Month: March 2018

by Jim McLean, Kansas News Service

Republicans in the Kansas House on Tuesday unveiled a plan they say will make schools safer.
Really more of a plan to get a plan, it calls for the Kansas State Department of Education and state emergency response and law enforcement agencies to develop statewide standards for “safe and secure school buildings.”

The standards would provide districts with best-practice guidelines for securing buildings and training staff and students how to respond in emergencies. The education department would provide districts with technical assistance. Financial assistance would come from a new $5 million state grant program.

“We know this will make a difference,” said House Speaker Ron Ryckman, flanked by several Republican lawmakers. No Democrats attended their hastily called news conference.

The GOP plan, developed in the aftermath of the Feb. 14 Florida school shooting that left 17 dead, would encourage Kansas school administrators to use a program developed by the NRA to educate students about firearm safety. But unlike a previous bill, it wouldn’t preclude the use of other gun safety curricula.

“It’s not a mandate,” Ryckman said. “It’s a suggestion.”

Rep. Brenda Dietrich, a former Topeka school superintendent, backed the plan but said care should be taken not to turn schools into fortresses.

“Our buildings need to be safe and secure without a doubt,” she said. “They also need to be warm and nurturing and welcoming.”

Ryckman, an Olathe Republican, brushed aside questions about the future of other measures intended to reduce gun deaths. He said GOP lawmakers were united on the school security plan.
They’re still split on other proposals, including one that would allow guns to be temporarily confiscated from people seen as immediate suicide risks or domestic violence threats.

Senate leaders have pledged to give that bill a hearing but it hasn’t been scheduled. Sen. Barbara Bollier, a Mission Hills Republican and sponsor of that “red flag” bill, has said if necessary she will attempt to force a vote on it.

Two House-passed gun bills cleared a Senate committee earlier this week. One would expand the list of people prohibited from owning firearms to include those convicted of domestic violence and those subject to restraining orders to keep them from stalking or harassing others. The other would allow people with permits from other states to also carry concealed firearms in Kansas.

Jim McLean is managing director of the Kansas News Service, a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio, KMUW and High Plains Public Radio covering health, education and politics. You can reach him on Twitter @jmcleanks. Kansas News Service stories and photos may be republished at no cost with proper attribution and a link back to the original post.

See more at http://kcur.org/post/kansas-republicans-offer-plan-process-school-security.

by Stephen Koranda, Kansas News Service

Ryan Cavanaugh has a vision for downtown Topeka: a restaurant and pub called Brew Bank, where customers can access a wall of 20 electronic, self-serve beer taps as a way to mingle and try local brews.

“It’s just about a community experience,” he said. “For the patrons to be able to try all of these beers and try them responsibly in small amounts is just an exciting thing.”

The devices let customers use an electronic card to dispense brews.

“Let’s face it,” Cavanaugh said, “the technology’s just really cool.”

Contest judges in Topeka recently agreed. The Brew Bank idea, pushed by Cavanaugh and his partners, won a $100,000 award in the recent Top Tank contest for entrepreneurs. That was modeled on the TV show Shark Tank and featured business proposals vying for investment dollars.

Brew Bank came out on top in the contest, but then ran into a problem.

“We did not know that it was not legal in Kansas,” Cavanaugh told a panel of lawmakers Tuesday.

Now, Cavanaugh and others are asking lawmakers for passage of a bill to allow this type of business in the state. He said pour-your-own pubs are allowed in most states.

Kansas already allows self-serve wine taps, although a state regulator said none is currently in use.

Some lawmakers had questions about underage drinking, but Cavanaugh said customers would be ID’d when getting their cards. Those cards would limit how much beer a person can buy.

Lawmakers also asked about trading the “tap cards,” or otherwise misusing them.

“If there was a market for it, could I come in, buy my card, take it outside and sell it to somebody?” Republican Sen. Ty Masterson asked.

Cavanaugh said the photo from a customer’s ID would be saved in the system so staff members could see if someone was using another person’s card.

“You’re tied to your card,” Cavanaugh said. “Everything is monitored.”

The self-serve pub idea has taken hold in other areas. Ruins Pub, featuring 40 do-it-yourself taps, opened in Kansas City, Missouri, in 2015.

Stephen Koranda is Statehouse reporter for Kansas Public Radio, a partner in the Kansas News Service. Follow him on Twitter @kprkoranda. Kansas News Service stories and photos may be republished at no cost with proper attribution and a link back to the original post.

See more at http://kcur.org/post/pour-your-own-pubs-bill-gets-push-kansas-legislature.