Kansas

Kansas weighs investing millions in shelters after years of increased homeless populations

Published

2 years ago

March 19, 2024

Kansas weighs investing millions in shelters after years of increased homeless populations

On a single night in Kansas last year, there were about 2,636 homeless people living in the state, including about 400 in Shawnee County, according to the statewide Point in Time Count that likely undercounts the total number.

But there are less than a thousand shelter beds available statewide.

The House Committee on Welfare Reform is tasked with finding ways to address the growing homeless population in the state, which reached the highest levels it has seen since 2014 after six consecutive years of rising homeless populations.

The committee heard a bill, House Bill 2723, which would establish a $40 million grant fund that would go to communities around the state that create a plan to create more shelter beds. Grants would only go to cities that do the following:

Provide the same amount of money they receive.
Submit a building plan to create or improve a shelter.
Collect data on the populations the shelter serves.
Enforce laws criminalizing vagrancy and public camping.
Prioritize Kansas residents who’ve lived in the state for more than eight months.
Provide “wraparound” housing service.

Those wraparound services aren’t defined in the bill, which several legislators and advocates raised concern about. But legislators got a better sense of what those services include at a March 14 briefing from homeless service providers and cities seeking to expand their services.

Shelters, services and statutes

Of the 2,636 homeless people identified in the latest Point in Time Count, 943 resided in rural areas. Several legislators on the reform committee raised concerns about equitably distributing funds to address both categories of homelessness. McPherson Housing Coalition runs a non-congregate shelter in the 14,000-population town, hosting up to 10 families in separated tiny homes.

To get the shelter up and running cost around $1 million, said MHC’s executive director Chris Goodson. The most important part, though, is the social services included to help get families back on their feet.

“You can build affordable housing, but if you don’t offer social services of some sort to help families work through those roadblocks, it’s not going to work,” Goodson said.

City officials from Wichita presented their idea of addressing homelessness in a much larger City. Their proposal is to refurbish Riverside Hospital into a complex that includes a congregate shelter, where people share rooms for an overnight stay, as well as solo non-congregate rooms, low-income housing, space for homeless services, dining rooms and classrooms.

“The more that we can bring under one roof,” said Troy Anderson, Wichita’s assistant city manager. “There are efficiencies of scale, there are efficiencies in trying to achieve that functional net zero because there’s not a lack or a confusion of trying to connect one resource to another.”

The “functional net zero” of homelessness is effectively getting more people out of homelessness than are becoming homeless. Anderson said if they can consistently graduate people toward housing stability, it’d eventually mean that the homeless population is almost entirely temporarily displaced people, rather than chronic homelessness, which accounts for about 25% of Kansas’s homeless population.

Wichita has the largest homeless population in the state, and its proposal may have the highest price tag. The city said it would likely be asking for $20 million, half of the total grant money available in HB 2723, to construct the complex.

Advocates from all over the state spoke to the committee, from Liberal to Wyandotte County. Though smaller communities will need less money for their projects than larger communities, their less resourced local governments may have additional barriers to proposing than more heavily staffed urban areas.

Committee-members considered earmarking a certain amount for more sparsely populated areas or allowing cities to bolster their applications with donations from nonprofits.

Is the bill enough to address homelessness in Kansas?

Some homeless service providers had quibbles with the bill, including the provisions on enforcing vagrancy laws, that the data collection doesn’t feed into other reports, that nonprofits should be able to apply for funds and including a severability clause that would ensure the program continues if parts of the legislation are struck down in court.

One conferee, though, sharply differed from the others in their rejection rejection of “housing-first” policies that offer transitional housing, pointing to increases in homeless populations in areas that adopted a housing-first approach.

“Obviously homelessness and there’s many factors, but we believe housing first is making the problem worse, it focuses dollars away from shelter and toward permanent supportive housing,” said Andrew Wiems, of Cicero Action, a group that last year advocated for legislation that would criminalize public homelessness.

House Bill 2723 had its hearing on March 5 and isn’t scheduled for debate on the House floor, but if passed could significantly impact the scope of homeless services in the state.

“From the conversations I’ve had with prospective bidders, communities that are considering applying for the funds, I feel like the $40 million, with the one-for-one match which would be $80 million, I think would be sufficient to address the chronically homeless population that we’re looking to target with our funds,” said Andrew Brown, deputy secretary for programs of the Kansas Department of Aging and Disability Services.

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Kansas

Colorado vs. Kansas State Kickoff Time Announced

Published

2 days ago

November 23, 2025

Press Room

Colorado vs. Kansas State Kickoff Time Announced

The Colorado Buffaloes are 3-8 with one game remaining in the regular season, a road contest against the Kansas State Wildcats. On Sunday, the kickoff time for Colorado vs. Kansas State was announced for 10 a.m. MT on Saturday, Nov. 29, and the game will be broadcast on FS1. Accustomed to playing the evening games, Colorado will have an early one on the road against Kansas State.

Colorado coach Deion Sanders and his team have failed to meet expectations in 2025, but they are building towards the future with quarterback Julian Lewis taking over the offense as a true freshman. On the other side, Kansas State has also had a rather unexpected season under third-year starting quarterback Avery Johnson.

Colorado Buffaloes Kansas State Wildcats deion sanders big 12 kickoff time announced tv broadcast morning arizona state

Nov 22, 2025; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Kansas State Wildcats quarterback Avery Johnson (2) runs against Utah Utes linebacker Levani Damuni (3) during the second half at Rice-Eccles Stadium. / Rob Gray-Imagn Images

The Wildcats are 5-6 after nearly upsetting the No. 12 Utah Utes, meaning Kansas State will be playing Colorado with bowl eligibility on the line. Can “Coach Prime” and the Buffaloes spoil Kansas State’s final home game of the season?

The Wildcats offense is known to use Johnson as a runner, a matchup that could give the Colorado defense fits.

Colorado trailed Arizona State 21-17 entering the fourth quarter, but the Sun Devils scored 21 unanswered points in the final frame to beat the Buffaloes 42-17. Arizona State started their run with a fumble by Colorado running back Ronald Coleman, and the Sun Devils never looked back.

Arizona State running back Raleek Brown rushed for 255 yards on 22 carries as Colorado’s defense again struggled to stop the run. Sanders addressed some of the Buffs’ issues after the game:

Nov 22, 2025; Boulder, Colorado, USA; Arizona State Sun Devils running back Raleek Brown (3) before the game against the Colorado Buffaloes at Folsom Field. / Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

“Defensively, we’ve got to do much better. We forced turnovers, and offensively, we got to score. Didn’t do any of that. It’s tough. It’s tough to think that we don’t have more in the tank to come up with some things to take advantage of those situations. And that’s situational football, we got to be much better than that, and we weren’t. We weren’t, and we aren’t.”

MORE: What Deion Sanders Said About History With Arizona State Coach Kenny Dillingham

MORE: Shedeur Sanders’ Browns Start Is Changing Colorado NFL History

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Sanders also spoke about Lewis’ development as a true freshman. The young quarterback finished with 161 passing yards and a touchdown, completing 50 percent of his attempts.

Nov 22, 2025; Boulder, Colorado, USA; Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Julian Lewis (10) scrambles in the first quarter against the Arizona State Sun Devils at Folsom Field / Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

“He’s a good kid, he’s a good young man. He has a bright future ahead of him. We can’t just take this game and berate him or whatever, because I think he did some wonderful things last week. He did some wonderful things this week, but you got to understand, he’s a freshman playing against a really good football team, and we’ve just got to do better at capitalizing on certain downs,” Sanders said.

According to FanDuel, Kansas State is favored by 17.5 points over Colorado. The moneyline for the Buffaloes to pull off the upset is currently +680, and the points total is set at 51.5.

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Kansas

5 numbers that stood out in Iowa State football’s win vs Kansas

Published

3 days ago

November 22, 2025

Press Room

5 numbers that stood out in Iowa State football’s win vs Kansas

AMES — Iowa State football won its second straight game on Nov. 22.

The Cyclones took down Kansas, 38-14, in the final home game of the season, two weeks after beating TCU (which was followed by an off week). Matt Campbell’s squad now sits at 7-4 overall and 4-4 against Big 12 opponents.

Here are five numbers that tell the story of Iowa State’s win over the Jayhawks.

1 … as in Aiden Flora’s first rushing touchdown of the season

There were plenty of big moments in Iowa State’s victory over Kansas, with 15 plays accounting for 293 offensive yards gained. And it was a group effort in the ground game: Carson Hansen with 120 rushing yards (and one touchdown), Abu Sama with 67 yards and Flora with 51.

Flora, a redshirt freshman running back who typically serves as a kick and punt returner, put the exclamation point on Iowa State’s win, running 38 yards into the end zone for the Cyclones’ fifth touchdown of the game. He had a punt-return touchdown in the win against TCU.

2 … as in Iowa State has won two straight games

The Cyclones have experienced a series of streaks this year: five wins, four losses and now two wins. Iowa State beat TCU on the road a couple of weeks ago and – coming off the bye week – the Cyclones took down Kansas in the final game at Jack Trice Stadium this season.

3 … as in three penalties called against Iowa State

The Cyclones played a mostly penalty-free game, in contrast to some of their flag-filled contests this season. There were only three penalties called against Iowa State: false start against Jim Bonifas, holding against Brendan Black and pass interference against Marcus Neal.

Of those calls, two came in the third quarter and one came in the fourth, and they cost the Cyclones 30 yards in total.

7 … as in seven passes broken up by Iowa State’s defense

Kansas couldn’t get much of anything going on offense, with the Cyclones defense making it a challenge. Seven different players accounted for the seven pass break-ups: Carson Van Dinter, Kooper Ebel, Tre Bell, David Coffey, Quentin Taylor, Beni Ngoyi and Hunter Sowell.

Marcus Neal also came down with an interception, his second of the season.

10 … as in Rocco Becht went 10-of-10 to start the game

It’s been an up-and-down season for the Iowa State quarterback, and that was evident in Becht’s performance against Kansas. He completed his first 10 pass attempts, going without an incompletion through the first quarter and into the second quarter.

That streak snapped when Leroy Harris III tipped a pass and Becht threw two more incompletions – with another one broken up, this time by Trey Lathan – on the final drive of the second quarter.

Becht finished with a 78% completion rate, going 18-of-23 for 241 yards and three touchdowns – with no interceptions.

Alyssa Hertel is the college sports recruiting reporter for the Des Moines Register. Contact Alyssa at ahertel@dmreg.com or on Twitter @AlyssaHertel.

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Kansas

2025-26 Kansas State MBB: Game 6 vs Nebraska

Published

3 days ago

November 22, 2025

Press Room

2025-26 Kansas State MBB: Game 6 vs Nebraska

The Kansas State Wildcats are officially entering the “pay-attention” neighborhood. After a 98-77 drubbing of a decent Mississippi State squad last night, the 5-0 Wildcats are starting to appear like a legitimately solid squad…one that could be capable of fun things if they can keep things rolling into the heart of the season.

They’ve got another big test tonight. The Cats will face the Nebraska Cornhuskers for the championship of the 2025 Hall of Fame Classic. The Huskers are also 5-0, and advanced to the championship game after an 84-72 win over New Mexico in the opening game of the classic. The Huskers are led by Fred Hoiberg, who is in his seventh season in Lincoln, and are looking for a return to the NCAA Tournament after winning the College Basketball Crown to end the 2024-25 season.

The last time these two teams met was Dec. 17th, 2023, when the Huskers beat up on the Wildcats 62-46 in Manhattan, a win that snapped a 7-game win streak for the Wildcats over their former Big 12 conference mates. But that K-State team was significantly more offensively inept than the current iteration of the TangCats. These TangCats are lighting up the nets with a return to the “fun” brand of basketball that marked Jerome Tang’s first season in Manhattan. And last night, the Wildcats showed they could even manage some defense more consistently than the final couple minutes.

This will be the biggest test yet for the Wildcats. A win would be a huge springboard into the heart of the season. A loss doesn’t hurt, as long as it’s productive. Can the Wildcats handle the quick turnaround and keep building?

We’ve got an 8:30pm CT tipoff for the championship game of the Hall of Fame Classic tonight from T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, and you can catch the action on NBCSN and streaming on Peacock with Steve Schlanger (play-by-play) and Tre Demps (analyst) on the call.

If you can’t access the stream, the game can be heard across portions of the 28-station K-State Sports Network with Wade Gerstner (play-by-play) and Clent Stewart (analyst) calling the action. The game will also be available online at K-Statesports.com and via the Varsity Network app, as well as on satellite radio at Sirius/XM Ch. 383. Live stats are also available at k-statesports.com, and social media updates (@KStateMBB) will also be a part of the coverage.

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