hospital. His mom reports Taji turned out to have had a febrile seizure. He appeared fine earlier in the day but apparently had an ear infection that worsened during their time at the park. He made a full recovery and is back to normal now. Taji's mom gave the sheriff's office permission to share video because she was so grateful for the assistance the deputies provided.

🎥Deputies help save toddler after seizure at Worlds of Fun

JACKSON COUNTY—Law enforcement are investigating a Kansas man on multiple allegations after a chase at over 100mph.&nbsp;

Just after 5:30p.m. August 30, a Sheriff’s Deputy attempted to conduct a traffic stop on a 2019 Toyota Camry for multiple traffic infractions, and allegedly driving at a dangerously fast speed near 198th road and U.S. Highway 75, according to Sheriff Tim Morse. 

While attempting to stop the the vehicle, the driver allegedly engaged in reckless driving traveling over 100 miles per hour and passing vehicles on the shoulder. The driver was taken into custody by deputies at 110th Road and U.S. highway 75. The driver was identified as Sedrick Jaquise Hatfield, 27, of Lenexa, Kansas.

Hatfield was arrested and booked into the Jackson County Jail on requested charges of fleeing and eluding law enforcement by engaging in reckless driving, driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol; 1st conviction; incapable of safely driving, improper driving on roadway, no vehicle registration, and driving without a valid license.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/9/1725305311699.png" alt="Hatfield-photo Jackson Co." />
 <figcaption>Hatfield-photo Jackson Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>JACKSON COUNTY—Law enforcement are investigating a Kansas man on multiple allegations after a chase at over 100mph.&nbsp;Just after 5:30p.m. August 30, a Sheriff’s Deputy attempted to conduct a traffic stop on a 2019 Toyota Camry for multiple traffic infractions, and allegedly driving at a dangerously fast speed near 198th road and U.S. Highway 75, according to Sheriff Tim Morse. While attempting to stop the the vehicle, the driver allegedly engaged in reckless driving traveling over 100 miles per hour and passing vehicles on the shoulder. The driver was taken into custody by deputies at 110th Road and U.S. highway 75. The driver was identified as Sedrick Jaquise Hatfield, 27, of Lenexa, Kansas.Hatfield was arrested and booked into the Jackson County Jail on requested charges of fleeing and eluding law enforcement by engaging in reckless driving, driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol; 1st conviction; incapable of safely driving, improper driving on roadway, no vehicle registration, and driving without a valid license.

Sheriff: Kan. driver was passing vehicles on the highway shoulder

SHAWNEE COUNTY—It took a team effort but two women, stranded for two days on sandbar in the Kansas river, are recovering&nbsp; after they were rescued.

Just after 9.m. Monday, the Shawnee County Emergency Communications Center received a 911 call from two women stranded on a sandbar in the Kansas River, according to a media release from the Shawnee County Sheriff.

The woman had their boat but they were unable to fight the strong river current. The women had been beached since the day before. Deputies responded, deployed a drone and used various technology to locate the stranded women. 

The Topeka Fire Department, Kansas Department of Wildlife &amp; Parks, Silver Lake Fire Department and the Mission Township Fire Department assisted. A boat was utilized and the women were rescued and brought back to safety unharmed.

We appreciate the team effort exercised during this incident!

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/9/1725379007328.png" alt="Photo KDWP Game Wardens" />
 <figcaption>Photo KDWP Game Wardens</figcaption>
 </figure>SHAWNEE COUNTY—It took a team effort but two women, stranded for two days on sandbar in the Kansas river, are recovering&nbsp; after they were rescued.Just after 9.m. Monday, the Shawnee County Emergency Communications Center received a 911 call from two women stranded on a sandbar in the Kansas River, according to a media release from the Shawnee County Sheriff.The woman had their boat but they were unable to fight the strong river current. The women had been beached since the day before. Deputies responded, deployed a drone and used various technology to locate the stranded women. The Topeka Fire Department, Kansas Department of Wildlife &amp; Parks, Silver Lake Fire Department and the Mission Township Fire Department assisted. A boat was utilized and the women were rescued and brought back to safety unharmed.We appreciate the team effort exercised during this incident!

Women stranded for 2 days rescued on the Kansas River

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks tumbled Tuesday to their worst day since an early August sell-off, as a week full of updates on the economy got off to a discouragingly weak start.

The S&amp;P 500 sank 2.1% to give back a chunk of the gains from a three-week winning streak that had carried it to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/stock-markets-fed-earnings-prices-production-da57d040b182b1fecf8cbaa20f91f7f9">the cusp of its all-time high</a>. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 626 points, or 1.5%, from its own record set on Friday before Monday’s Labor Day holiday. The Nasdaq composite fell 3.3% as Nvidia and other Big Tech stocks led the way lower.

Treasury yields also stumbled in the bond market after a report showed U.S. manufacturing shrank again in August, sputtering under the weight of high interest rates. Manufacturing has been contracting for most of the past two years, and its performance for August was worse than economists expected.

“Demand remains subdued, as companies show an unwillingness to invest in capital and inventory due to current federal monetary policy and election uncertainty,” said Timothy Fiore, chair of the Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing business survey committee.

Stocks of oil and gas companies were some of the market’s biggest losers after the price of crude oil fell roughly 4% on concerns about how much fuel a fragile global economy will burn. A barrel of benchmark U.S. oil is almost back to $70 and down for the year after climbing above $85 in April.

Exxon Mobil lost 2.1%, and ConocoPhillips dropped 3.5%.

Similar worries about a slowing U.S. economy and a possible recession had helped send stocks on a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/stocks-markets-china-inflation-rates-9b02c8c86f09d8b34f7406c3deb23ed9">scary summertime swoon</a>&nbsp;in early August. It briefly knocked the S&amp;P 500 nearly 10% below its record set in July, but financial markets quickly rebounded on hopes that the Federal Reserve could pull off&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/inflation-prices-federal-reserve-interest-rates-consumers-4fe068e15d27fad11419e1cc6a8ed943">a perfect landing for the economy</a>.

The Fed appears set to lower interest rates later this month in hopes of easing conditions for the economy and avoiding a recession after earlier jacking its main interest rate to a two-decade high to beat high inflation.

Other reports due later this week could show how much help the economy needs, including updates on the number of job openings U.S. employers were advertising at the end of July and how strong U.S. services businesses grew last month. The week’s highlight will likely arrive on Friday, when a report will show how many jobs U.S. employers created during August.

The jobs report has once again become the main event for the stock market each month, taking over from updates on inflation, according to analysts at Bank of America. Many traders are anticipating the Fed will deliver a full percentage point of cuts to interest rates this year, which is a “recession-sized” amount, Gonzalo Asis and other economists and strategists wrote in a BofA Global Research report.

The strength of this jobs report, or lack thereof, will likely determine the size of the Fed’s upcoming cut, according to Goldman Sachs economist David Mericle. If Friday’s data shows an improvement in hiring over July’s disappointing report, it could keep the Fed on course for a traditional-sized move of a quarter of a percentage point.

But if Friday’s report is weaker, it could drive the Fed to deliver an outsized cut of half a percentage point from the federal funds rate’s current range of 5.25% to 5.50%, Mericle said.

While cuts to rates are generally boons to investment prices, a recession could more than wipe out that benefit by dragging down corporate profits.

On Wall Street, U.S. Steel fell 6.1% in its first trading after Vice President Kamala Harris said Monday that she opposed the company’s planned sale to Japan’s Nippon Steel. The Democratic presidential nominee’s comments, which echo President Joe Biden’s position, came after Nippon Steel Corp. said last week it would&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-steel-nippon-union-85e4ab45aa1aa82231981022520d89b5">spend an additional $1.3 billion</a>&nbsp;to upgrade facilities in Pennsylvania and Indiana, on top of a previous $1.4 billion commitment.

Nippon Steel also&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/steel-merger-nippon-delay-antitrust-approval-d9e5cf604e51d13076ea6bc03ab8780c">reiterated</a>&nbsp;that it expects the transaction to close by the end of this year, despite ongoing political and labor opposition.

Nvidia was the heaviest weight by far on the S&amp;P 500 after falling 9.5%. Its stock has been struggling even after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/nvidia-ai-earnings-stock-464d35670b6e91a698751ec7ee157532">the chip company topped high expectations</a>&nbsp;for its latest profit report. The subdued performance could bolster criticism that Nvidia and other Big Tech stocks simply soared too high in Wall Street’s frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology.

All of the stocks that have come to be known as the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/wall-street-stocks-magnificent-seven-a6e1da1a8c85c0a56f9e9c85e001ebff">“Magnificent Seven,”</a>&nbsp;which accounted for the vast majority of the S&amp;P 500’s return last year and early this year, fell at least 1.3%.

Still, it wasn’t a complete washout on Wall Street. Nearly 30% of the stocks within the S&amp;P 500 climbed, led by those that tend to benefit the most from lower interest rates. That includes dividend-paying stocks, as well as companies whose profits are less closely tied to the ebbs and flows of the economy, such as real-estate stocks and makers of everyday staples for consumers.

All told, the S&amp;P 500 fell 119.47 points to 5,528.93. The Dow dropped 626.15 to 40,936.93, and the Nasdaq composite sank 577.33 to 17,136.30.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 3.84% from 3.91% late Friday. That’s down from 4.70% in late April, a significant move for the bond market.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were lower across much of Europe and Asia.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/8/1722962507580.png" alt="File photo (AP Photo/Richard Drew)" />
 <figcaption>File photo (AP Photo/Richard Drew)</figcaption>
 </figure>NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks tumbled Tuesday to their worst day since an early August sell-off, as a week full of updates on the economy got off to a discouragingly weak start.The S&amp;P 500 sank 2.1% to give back a chunk of the gains from a three-week winning streak that had carried it to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/stock-markets-fed-earnings-prices-production-da57d040b182b1fecf8cbaa20f91f7f9">the cusp of its all-time high</a>. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 626 points, or 1.5%, from its own record set on Friday before Monday’s Labor Day holiday. The Nasdaq composite fell 3.3% as Nvidia and other Big Tech stocks led the way lower.Treasury yields also stumbled in the bond market after a report showed U.S. manufacturing shrank again in August, sputtering under the weight of high interest rates. Manufacturing has been contracting for most of the past two years, and its performance for August was worse than economists expected.“Demand remains subdued, as companies show an unwillingness to invest in capital and inventory due to current federal monetary policy and election uncertainty,” said Timothy Fiore, chair of the Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing business survey committee.Stocks of oil and gas companies were some of the market’s biggest losers after the price of crude oil fell roughly 4% on concerns about how much fuel a fragile global economy will burn. A barrel of benchmark U.S. oil is almost back to $70 and down for the year after climbing above $85 in April.Exxon Mobil lost 2.1%, and ConocoPhillips dropped 3.5%.Similar worries about a slowing U.S. economy and a possible recession had helped send stocks on a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/stocks-markets-china-inflation-rates-9b02c8c86f09d8b34f7406c3deb23ed9">scary summertime swoon</a>&nbsp;in early August. It briefly knocked the S&amp;P 500 nearly 10% below its record set in July, but financial markets quickly rebounded on hopes that the Federal Reserve could pull off&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/inflation-prices-federal-reserve-interest-rates-consumers-4fe068e15d27fad11419e1cc6a8ed943">a perfect landing for the economy</a>.The Fed appears set to lower interest rates later this month in hopes of easing conditions for the economy and avoiding a recession after earlier jacking its main interest rate to a two-decade high to beat high inflation.Other reports due later this week could show how much help the economy needs, including updates on the number of job openings U.S. employers were advertising at the end of July and how strong U.S. services businesses grew last month. The week’s highlight will likely arrive on Friday, when a report will show how many jobs U.S. employers created during August.The jobs report has once again become the main event for the stock market each month, taking over from updates on inflation, according to analysts at Bank of America. Many traders are anticipating the Fed will deliver a full percentage point of cuts to interest rates this year, which is a “recession-sized” amount, Gonzalo Asis and other economists and strategists wrote in a BofA Global Research report.The strength of this jobs report, or lack thereof, will likely determine the size of the Fed’s upcoming cut, according to Goldman Sachs economist David Mericle. If Friday’s data shows an improvement in hiring over July’s disappointing report, it could keep the Fed on course for a traditional-sized move of a quarter of a percentage point.But if Friday’s report is weaker, it could drive the Fed to deliver an outsized cut of half a percentage point from the federal funds rate’s current range of 5.25% to 5.50%, Mericle said.While cuts to rates are generally boons to investment prices, a recession could more than wipe out that benefit by dragging down corporate profits.On Wall Street, U.S. Steel fell 6.1% in its first trading after Vice President Kamala Harris said Monday that she opposed the company’s planned sale to Japan’s Nippon Steel. The Democratic presidential nominee’s comments, which echo President Joe Biden’s position, came after Nippon Steel Corp. said last week it would&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-steel-nippon-union-85e4ab45aa1aa82231981022520d89b5">spend an additional $1.3 billion</a>&nbsp;to upgrade facilities in Pennsylvania and Indiana, on top of a previous $1.4 billion commitment.Nippon Steel also&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/steel-merger-nippon-delay-antitrust-approval-d9e5cf604e51d13076ea6bc03ab8780c">reiterated</a>&nbsp;that it expects the transaction to close by the end of this year, despite ongoing political and labor opposition.Nvidia was the heaviest weight by far on the S&amp;P 500 after falling 9.5%. Its stock has been struggling even after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/nvidia-ai-earnings-stock-464d35670b6e91a698751ec7ee157532">the chip company topped high expectations</a>&nbsp;for its latest profit report. The subdued performance could bolster criticism that Nvidia and other Big Tech stocks simply soared too high in Wall Street’s frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology.All of the stocks that have come to be known as the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/wall-street-stocks-magnificent-seven-a6e1da1a8c85c0a56f9e9c85e001ebff">“Magnificent Seven,”</a>&nbsp;which accounted for the vast majority of the S&amp;P 500’s return last year and early this year, fell at least 1.3%.Still, it wasn’t a complete washout on Wall Street. Nearly 30% of the stocks within the S&amp;P 500 climbed, led by those that tend to benefit the most from lower interest rates. That includes dividend-paying stocks, as well as companies whose profits are less closely tied to the ebbs and flows of the economy, such as real-estate stocks and makers of everyday staples for consumers.All told, the S&amp;P 500 fell 119.47 points to 5,528.93. The Dow dropped 626.15 to 40,936.93, and the Nasdaq composite sank 577.33 to 17,136.30.In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 3.84% from 3.91% late Friday. That’s down from 4.70% in late April, a significant move for the bond market.In stock markets abroad, indexes were lower across much of Europe and Asia.

Stocks fall sharply to start September on worries about the economy

Reform ideas touch on governor’s role, special-interest earmarks, 3-day workweek

BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/tim-carpenter/">TIM CARPENTER</a> <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/">Kansas Reflector</a>

TOPEKA — Kansas Republicans pressing to reform the Legislature’s annual budget-writing process want to displace governors from the lead role in proposing state spending changes, alter a Statehouse culture that embraced the three-day workweek, and make it difficult for lobbyists to slip special-interest earmarks into bills.

House Speaker Dan Hawkins and Senate President Ty Masterson, the Republicans who formed an interim legislative committee to work on the budgeting overhaul, said the plan involved formation of a powerful permanent committee of a dozen or so legislators who would start work on a version of the state budget as much as three months before the legislative session began in January. For years, legislators have waited to start until the Kansas governor presented detailed budget recommendations.

The GOP legislative leaders said this newly empowered committee would produce a baseline budget that would be introduced in bill form on the first day of the legislative session. Under this scenario, Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s budget recommendations released in mid-January 2025 would become a supplemental source rather than the starting point for budget deliberations at the Capitol.

Hawkins, who represents a Wichita district, said the Legislature had to reclaim budget authority ceded long ago to the executive branch. He cautioned skeptics of GOP maneuvering that it would be wrong to assume the objective was a personal attack on Kelly.

“This process has nothing to do with the governor,” Hawkins said. “If you’re going to focus on the governor, probably not the wisest thing to do, because this process has happened over time with many, many different governors.”

“I look at this as an opportunity for us to examine a process that probably is flawed, not badly flawed, but … there’s opportunities to make it better,” the House speaker said. “Just because we’ve always done something some way doesn’t mean that that’s the best way to do it.”

Grace Hoge, a spokeswoman for the governor, said Kelly’s handling of budget duties contributed to a state budget surplus and implementation of sustainable tax reductions.

“Just like Kansas families, Governor Kelly understands responsible budgeting,” Hoge said. “Every year her budget proposal is meticulously crafted and presented to the Legislature at the beginning of the session, as is required by law. Governor Kelly’s fiscal responsibility reversed years of financial instability and led to a record budget surplus that has resulted in substantial, sustainable tax cuts for all Kansans. The current budgeting process works.”

Masterson, of Andover, said the Legislature’s early attention to details of the state budget would allow the House and Senate to move quickly on spending decisions during the regular session. He said the shift would enable legislators to dedicate more time to individual agency operations and, potentially, save tax dollars.

“I feel like our state is ready for some kind of reorganization,” said Masterson, who made a distinction between budget recommendations of Republican and Democratic governors. “You’ll have a Republican governor, for example, or somebody you trust, and you trust the administration to build the budgets, and then you kind of rubber stamp stuff. And, then, you switch, and you have (the) opposition party and then there’s all that same power.”

A 2021 report by the National Association of State Budget Officers indicated 36 states introduced the governor’s budget as a bill in the Legislature, which has been the practice in Kansas. The report said 14 states had a process in which drafting the budget was a responsibility of the legislature.

The Kansas Legislature’s interim committee assigned the task of piecing together a new process for shaping the annual state budget met last week and was expected to convene again in September.

In this initial meeting, there was enthusiasm for imposition of boundaries to curtail influence of special-interest lobbyists who have proven adept at winning budget earmarks by evading the regular legislative process. It was suggested the six-person conference committees that negotiate finer points of the budget be forbidden from independently adding expenditure provisos pitched by lobbyists. Instead, lobbyists would be compelled to run their earmarks through a regular House or Senate budget committee and to secure endorsement of House and Senate Republican leaders.

Rep. Troy Waymaster, the Republican chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said it might irritate some legislators to learn the list of reform ideas included a change in the workday culture at the statehouse.

He indicated legislators should expect to work on Mondays and Fridays, rather than just Tuesday through Thursday. The condensed schedule became the standard during height of the COVID-19 pandemic and didn’t revert to the previous norm, he said.

“That is just exacerbating the problem,” said Waymaster, a Bunker Hill lawmaker who has chaired the House Appropriations Committee for eight years. “We need to go back to what the legislative session was like before COVID, where we have committee meetings on Mondays and Fridays and not ‘pro forma’ days.”

If that change were adopted ahead of the 2025 session, it would coincide with implementation of significant increases in annual compensation of House and Senate members.&nbsp;Total compensation of rank-and-file legislators in Kansas will increase from $30,000 to nearly $58,000.

Sen. Jeff Pittman, a Leavenworth Democrat on the interim budget reform committee with Waymaster, said developing a more efficient method of crafting the budget was worthy of debate. He cautioned against making the reform process partisan. He said attention should be given to avoid overwhelming legislative staff by duplicating budget reviews done by the governor’s staff.

“We&nbsp;have&nbsp;not&nbsp;ceded&nbsp;our&nbsp;control,&nbsp;but&nbsp;rather&nbsp;we&nbsp;have&nbsp;directed&nbsp;the&nbsp;CEO,&nbsp;the&nbsp;governor,&nbsp;and&nbsp;her&nbsp;staff&nbsp;or&nbsp;his&nbsp;staff,&nbsp;to&nbsp;do&nbsp;these&nbsp;things&nbsp;for&nbsp;us — to get down into the weeds,” Pittman said.

Pittman and other legislators said state budget documents should be remodeled to make information more easily consumed by legislators and the public, especially as House and Senate negotiators made dozens of budget deals late in the session. Pittman urged colleagues in the Legislature to end their three-day workweek.

“There were a lot of days we could have been doing more, you know. We had a lot of days were we did not meet as a committee,” said Pittman, who sits on the Senate Ways and Means Committee.

During the initial meeting of the interim budget reform committee, there was no discussion by Republicans or Democrats about how activities of the new pre-session legislative budget panel would be transparent. This select group of legislators would apparently gain access to preliminary agency budget documents and meet with department officials to discuss spending requests. It’s possible legislators would observe executive branch meetings on agency budget appeals not open to the public.

It wasn’t clear how state legislators running for reelection — House members have two-year terms, while Senate terms last four years — would participate in robust pre-session budget examinations during October before the general election in November.

Rep. Will Carpenter, an El Dorado Republican, did suggest the Legislature move to a biennial budget format in which an expenditure plan for state government would be prepared and adopted for a two-year period. In 1993, a Kansas budget committee recommended 53 state agencies be moved to a biennial format. The 1994 Legislature passed a bill allowing 20 fee-funded agencies to work on a biennial basis.

GOP Gov. Sam Brownback proposed a biennial budget for all state agencies for fiscal years 2016 and 2017. Kelly eliminated that approach for all agencies except those required to operate on two-year cycles under state law.

The House, with 125 members, concentrates budgeting authority in the House Appropriations Committee. The House also runs six subject-based budget committees on higher education, K-12 schools, social services, transportation and safety, agriculture and natural resources and general government operations.

The Senate has 40 members, but directs all budget work to the Senate Ways and Means Committee. The Senate has a system of subcommittees, but they’re not staffed and don’t operate like the subject-oriented standing House budget committees.

“If we’re going to seriously evaluate the budget and dig and take a dive deeper, it would be helpful for us to have that discussion … about whether or not the Senate should go to that process as well,” said Sen. Carolyn McGinn, a Sedgwick Republican who has chaired the Senate budget committee.

McGinn, who didn’t seek reelection in 2024, said she was concerned reform could speed consideration of the state budget in ways that limited the ability of Kansas to testify at the Capitol before the House or Senate.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/8/1725033355556.png" alt=" Rep. Troy Waymaster, left, a Bunker Hill Republican who chairs the Legislature’s interim state budget reform committee, said Kansas needed a more concise, analytical “budget process that better serves the taxpayers” by reducing spending. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption> Rep. Troy Waymaster, left, a Bunker Hill Republican who chairs the Legislature’s interim state budget reform committee, said Kansas needed a more concise, analytical “budget process that better serves the taxpayers” by reducing spending. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>Reform ideas touch on governor’s role, special-interest earmarks, 3-day workweek</h2>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/tim-carpenter/">TIM CARPENTER</a> <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/">Kansas Reflector</a>TOPEKA — Kansas Republicans pressing to reform the Legislature’s annual budget-writing process want to displace governors from the lead role in proposing state spending changes, alter a Statehouse culture that embraced the three-day workweek, and make it difficult for lobbyists to slip special-interest earmarks into bills.House Speaker Dan Hawkins and Senate President Ty Masterson, the Republicans who formed an interim legislative committee to work on the budgeting overhaul, said the plan involved formation of a powerful permanent committee of a dozen or so legislators who would start work on a version of the state budget as much as three months before the legislative session began in January. For years, legislators have waited to start until the Kansas governor presented detailed budget recommendations.The GOP legislative leaders said this newly empowered committee would produce a baseline budget that would be introduced in bill form on the first day of the legislative session. Under this scenario, Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s budget recommendations released in mid-January 2025 would become a supplemental source rather than the starting point for budget deliberations at the Capitol.Hawkins, who represents a Wichita district, said the Legislature had to reclaim budget authority ceded long ago to the executive branch. He cautioned skeptics of GOP maneuvering that it would be wrong to assume the objective was a personal attack on Kelly.“This process has nothing to do with the governor,” Hawkins said. “If you’re going to focus on the governor, probably not the wisest thing to do, because this process has happened over time with many, many different governors.”“I look at this as an opportunity for us to examine a process that probably is flawed, not badly flawed, but … there’s opportunities to make it better,” the House speaker said. “Just because we’ve always done something some way doesn’t mean that that’s the best way to do it.”Grace Hoge, a spokeswoman for the governor, said Kelly’s handling of budget duties contributed to a state budget surplus and implementation of sustainable tax reductions.“Just like Kansas families, Governor Kelly understands responsible budgeting,” Hoge said. “Every year her budget proposal is meticulously crafted and presented to the Legislature at the beginning of the session, as is required by law. Governor Kelly’s fiscal responsibility reversed years of financial instability and led to a record budget surplus that has resulted in substantial, sustainable tax cuts for all Kansans. The current budgeting process works.”Masterson, of Andover, said the Legislature’s early attention to details of the state budget would allow the House and Senate to move quickly on spending decisions during the regular session. He said the shift would enable legislators to dedicate more time to individual agency operations and, potentially, save tax dollars.“I feel like our state is ready for some kind of reorganization,” said Masterson, who made a distinction between budget recommendations of Republican and Democratic governors. “You’ll have a Republican governor, for example, or somebody you trust, and you trust the administration to build the budgets, and then you kind of rubber stamp stuff. And, then, you switch, and you have (the) opposition party and then there’s all that same power.”A 2021 report by the National Association of State Budget Officers indicated 36 states introduced the governor’s budget as a bill in the Legislature, which has been the practice in Kansas. The report said 14 states had a process in which drafting the budget was a responsibility of the legislature.<h2>Nailing budget earmarks</h2>The Kansas Legislature’s interim committee assigned the task of piecing together a new process for shaping the annual state budget met last week and was expected to convene again in September.In this initial meeting, there was enthusiasm for imposition of boundaries to curtail influence of special-interest lobbyists who have proven adept at winning budget earmarks by evading the regular legislative process. It was suggested the six-person conference committees that negotiate finer points of the budget be forbidden from independently adding expenditure provisos pitched by lobbyists. Instead, lobbyists would be compelled to run their earmarks through a regular House or Senate budget committee and to secure endorsement of House and Senate Republican leaders.Rep. Troy Waymaster, the Republican chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said it might irritate some legislators to learn the list of reform ideas included a change in the workday culture at the statehouse.He indicated legislators should expect to work on Mondays and Fridays, rather than just Tuesday through Thursday. The condensed schedule became the standard during height of the COVID-19 pandemic and didn’t revert to the previous norm, he said.“That is just exacerbating the problem,” said Waymaster, a Bunker Hill lawmaker who has chaired the House Appropriations Committee for eight years. “We need to go back to what the legislative session was like before COVID, where we have committee meetings on Mondays and Fridays and not ‘pro forma’ days.”If that change were adopted ahead of the 2025 session, it would coincide with implementation of significant increases in annual compensation of House and Senate members.&nbsp;Total compensation of rank-and-file legislators in Kansas will increase from $30,000 to nearly $58,000.Sen. Jeff Pittman, a Leavenworth Democrat on the interim budget reform committee with Waymaster, said developing a more efficient method of crafting the budget was worthy of debate. He cautioned against making the reform process partisan. He said attention should be given to avoid overwhelming legislative staff by duplicating budget reviews done by the governor’s staff.“We&nbsp;have&nbsp;not&nbsp;ceded&nbsp;our&nbsp;control,&nbsp;but&nbsp;rather&nbsp;we&nbsp;have&nbsp;directed&nbsp;the&nbsp;CEO,&nbsp;the&nbsp;governor,&nbsp;and&nbsp;her&nbsp;staff&nbsp;or&nbsp;his&nbsp;staff,&nbsp;to&nbsp;do&nbsp;these&nbsp;things&nbsp;for&nbsp;us — to get down into the weeds,” Pittman said.Pittman and other legislators said state budget documents should be remodeled to make information more easily consumed by legislators and the public, especially as House and Senate negotiators made dozens of budget deals late in the session. Pittman urged colleagues in the Legislature to end their three-day workweek.“There were a lot of days we could have been doing more, you know. We had a lot of days were we did not meet as a committee,” said Pittman, who sits on the Senate Ways and Means Committee.<h2>Process questions, ideas</h2>During the initial meeting of the interim budget reform committee, there was no discussion by Republicans or Democrats about how activities of the new pre-session legislative budget panel would be transparent. This select group of legislators would apparently gain access to preliminary agency budget documents and meet with department officials to discuss spending requests. It’s possible legislators would observe executive branch meetings on agency budget appeals not open to the public.It wasn’t clear how state legislators running for reelection — House members have two-year terms, while Senate terms last four years — would participate in robust pre-session budget examinations during October before the general election in November.Rep. Will Carpenter, an El Dorado Republican, did suggest the Legislature move to a biennial budget format in which an expenditure plan for state government would be prepared and adopted for a two-year period. In 1993, a Kansas budget committee recommended 53 state agencies be moved to a biennial format. The 1994 Legislature passed a bill allowing 20 fee-funded agencies to work on a biennial basis.GOP Gov. Sam Brownback proposed a biennial budget for all state agencies for fiscal years 2016 and 2017. Kelly eliminated that approach for all agencies except those required to operate on two-year cycles under state law.The House, with 125 members, concentrates budgeting authority in the House Appropriations Committee. The House also runs six subject-based budget committees on higher education, K-12 schools, social services, transportation and safety, agriculture and natural resources and general government operations.The Senate has 40 members, but directs all budget work to the Senate Ways and Means Committee. The Senate has a system of subcommittees, but they’re not staffed and don’t operate like the subject-oriented standing House budget committees.“If we’re going to seriously evaluate the budget and dig and take a dive deeper, it would be helpful for us to have that discussion … about whether or not the Senate should go to that process as well,” said Sen. Carolyn McGinn, a Sedgwick Republican who has chaired the Senate budget committee.McGinn, who didn’t seek reelection in 2024, said she was concerned reform could speed consideration of the state budget in ways that limited the ability of Kansas to testify at the Capitol before the House or Senate.