Opinion

The first time I heard a Bob Dylan song was at Washington Elementary School in Baxter Springs, where in the auditorium a young music teacher led our class in singing “Blowin’ in the Wind.” I couldn’t have been more than 7 or 8 at the time, but I remember thinking so hard about the words and what they meant that I slipped into a kind of reverie.I say it was the first time I heard a Bob Dylan song, even though “Blowin’ in the Wind” had received enough airplay that it became part of the furniture of my childhood. The most commercially successful version of the song was by Peter, Paul and Mary, whose syrupy pop rendition robbed the song of its power but made it safe for general consumption in 1963.

I proudly voted for the Help Not Harm Act and the Kansas Senate just followed the Kansas House of Representatives and voted on Tuesday to override the governor’s veto. I appreciate the recent editorial titled “Holding elected officials accountable” and welcome the opportunity to provide an update on my ongoing efforts to enhance communication and transparency regarding legislative matters.To foster better engagement with the community, I have implemented a comprehensive community outreach plan.

Not too long ago, I had the privilege of representing Kansas Farm Bureau at the American Farm Bureau Federation Convention in San Antonio. For any of you who have never attended an annual meeting, it would be my hope that someday you might get that opportunity.

As a onetime reporter, columnist, copy editor and section editor at the University Daily Kansan, news that the University of Kansas Student Senate was proposing massive cuts to the news outlet’s funding came as less than a shock.It does, however, create an ominous precedent.The KU student newspaper has a long history of clashes with student government, for the same reason that regular news media have a long history of clashes with government. Politicians don’t like scrutiny.

We expanded our garden area quite a bit last year and that also means that we needed to improve the soil organic matter for it to do well. We broadcast seeds for a diverse number of species last spring including African marigolds, red clover, daikon radishes and buckwheat.

A few weeks ago, the state of Kansas sent me a list of the personalized license plates — 14,567 of them — approved in 2024.ASTOREY. BB BOMB.

In the summer of 2007, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. When I met with the oncologist, he informed me that my cancer was a fairly rare and very aggressive type of cancer called HER2 positive.

As I write, the Kansas House Committee on Judiciary is about to hear HB 2348, which would eliminate tenure at higher education institutions governed by the state of Kansas. The bill emerged from a legal dispute between certain faculty members and administrators at Emporia State, yet its consequences would reverberate far beyond that.Ending academic tenure would lead to a brain drain, with high-achieving professors leaving for other states or private universities that still recognize tenure, potentially costing Kansas hundreds of millions of dollars in grants, gifts and other external funding.