Kansas
Kansas House Republicans fail to override governor's veto on massive tax reform bill – Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — The Republican-led Kansas House failed Tuesday to override Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly ‘s veto of a tax reform bill anchored by implementation of a single, flat state income tax rate of 5.25% in addition to elimination of the state sales tax on groceries and creation of a tax exemption for all Social Security income.
The GOP holds supermajorities in the House and Senate, but there was skepticism that both chambers could muster two-thirds majorities necessary to rebuke Kelly given opposition among conservative and moderate Republicans to parts of the bill favoring the state’s most wealthy. During the past several weeks, House Speaker Dan Hawkins indicated he had the votes for an override but was concerned about passage in the Kansas Senate.
Rep. Adam Smith, the Republican chairman of the House Taxation Committee, pleaded with House members to repel Kelly’s veto. He said House Bill 2284 wasn’t perfect, but it would deliver tax relief the state treasury could afford. At the outset of his speech in favor of an override, he quoted Rolling Stones musician Mick Jagger.
“You can’t always get what you want, but if you try, sometimes you just might find you get what you need,” Smith said. “Kansans need tax relief. The perfect bill doesn’t exist. It impacts everybody different. The perfect tax relief bill looks different if you are from Kansas City versus Dodge City. It looks differently if you own your home or rent your home.”
But his reference to rock ‘n’ roll and the personal ramifications of state law tax fell on deaf ears. The final vote in the House was 81-42, which was three votes shy of the necessary margin to override Kelly.
Rep. Tom Sawyer, D-Wichita, said cost of the tax reform bill approved by simple majorities of the House and Senate in January could reach $600 million annually when fully implemented. He said the tax reduction plan didn’t do enough for the middle class in Kansas. He said much of the benefit was woven into the flat tax piece, but the bill would provide a married couple earning $42,500 to $75,500 per year an income tax reduction of only 75 cents.
“Most of it goes to the top end,” Sawyer said. “We’ve got to do better for those middle class taxpayers.”
Under the bill, the state’s 2% sales tax on groceries would be eliminated April 1. Without action, that tax would evaporate Jan. 1, 2025. Other provisions would reduce state property taxes tied to funding of public schools, exempt from state income tax all Social Security income and allow an increase in standard deductions on state tax returns.
Kelly previously said she supported responsible state tax cuts, but refused to sign into law a “reckless” flat tax that would send the state treasury into a financial spiral similar to the debacle that followed Gov. Sam Brownback’s enactment in 2012 of a massive state income tax cut. State revenue crashed and prompted state tax hikes before much of Brownback’s tax agenda was repealed with bipartisan support in 2017.
“This flat tax experiment would overwhelmingly benefit the super wealthy, and I’m not going to put our public schools, roads and stable economy at risk just to give a break to those at the very top,” Kelly said.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A man connected to a shootout that injured two people following a high school basketball game at North Kansas City High School on March 2, 2024, was sentenced to 18 years in prison Friday.
Michael Smallwood pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree assault, one count of unlawful use of a weapon and one count of fourth-degree assault back in March.
Smallwood will serve six years for the first count of second-degree assault, seven years for the second count of second-degree assault, four years on the unlawful use of a weapon charge and one year on the charge of fourth-degree assault.
The sentences are set to be served consecutively.
While the prosecutors said they plan to ask the judge for a 19-year prison sentence for Smallwood in the plea agreement entered in March, the agreement allowed Smallwood and his attorneys to argue for a lesser sentence.
“I was fired at and I shot back, understanding that it was reckless for me to do that in a crowd of people,” Michael Smallwood wrote in the plea agreement.
Michael and his younger brother, Lavon’Dre Smallwood, were both originally charged with armed criminal action and two counts of unlawful use of a weapon in connection with the shootout.
Clay County Prosecuting Attorney Zachary Thompson said the shooting started after a dispute between two groups of young men who were leaving a Missouri Class 6, District 8 basketball game between Staley and North Kansas City.
KSHB 41 I-Team’s Caitlin Knute obtained surveillance video of the shootout. You can watch her report below.
KSHB 41 I-Team obtains video showing shooting outside North Kansas City High School
—
If you have any information about a crime, you may contact your local police department directly. But if you want or need to remain anonymous, you should contact the Greater Kansas City Crime Stoppers Tips Hotline by calling 816-474-TIPS (8477), submitting the tip online or through the free mobile app at P3Tips.com. Depending on your tip, Crime Stoppers could offer you a cash reward.
Annual homicide details and data for the Kansas City area are available through the KSHB 41 News Homicide Tracker, which was launched in 2015. Read the KSHB 41 News Mug Shot Policy.
WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) – A principal released and grades allegedly changed to meet graduation requirements: Wichita Southeast High School is in the spotlight at the state level as Kansas lawmakers address claims of grade tampering. The situation has also prompted a debate on how best to measure school success.
Following the report from Kansas’s largest school district, the state’s school finance task force dove into the issue.
“They were really promoting the idea that their graduation rates had improved by 5%. And then I go and look online to pull up that particular school’s results and they’re almost twice as bad as our state’s for the lowest category,” said Rep. Kristey Williams, R-Augusta, of Southeast High School.
The questioning follows Wichita Public Schools’ celebration of district-wide improvements for graduation rates, reporting the more-than 5% jump from 2023 to 2024. But with that celebration comes the investigation into grade tampering at Wichita Southeast.
In a statement Wednesday, Wichita Public Schools confirmed “less than 10 students’ records were changed and there is no indication of data inaccuracies in past years.”
The acknowledgement of grade tampering is enough to get Rep. Williams to question the use of graduation rates to measure student success.
“Graduation rates are not correlated at all. I mean, if we want to babysit, that’s one thing. We want to have a safe place for them, that’s one thing, but that doesn’t mean you’re learning anything,” she said.
Not everyone feels the same.
“I think when you look at any industry, including the legislature, there are bad actors that you have to do things around. That doesn’t mean you should throw out that metric altogether,” said Kansas State Department of Education Deputy Commissioner Dr. Frank Harwood.
Dr. Harwood said while graduation rates are the best indicator of economic drivers, there are other things to consider.
“We could talk to business and industry about what those things are,” he said. “When we have those conversations, it’s actually about character development much more so than many other things, so I mean if we’re going to talk about some of those things, employers are looking at character development much more than they’re looking at state assessment scores.”
Ultimately, lawmakers say that if a diploma is going to be used to measure success, then they need to define what graduation really means.
“I’m hearing some employers say for some reason, they’re getting the really great students coming out, and then I’m getting those that say, ‘Wow, they really aren’t coming out knowing or being able to do much,’” said Kansas Sen. Renee Erickson, R-Wichita.
Kansas lawmakers haven’t decided on how best to measure student and school district success, or whether they’ll change current practices.
Copyright 2025 KWCH. All rights reserved. To report a correction or typo, please email news@kwch.com
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – A multi-vehicle crash in Kansas City Thursday morning resulted in minor injuries for six people.
The Kansas City Fire Department said it happened on Linwood Boulevard in the area of Bruce R. Watkins Drive.
The crash occurred just after 8 a.m. and resulted in six people being transported for evaluation, with four of those patients being children, KCTV said.
No serious injuries were reported.
KCFD said the scene has been cleared and the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department is investigating the crash.
Copyright 2025 KCTV. All rights reserved.
Battle over Space Command HQ location heats up as lawmakers press new Air Force secretary
New footage shows Milwaukee judge confronting ICE before allegedly helping illegal immigrant exit
Federal magistrate judge dismisses trespassing charges against 98 arrested in new military zone
Beloved pet makes daring escape from animal hospital after surgery and travels 3 miles to get home
Study reveals 10 happiest states for seniors: Did yours make the list?
-
News1 week agoVideo: Faizan Zaki Wins Spelling Bee
-
Politics6 days agoMichelle Obama facing backlash over claim about women's reproductive health
-
News1 week agoVideo: Harvard Commencement Speaker Congratulates and Thanks Graduates
-
Politics1 week agoMusk officially steps down from DOGE after wrapping work streamlining government
-
Technology1 week agoAI could consume more power than Bitcoin by the end of 2025
-
News1 week agoPresident Trump pardons rapper NBA YoungBoy in flurry of clemency actions
-
Technology1 week agoSEC drops Binance lawsuit in yet another gift to crypto
-
Technology1 week agoOpenAI wants ChatGPT to be a ‘super assistant’ for every part of your life