Kansas
Kansas GOP leaders fail to deliver enough funding to reduce disability waiting lists • Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — Republican lawmakers vowed to be “laser-focused” this session toward helping Kansans with disabilities receive state services but came up short of a disability rights group’s recommendations — even as they funded an opera house and a mission to the southwest border.
Finalized by lawmakers April 5, the state budget blueprint sets aside $45.8 million, including $17.8 million from the state general fund, to fund services for 1,000 Kansans who are currently on the state’s waiting lists. The money would be evenly divided between people with intellectual and physical disabilities and those who have physical disabilities, and would be available for fiscal year 2025. The amount is double that proposed by the governor, but still short of an advocacy group’s recommended funding.
Sen. Rob Olson, R-Olathe, said he was disappointed by budget priorities. Olson pointed to an $1 million provision for restoration of an opera house in Manhattan, as an example of spending that should be curtailed until the wait times are fixed.
“These kids need that money,” Olson said in an April 5 debate. “They need to be a priority. They haven’t been in this building for a long time. We help take care of them, but we don’t get enough removed off the list. I would like to see us make a plan for the next three or four years to knock that list down to nothing. … We haven’t really made an effort to knock that list down. And we’re making a big effort to get this opera house done. That embarrasses me.”
Also included in the budget bill was a $2 million allocation set aside for an “pregnancy compassion awareness” program to encourage women to give birth, and another $15.7 million to finance the deployment of state resources to help with Texas border control efforts.
The disability wait times have become one of the more-debated issues this legislative session as numbers reach a crisis level.
The latest data shows 7,661 Kansans currently waiting for services, with 5,279 people on the intellectual and developmental disabilities waitlist and 2,382 people on the physical disability waitlist. The budget bill would place into law a provision forbidding the combined waiting lists from exceeding 6,800 people.
Kansans who need help can wait more than 10 years for crucial services, such as in-home care. The Kansas Reflector previously examined how these long wait times hurt thousands of disabled Kansans and their families through a series of stories.
If enrollment trends continue along the same lines as last year, when 561 new people enrolled in the intellectual disability waitlist, the proposed funding wouldn’t be enough to stop the list from growing.
In September, House Speaker Dan Hawkins and Senate President Ty Masterson released a statement promising to address the waiting lists.
“Republicans are laser focused on eliminating Medicaid waiting lists to ensure the truly needy get the services they so desperately need,” Hawkins and Masterson said in their statement.
During a news conference on their legislative plans before the session, the two again said the waitlists needed to be addressed.
“We’ve got 6,000 on the waiting list right now, and certainly before anything else happens, that needs to be taken care of,” Hawkins said. “Those are people who have been on the list for years.”
“We want to make sure everyone has the ability to get off the list,” Masterson added.
The Kansas Council on Developmental Disabilities recommended reducing the waitlists by 20% in fiscal year 2025. To do so, lawmakers would need to allocate enough funding to get 1,100 people off the intellectual and developmental disability waivers as well as 500 off of the physical disability waiver waitlist.
“The waitlists for the Intellectual/Developmental Disability and the Physical Disability Home & Community Based Services Medicaid Waiver programs have reached a crisis point,” reads the council’s statement. “Since KanCare launched in 2013, the IDD and PD Waitlists have gone from bad to worse to utterly out of control in Kansas.”
Sen. Rick Billinger, GOP chairman of a Senate committee, and one of the lawmakers tasked with shaping budget allocations, said he agreed with Olson, but said there was “only so much available.”
Billinger said the Legislature would look at addressing the lists again next year.
“We should have zero on the waitlist,” Billinger said. “Zero, that’s where it needs to be. I’ll guarantee you, I’ll do everything I can to take care of these kids. There’s only so much available there, but we need to do better.”
The state funding blueprint has been sent to the governor’s desk, where Gov. Laura Kelly will decide whether to approve or veto allocations in the $25 billion budget bill.
What is next for Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs?
Joe Rivera and and Chris Bumbaca break down Patrick Mahomes’ ACL tear and where they see the KC organization going moving forward.
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes underwent surgery to repair his torn left ACL on Dec. 15 in Dallas, Texas, the team said.
Dr. Dan Cooper, an orthopedic surgeon based in Dallas, performed the surgery. Cooper specializes in knee and shoulder injuries for the Carrell Clinic, based in Texas.
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said earlier Dec. 15 that Mahomes was seeking a second opinion in the Dallas area. The Chiefs said Mahomes will begin his rehab immediately. The three-time Super Bowl winner will have roughly nine months to prepare for Week 1 of the 2026 season.
ESPN reported that Cooper also repaired Mahomes’ torn lateral collateral ligament (LCL).
Mahomes suffered the injury on Dec. 14 as the Chiefs lost to the Los Angeles Chargers at home, which knocked them out of playoff contention. The two-time MVP was tackled from behind by Chargers defensive end Da’Shawn Hand. Mahomes immediately reached for his left knee after being rolled up from behind as Kansas City’s medical staff immediately tended to him.
He eventually walked off under his own power but Chiefs head coach Andy Reid told reporters that the initial prognosis did not “look good.”
Gardner Minshew replaced Mahomes and purports to be Kansas City’s starter for the final three games of the season.
Contributing: Jacob Camenker
All the NFL news on and off the field. Sign up for USA TODAY’s 4th and Monday newsletter. Check out the latest edition: Recapping the carnage of Week 15.
Kansas
Patrick Mahomes and Kansas City Chiefs facing rebuild after missing NFL playoffs for first time since 2014
The NFL playoffs and the road to the Super Bowl will not feature the Kansas City Chiefs for the first time since 2014 this season. Does it mark the end of an era for one of the league’s great modern dynasty teams?
Andy Reid’s side were officially eliminated from playoff contention on Sunday following a 16-13 defeat to the Los Angeles Chargers, coupled with deciding victories for the Buffalo Bills, Jacksonville Jaguars and Houston Texans.
A miserable season was punctuated by a late injury to star quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who was later ruled out for the remainder of the campaign with a torn ACL that will now disrupt preparations heading into next season.
Having reached five of the last six Super Bowls, the Chiefs face uncharted territory in the offseason.
“You look over the years, there’s a multitude of things (contributing to their downfall),” says Sky Sports NFL’s Phoebe Schecter. “They’ve had longer seasons than any other team and X amount of games every single year, emotionally, mentally, physically it’s taxing on a player.
“The Chiefs have never fully invested back into who they are drafting, free agency, they don’t have a ton of star receivers, you’re relying on people like Travis Kelce.
“There’s a lot of rebuilding that has to happen.
“It’s hard when you compare to a team like the Eagles, who are constantly staying ahead of it and building depth – I don’t think they’ve had a star receiver since Tyreek Hill.”
The Chiefs had entered the campaign on the back of reaching three straight Super Bowls, winning two in a row before being dismantled by the Philadelphia Eagles in New Orleans last February.
A shortage of star quality or reinvestment in as much was evident that day at the Superdome, and has emerged as a prevalent talking point in the decline of a team and, in particular, an offense that once looked untouchable.
“This is maybe the end of the first iteration of the Chiefs that we’ve seen,” said Sky Sports NFL’s Neil Reynolds. “This happened to Brady and the Patriots. They had a 10-year gap. Brady won three, ironically, his knee ligaments went, 10 years later they then won another three with New England.
“So this feels like the end of something with Kelce. Have the Chiefs in recent years failed Patrick Mahomes? Because I don’t know if they’ve got a number one wide receiver. They don’t have a star running back.
“I don’t want to play fantasy football, but that offense with George Pickens or Breece Hall in the backfield, I just wonder whether they have assumed Patrick Mahomes will bail them out, as he has done many times, and continue to do so, and it feels like they’ve run out of it this year.”
Mahomes endured, statistically, one of the worst seasons of his career on the way to the Super Bowl last year as the Chiefs largely leaned on Steve Spagnuolo’s defense to carry them through a series of one-score games.
The production has been marginally improved in 2025 but no less erratic or inconsistent, Mahomes constantly relied upon to create magic in the face of limited options.
“I think that’s true,” said Sky Sports NFL’s Jeff Reinebold. “I think that they have confidence in his ability to elevate everybody at the critical moments.
“I have such an appreciation for excellence. And sustained excellence is even held in a higher esteem to me because you know think about this, 2014 is a long time ago and it’s been that long that they’ve been in the playoffs every year and have been the team that you had to beat, so to have sustained excellence in a league that makes it just about as difficult as you can make it, maybe more difficult than any pro sports league, that is a credit to the Chiefs organisation, to Andy Reid, to Brett Veach.
“However, the reality is eventually it just runs out, you just run out of steam. You look at Kelce, he’s not the player that he once was, I thought he was really good today and competed his tail off but you know there are now guys that can match and make it really difficult.
“I agree about the receivers they’ve got, some guys with unique skill sets but I don’t know if they’ve got a true number one receiver.”
As defensive lineman Chris Jones took to the podium post-game, he had to ask reporters if the Chiefs were out of the playoffs. He didn’t know. Until it hit him.
The silence was deafening and a reflection of the unknown. This was a day that was always coming, and the reality of a major offseason shake-up hit.
“It’s hard to rebuild when you’ve been winning, it’s ‘what are we going to change?’,” said Sky Sports NFL’s Jason Bell.
“You have to get to the point where it falls apart and doesn’t work, but you never want to see Mahomes get hurt like that, it’s the worst-case scenario.”
After 10 straight playoff appearances, nine straight division titles and seven consecutive trips to the AFC Championship Game, the Chiefs’ dominance is no more.
Watch the 2025 NFL season live on Sky Sports, including every minute of the playoffs and Super Bowl LX; Get Sky Sports or stream with no contract on NOW.
The Kansas Lottery offers several draw games for those aiming to win big. Here’s a look at Dec. 14, 2025, results for each game:
Winning Pick 3 numbers from Dec. 14 drawing
Midday: 9-9-6
Evening: 1-5-6
Check Pick 3 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning 2 By 2 numbers from Dec. 14 drawing
Red Balls: 15-24, White Balls: 02-16
Check 2 By 2 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Lucky For Life numbers from Dec. 14 drawing
08-23-32-33-34, Lucky Ball: 15
Check Lucky For Life payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your lottery prize
All Kansas Lottery retailers will redeem prizes up to $599. For prizes over $599, winners can submit winning tickets through the mail or in person at select Kansas Lottery offices.
By mail, send a winner claim form and your signed lottery ticket to:
Kansas Lottery Headquarters
128 N Kansas Avenue
Topeka, KS 66603-3638
(785) 296-5700
To submit in person, sign the back of your ticket, fill out a claim form, and deliver the form along with your signed lottery ticket to Kansas Lottery headquarters. 128 N Kansas Avenue, Topeka, KS 66603-3638, (785) 296-5700. Hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. This office can cash prizes of any amount.
Check previous winning numbers and payouts at Kansas Lottery.
When are the Kansas Lottery drawings held?
- Powerball: 9:59 p.m. CT Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Mega Millions: 10 p.m. CT Tuesday and Friday.
- Pick 3 Midday/Evening: 1:10 p.m. and 9:10 p.m. CT daily.
- 2 By 2: 9:30 p.m. CT daily.
- Lucky for Life: 9:38 p.m. CT daily.
- Lotto America: 9:15 p.m. CT Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Super Kansas Cash: 9:10 p.m. CT Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Kansas editor. You can send feedback using this form.
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