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Kansas Blog Roundup for September 19, 2008
Read more: Kansas Blog Roundup for September 19, 2008I think I say this almost every week, but I’m amazed at some of the blogs that people create just to showcase and report on their own personal interests. This week it’s Dave Knadler, who is a professional writer. His blog Dave’s Fiction Warehouse deals with books and writing and movies, and also his assorted…
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Will Wichita Schools Consider Merit Pay?
Read more: Will Wichita Schools Consider Merit Pay?The St. Petersburg Times reports on some finding from a study of teacher merit pay in Florida. The result? From the article Teachers’ income doesn’t reflect results: “The findings, in fact, suggest that quality has little to do with how schools pay the 30,000 teachers in the Tampa Bay area. What rules the day is…
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A Free Market for Electricity in Kansas?
Read more: A Free Market for Electricity in Kansas?I am among a growing number of Americans who are skeptical about the human impact on climate change. I do not believe there is sufficient evidence that our behavior is causing the changes many environmentalists tend to blame on humanity. So it seems wrong to force me to pay higher electric rates because of unproven…
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Why Are Old Wichita Schools Bad?
Read more: Why Are Old Wichita Schools Bad?One of the things I hear repeated endlessly is how old are some of the Wichita school facilities. Some are over 70 years old, school officials say. What’s funny is that many people consider old buildings to be well-constructed. Their architecture is called “vintage,” and many people consider these buildings desirable. I was in Madison,…
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Helen Cochran Speech on Wichita School Bond Issue
Read more: Helen Cochran Speech on Wichita School Bond IssueOn Monday September 15, 2008, Helen Cochran of Citizens for Better Education spoke to a Wichita civic group. Here’s part one of her talk: The link to part two of Helen’s speech is here.
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New Computer Setup Today
Read more: New Computer Setup TodayLast night I bought a new desktop computer. I’d been needing to for a while, as my current computer was about five years old. Everything was becoming slower. I run a lot of software, such as Google desktop indexing (and even another desktop indexing program, if you can figure that out), and my old computer…
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Tax incentive for wind energy producers set to expire
Read more: Tax incentive for wind energy producers set to expireThis post explains that without subsidy, wind power generation facilities will likely not be built. Supporters of these tax credits, which are payments from the federal government through the tax system. These payments, termed “incentives” by their supporters, make wind power economically feasible. Without it, wind power wouldn’t be built.
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Wichita School Bond Presentation by Helen Cochran
Read more: Wichita School Bond Presentation by Helen CochranOn September 15, 2008, Helen Cochran of Citizens for Better Education gave a talk before a Wichita civic group. Her talk was fabulous. Here are some highlights: Helen (like myself) has tried to get test scores from USD 259 (Wichita public school district), but it’s a difficult process. There’s always a delay or reason why…
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Cap-and-trade harmful to Kansas
Read more: Cap-and-trade harmful to KansasAn op-ed in the Wichita Eagle (Amy J. Blankenbiller: Cap-and-trade would be harmful to Kansans) makes the case that some cures for global warming may cause more harm than good.
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Another Funny Wichita School Bond Issue Cartoon
Read more: Another Funny Wichita School Bond Issue CartoonHelen Cochran of Citizens for Better Education has released another political cartoon whose topic is the Wichita school bond issue. Click here to go to CBE’s website and see the first cartoon.
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Records Requests Sent Today
Read more: Records Requests Sent TodayToday, I’ve made two records requests under the Kansas Open Records Act. The first, to USD 259, the Wichita public school district, is this: All correspondence between USD 259 and Schaefer Johnson Cox Frey Architecture and its representatives from July 1, 2007 to the present. I ask for both written and electronic correspondence such as…
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Wichita Eagle’s Richard Crowson: Cartoonist for the Teachers Union
Read more: Wichita Eagle’s Richard Crowson: Cartoonist for the Teachers UnionIn 2006, Wichita Eagle editorial Cartoonist Richard Crowson received an award from the Kansas teachers union. He’s a “friend of education.” Really. I wonder if Crowson realizes the harm that teachers unions cause? I wonder if he know that teachers unions try to block every attempt at meaningful reform?