Kansas

Kansas legislators looking to change development process for state budget

Published

1 hour ago

August 23, 2024

Kansas legislators looking to change development process for state budget

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – Kansas legislators want to change the way the state comes up with its budget.

A Special Committee on Budget Process and Development met on Thursday. Members of the House and Senate, including Senate President Ty Masterson and House Speaker Dan Hawkins, discussed how they would want to go about making the budget in the Legislature.

“I look at this as an opportunity to examine a process that is probably flawed and find opportunities to make it better. We need to spend more time diving into the budget process and figure out how to do it more effectively and efficiently. I’m very excited to find solutions that can help us better serve all Kansas taxpayers and look forward to our next meeting as a committee.”

A lack of sufficient review time was cited as the biggest factor motivating any changes.

“What we’re going to be looking at is possible systemic changes to how we actually craft a budget by the State Legislature and moving forward in an earlier fashion than what we have done in previous years or maybe even for decades,” Committee Chairman Rep. Troy Waymaster said during the meeting. “We are compressed by a very aggressive schedule and trying to analyze the, I believe, 78 budgets that we have with the state agencies and the Departments and trying to get that done within a course of five to six weeks.”

The budget is currently developed by the governor and state agencies, and then submitted to the Legislature. There’s a series of deadlines and hearings legislators can access throughout October and November, but they don’t truly see a draft until that submission in January.

“We’re going to be looking at what other states are doing in regards to the process as being created by the Legislature,” Rep. Waymaster continued. “This is not to say that we’re not going to adhere to what the governor may propose, what this does is it ask it lets us escalate the process in a quicker fashion so when we return in the beginning of January we can start the budget analysis on those smaller budgets.”

Rep. Waymaster released a statement after the meeting stating a bill would be introduced when the legislature returns in January 2025.

“The current budget process that we have in place has been utilized for decades and its time to look at a new way of generating our state budget. We took great strides today in identifying a budget process that better serves the taxpayers of the state of Kansas. As appropriators of the state finances, the legislature is going to introduce a budget bill in the onset of the legislative session in January of 2025, and begin the analytical process of how we can reduce spending and have a more concise budget process.”

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Related Topics:budget committee Featured Governor Hawkins kansas Kansas Legislature Legislature Masterson special

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Kansas

Kansas City police ask for help locating missing man last seen Aug. 15

Published

9 hours ago

August 22, 2024

Press Room

Kansas City police ask for help locating missing man last seen Aug. 15

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Police in Kansas City, Missouri, are asking for the public’s help to locate a man who’s been missing for a week.

Ray Patrick, 67, was last seen leaving his home near 130th and Wornall Road on Aug. 15, police said.

Patrick was wearing a black t-shirt with the name “U Store” on the front, black khakis and navy tennis shoes.

He was driving a black Cadillac CT5 with Missouri license plate EL1D6W.

Below is a picture of the vehicle:

KSHB 41 News staff

Black Cadillac

His family is concerned for his wellbeing, police said.

If located, people are asked to contact 911.

—

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Kansas

Chiefs fans in Kansas City will need to go old school to watch preseason finale

Published

16 hours ago

August 22, 2024

Press Room

Chiefs fans in Kansas City will need to go old school to watch preseason finale

In Kansas City, it’s not just time to reconnect the cord. It’s time to reattach the rabbit ears.

For those who live in the home market of the two-time defending NFL champions, there’s only one way to watch Thursday night’s preseason finale against the Bears: Via the free, public airwaves.

As explained by the Kansas City Star, the Bears-Chiefs game will be subject to local blackout on NFL Network. The problem is that the local NBC affiliate that would otherwise be televising the game, KSHB, will be carrying the final night of the Democratic National Convention. The game will be relegated to KMCI.

YouTube TV doesn’t carry KMCI. The only way folks in Kansas City can watch the game is to rely on metal antennas to pull the signal out of the sky.

The same thing happened for the preseason opener, against the Jaguars. NBC had the Olympics, KMCI had the game, and the only way to see it was to rely on the old-school practice of positioning the rabbit ears in the right spot to capture the picture and sounds.

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Kansas

Kansas Department of Education prompts school districts to update their fall suicide prevention response plans

Published

23 hours ago

August 22, 2024

Press Room

Kansas Department of Education prompts school districts to update their fall suicide prevention response plans

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – The Kansas State Department of Education has updated their 2018 suicide prevention plan and are prompting all of their Kansas school districts to do the same.

The Kansas Suicide Prevention, intervention, reintegration and postvention toolkit is a comprehensive guide that provides step-by-step guidance for setting up a systematic approach to suicide prevention, response and postvention for schools.

“We don’t think any student who makes a statement of self-harm is just telling a story or trying to get attention. We take every statement serious,” says Dr. Joy Grimes, Principal at Avondale Academy.

All 286 school districts are required to come up with a response plan that meets the needs of their specific community using the toolkit.

The principals, admins and all their support staff have been training teachers when that child needs to have a critical conversation, a conversation that is supportive but also allows the child to express what it is that is troubling them,” says Susan Mills Coordinator of Social Services for USD-501.

Trish Backman with KSDE says they have added new language and resources like the 988 hotline and their new reintegration plan, one that Backman says she is especially proud of.

“So that reintegration part had never been broken out specifically until this year because it had always been looked at as prevention intervention and postvention, if that reintegration piece isn’t in place a lot of times that safety net isn’t there and the kids continually stir from one crisis to the next,” says Backman.

Backman says each staff member is required to undergo at least one hour of suicide prevention training.

“So one of the recommendations we make in the toolkit is when you have your plan if you’re comfortable posting the skeleton or the basics that you want everybody to know about your plan put it on your website. The thing I would really encourage every district to do is put who your school mental health team is. If your kid is having a crisis then the people in the community can look that up on your website and they know who to contact,” she says.

She also says the number of student suicides have started to come down slowly.

“With our new graduation requirements where kids have to be actively engaged in something one of the things that they can do join some kind of a youth empowerment group and every group gets to pick what their topic is going to be and a lot of them have chosen suicide,” says Bachman.

Backman says more resources for staff and families in need are now available here.

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