Tag: Wichita Eagle opinion watch

  • Kansas taxes and spending debated

    On the editorial page of the Wichita Eagle yesterday, three editorials discussed the Kansas budget, taxes, and spending.

  • Wichita schools, despite claims, find cost savings

    Despite claims that school spending has been “cut to the bone,” USD 259, the Wichita public school district, found a way to save $2.5 million per year by adjusting school starting times, thereby saving on transportation costs.

  • Regulation has not lessened, instead it has harmed us

    Last week’s Wichita Eagle featured an op-ed by Brad Beachy, who is co-chairman of Wichita Democracy for America. Several of the claims made by Beachy deserve examination. In particular, Beachy blames free markets as the cause of our current economic problems: “The Great Recession we’re in now started in late 2007, after several years of…

  • Kansas fund balances disputed despite evidence of their existence, benefit

    The Wichita Eagle op-ed by Kansas State School Board Member David Dennis (Fund balances won’t save schools) and another by Rhonda Holman dispute evidence that Kansas can make it through the current financial situation by making use of large fund balances in state agency accounts.

  • Lutz, Hanson, Fahnestock owe Wichita an apology

    In the campaign for the sales tax to build the downtown Wichita arena (Intrust Bank Arena), the idea of hosting NCAA men’s basketball games was promoted as something that would happen if voters approved the arena.

  • To sway opinion, basic facts must be correct

    A Vince Corbett of Wichita makes the case for riding an electric bicycle to work instead of driving a car. (“Biking saves,” August 30, 2009 Wichita Eagle) Unfortunately, the letter contains a mistaken fact and an assumption not supported by evidence.

  • Wichita Eagle reporting, headlining discussed by commissioners

    In today’s meeting of the Sedgwick County Commission, Wichita Eagle reporting and editorializing was the subject of an off-agenda item. Commissioner Gwen Welshimer used this opportunity to read into the record part of a press release she issued yesterday. The entire press release is at the end of this article.

  • Wichita downtown arena parking problem

    The Wichita Eagle editorial written by Rhonda Holman on June 29, 2009 now claims that the new Intrust Arena in downtown Wichita lacks adequate parking. This is a major change by the Eagle editorial board’s position. I have repeatedly asked county staff about the available parking in and around this soon-to-open facility since I became…

  • Paygo rule meaningless, harmful

    In a letter printed in yesterday’s Wichita Eagle, Doug Ittner of Wichita promotes the benefit of a rule known as “paygo.” The purpose of this rule is to force budget discipline on Congress. As the Washington Post’s David Broder wrote in that newspaper in June: “[Paygo’s] key provision requires that any new tax cut or…