Kelly Proposes $26 Billion Budget To Close Education Funding Gap And Address Water Infrastructure

Kansas Lawmakers Introduce Geoengineering Ban And Modernize State Seal Language

Community Concerns Over Data Centers Prompt Sedgwick County To Suspend Building Permits

Hundreds Rally At Kansas Statehouse Demanding Human Rights Protections

Financial Pressures Force Rural Kansas Newspapers To Merge Or Close

Kelly Proposes $26 Billion Budget To Close Education Funding Gap And Address Water Infrastructure

Governor Laura Kelly unveiled a $26 billion spending plan Wednesday for fiscal year 2027 that would increase state expenditures by 1.6% while seeking to restore structural balance to Kansas finances amid projected annual deficits of $300 million to $700 million in coming years. The budget, which Kelly calls "The People's Budget" based on a statewide listening tour, includes $50.6 million in additional special education funding to help close the gap between the state's legal obligation to cover 92% of districts' excess costs and the current 71% funding level that leaves schools covering a $155 million shortfall, $2.5 million to eliminate meal co-pays for 34,400 students on reduced-price lunch programs, full funding for the State Water Plan Fund including $2.3 million for Equus Beds Aquifer improvements, and $30.9 million for first-year operations of the South Central Regional Mental Health Hospital in Sedgwick County, along with a 2.5% pay increase for state employees.

Kelly unveils $26 billion Kansas budget focused on schools, water

Governor’s ‘People’s Budget’ proposal seeks to restore fiscal balance amid projected deficits

citizen journalGreg Loving

citizen journal

Kansas Lawmakers Introduce Geoengineering Ban And Modernize State Seal Language

Kansas lawmakers introduced legislation Wednesday to prohibit weather modification activities and updated the official state seal's language regarding Native Americans during the third day of the 2026 legislative session. The House Committee on Federal and State Affairs introduced HB 2439, which would repeal the Kansas Weather Modification Act and criminalize geoengineering activities with enforcement authority assigned to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, while HB 2332 passed the House with amendments replacing "Indians" with "Native Americans" in the statutory description of the state's Great Seal dating to 1861. Additionally, 39 House members introduced HB 2444 to impose stricter sentencing requirements and secured bond amounts for offenders committing new felonies while on probation, parole, or supervision.

citizen journal

Community Concerns Over Data Centers Prompt Sedgwick County To Suspend Building Permits

Sedgwick County commissioners passed a resolution Wednesday suspending the issuance and consideration of building or conditional use permits for data centers for 90 days in response to growing community concerns about such facilities across Kansas. The moratorium reflects broader pushback that citizen journal has tracked in previous reporting on data centers, battery storage facilities, and renewable energy projects that have emerged in multiple Kansas communities over the past year as more development proposals have been submitted statewide.

KWCH

Hundreds Rally At Kansas Statehouse Demanding Human Rights Protections

Hundreds of demonstrators chanting anti-ICE slogans gathered Wednesday on the second floor of the Kansas Statehouse for a rally organized by fourteen groups including the American Civil Liberties Union, Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, and Planned Parenthood Great Plains to advocate for human rights protections. Protesters addressed issues including food insecurity, voting rights, climate change, health care, reproductive rights, public education, and immigration enforcement, with Rabbi Moti Rieber of Kansas Interfaith Action telling the crowd that the nation faces troubling times regarding racial justice, economic inequality, and other social concerns.

Kansas Reflector

Financial Pressures Force Rural Kansas Newspapers To Merge Or Close

U.S. Senator Jerry Moran highlighted the challenges facing rural journalism in a Senate floor speech this week after his hometown newspaper, the Plainville Times, merged with the Stockton Sentinel due to financial difficulties, forming the newly named Stockton Sentinel-Times. The Republican senator, who grew up in Plainville and relied on the weekly paper to stay connected to his hometown of 1,700 residents in Rooks County, emphasized the importance of local journalism in rural America and thanked dedicated staff whose contributions made community newspapers informative and beloved, noting that local journalism pulls communities together while national journalism often divides.

Kansas Reflector

Sources

1. citizen journal
2. citizen journal
3. KWCH - https://www.kwch.com/2026/01/15/sedgwick-county-suspends-data-center-permits-90-days/
4. Kansas Reflector - https://kansasreflector.com/2026/01/14/america-is-showing-its-dark-underbelly-protestors-condemn-ice-in-rally-at-kansas-statehouse/
5. Kansas Reflector - https://kansasreflector.com/briefs/u-s-sen-jerry-moran-mourns-loss-of-his-hometown-newspaper-in-western-kansas/

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