Kansas City Politricks: Library Fight, Climate Change X-Mas & Legal Weed

Our somewhat regularly scheduled quick guide to recent pay-for-play content along with overtly politicized reporting from both sides of the aisle.

As always, the theme for this section is that the "reporting" is typically funded by partisan slap fighters. 

Check TKC news gathering . . .

Soldiers Fight Scarcity

Why some service members struggle to put food on the table

Of the service members surveyed in a 2020 Military Family Lifestyle Survey, 14% reported some amount of food insecurity. Rosalinda Vasquez Maury and Andrea Clark joined Up To Date to discuss what's leading to financial insecurity among military families.

Golden Ghetto Scheme Exposed

New Shawnee TIF: no developer but less money for schools - The Sentinel

The Shawnee City Council has approved a new approach to Tax Increment Financing (TIF), one that doesn't come with a developer attached, at least not now. But it comes with a catch: area schools get a smaller share of property tax money because the TIF shifts funding to the city.

Checkout Local Book Crackdown

Missouri secretary of state to libraries: Take objectionable materials off shelves or risk loss of state funding

Because of a Missouri law that took effect in August, books that contain “explicit sexual materials” are banned from school libraries and classrooms. Now, the state is taking another step toward book challenges— this time involving public libraries and without a vote from the legislature..

Activists Love To Ruin Holidays

Santa, Christmas tree growers weigh in on Kansas climate during annual Christmas tradition - Kansas Reflector

David Wilderson said he feels a lot of pride in his first year at the helm of the association, representing Christmas tree growers across the state at the annual welcoming of the Christmas tree to the governor's mansion. Every year, horses deliver a Christmas tree and give Santa a ride at Cedar Crest, about five miles west of the Statehouse in Topeka.

Show-Me Biz Against Musk

Missouri businesses consider leaving Twitter amid instability of Elon Musk's takeover

As concern about Twitter increases under new leadership and changing guidelines, some large corporations and businesses are removing ads and leaving the mega social media platform. Among the list: a small cat café and a nonprofit health care provider in Columbia.

Progressives Remember Anti-Brownback Mantra

This architect of Kansas' tax policy failure mocks our state. Leaders can't ignore recent history. - Kansas Reflector

For the better part of a decade, Kansas government has been consumed by tax policy. Residents first endured former Gov. Sam Brownback's "experiment," which resulted in yawning deficits, budget cuts and credit downgrades. Teachers fled. Prisoners rioted. State agencies crumbled. Arduous years of rebuilding followed, under the guidance of Gov.

Easy Money Lends Itself To Criticism

Kansas Coalition Pushing Payday Loan Reform

A coalition in Kansas has come together to push reform of the payday loan industry. Kansas For Payday Loan Reform is calling on legislators to tighten state regulations, saying the lenders are profiting from people in need.

Show-Me Life Lesson Layoffs

Thousands of experts hired to aid public health departments are losing their jobs * Missouri Independent

As COVID-19 raged, roughly 4,000 highly skilled epidemiologists, communication specialists, and public health nurses were hired by a nonprofit tied to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to plug the holes at battered public health departments on the front lines.

Double Down Against Petition Power

Missouri lawmakers thwart the people's will all the time. Now they're targeting petitions

OPINION AND COMMENTARY Missouri's voters' ability to enact laws on their own is under threat. State Sen. Cindy O'Laughlin, a Republican from Shelbina, was recently picked as the party's majority leader for 2023. In an interview with St. Louis Public Radio, she expressed frustration with ballot-based constitutional amendments such as the just-passed recreational marijuana proposal.

A Lot Of Bull Powers Future

Climate Change Threatens the Great Plains, but Bison May Hold a Key to Resilience

MANHATTAN, Kan. (KNS) - The prairie of the Great Plains evokes a certain image: A vast expanse of grasses stretching as far as the horizon. And you can see plenty of those grasses swaying in the breeze along Interstate 70 through the Flint Hills.

Social Media Showdown Cont'd

Missouri AG aligns with St. Louis conspiracy theorist in social media lawsuit * Missouri Independent

When Kate Starbird got word that Missouri's attorney general wanted her to turn over three years of her emails, she didn't know what to think. A Seattle-based professor at the University of Washington, Starbird co-founded the UW Center for an Informed Public, which researches misinformation online.

Newsflash: Lockup Can Be Rough

Cost of Communications from Prison Strains Ties That Help Inmates Thrive After Release

TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) - Trish Gaston spends $50 a week talking to her two sons at the Lansing Correctional Facility. Gaston has tried cutting back to save some money, but she said "I need to hear their voice every day." "That's their only contact to the outside world and to feel somewhat normal," she said.

Fighting Cash Crop Confusion

What to know about buying recreational marijuana in Missouri * Missouri Independent

On Nov. 8, Missourians voted "yes" on Amendment 3, which legalized recreational use of marijuana, meaning you'll now be able to buy weed, like marijuana flower or edibles, in the coming months. Starting Dec. 8, the state will begin transitioning its medical marijuana licenses to recreational licenses, but that doesn't mean that you'll be able to walk into a dispensary and buy cannabis flower right away.

And this is the OPEN THREAD for right now.