These 67 Kansas opinion columns opened eyes and hearts throughout one rugged 2025

Farmer Jason Schmidt took a photo with his longtime dairy cow friend, Buffalo. (Photo by Jason Schmidt)

The opinion coverage in Kansas Reflector takes a proverbial village to create.

I edit the section, of course, and contribute two to three columns a week. But we also rely on a number of regular contributors, such as Max McCoy on Sundays and Eric Thomas on Fridays. Mark McCormick doesn’t have a day set aside, at least not yet, but he writes frequently. Readers no doubt recognize others, including Tara Wallace and Ben Palen.

The village metaphor came to mind as I assembled this list of the top 67 Kansas Reflector opinion columns — by page views — published in 2025. You’ll see many of the names listed above as you browse below, along with surprise guests like First Amendment attorney Max Kautsch and former college president H. Edward Flentje. (I wrote all the columns without names attached.)

You’ll notice pieces from new contributors who helped us tell stories that no other news outlet in Kansas managed. Sam Foglesong wrote about his wife being fired in Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency purges. Farmer Jason Schmidt sent a heartfelt remembrance of his cow friend, Buffalo.

We relied on all of these voices to tell the story of 2025. As you might have noticed, the year didn’t just challenge. It grated. It pained. It wrenched. Yet we made it through nonetheless, refusing to be silenced by those who would like nothing more than cowed, fearful acquiescence.

Why 67 pieces? I hear that kids like the number for some reason. Enjoy the list, and I’ll see you in 2026.

 

The closed Tyson beef plant in Emporia can be glimpsed behind a chain link fence. The company announced the closure in December and has since laid off 809 employees who worked there, contributing to conditions that made Emporia, by June 2025, the city with the highest unemployment in Kansas. (Photo by Max McCoy/Kansas Reflector)

Columns 1-22

• My town is the new unemployment capital of Kansas. But have you tried the water? (July 27) Max McCoy
• With Trump and Musk driving U.S. policy, Kansas farmers have been played for suckers (Feb. 12) Ben Palen
• A Kansas town chose cruelty. Now it mourns as the mayor faces voter fraud charge and deportation. (Dec. 1)
• This Kansas senator exalts Trump’s first 100 days. Please don’t ask any follow-up questions. (May 5)
• Here’s the latest from Hays, Kansas: Elon Musk fired my wife (March 4) Sam Foglesong
• My cow friend, Buffalo, stood beside me throughout my farming career. Now I’ve had to say goodbye. (Feb. 27) Jason Schmidt
• From this former Kansas appellate judge, an open letter to U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran (March 12) Steve Leben
• Trump’s big bill will snuff out Kansas hospitals and eviscerate Medicaid. Jerry Moran just shrugs. (July 3)
• It’s been 80 years since the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Time to raise some L. (Aug. 3) Max McCoy
• At tightly controlled town hall, Kansas’ Roger Marshall parrots rhetoric with future on the line (March 20) Christy Davis
• My son graduated from his Kansas middle school this week. Too bad the world stinks to high heaven. (May 23)
• A Kansas sheriff’s sweet, clumsy invite to deliver drunk teens home (May 2) Eric Thomas
• Three lawsuits confirm that Kansas lawmakers concocted menacing attacks on civil rights (June 2)
• Oh, the hypocrisy! What this Kansas school board’s rejection of a history textbook really means. (Jan. 19) Max McCoy
• Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly abandons national governors group as political crisis spirals (Aug. 4)
• Cowardly Roger Marshall claims ‘real Kansans’ love Trump and DOGE. We know otherwise. (March 3)
• Afraid of letting Satan loose in the Kansas Statehouse? Then check your religion at the door, too. (March 16) Max McCoy
• Though we drive through Kansas’ valley of death, we shall fear no evil. OK, let’s fear a little bit. (July 21)
• Unsettled Kansas, unsettled America: Residents plead for answers from recalcitrant lawmakers (April 3) Dave Kendall
• Kansas Statehouse clownery has torn First Amendment to shreds. Who will tape it back together? (March 17)
• Take it from this Kansan: Officials in Washington, D.C., tamper with federal workforce at our peril. (Feb. 4) Leroy Towns
• Kansas tuberculosis outbreak reminds us of long battle for public health — and importance of trust (Feb. 2) Max McCoy

 

Downtown Lawrence shimmers with fall colors. (Photo by Clay Wirestone/Kansas Reflector)

Columns 23-44

• This Kansas town doesn’t hate immigrants enough. So the Trump administration plots vengeance. (June 9)
• What’s happening at Kansas’ Haskell University isn’t a Native problem (July 14) Haines Eason
• A darkness has descended on America. We must seek the air and light of hope. (Feb. 9) Max McCoy
• A rural Kansas county is postcard perfect. Its for-profit jail is a way station to deportation hell. (May 4) Max McCoy
• D.C. wrecking crew has taken sledgehammer to services for Kansas rural communities (Feb. 18) Christy Davis
• Reflections on a winter storm — and the worst blizzard in Kansas history (Jan. 12) Max McCoy
• Kansas senator’s ridiculous immigration hearing casts nun aside, eviscerates norms (Jan. 22)
• Like a rolling stone, Bob Dylan returns next month to Kansas. For me, he never left. (Feb. 16) Max McCoy
• From Eisenhower’s swivel to Trump’s glare, presidential portraits strike different poses (Jan. 24) Eric Thomas
• Kansas Statehouse bigwigs lay down the law: Call us racist and we’ll crush you like a bug (March 15)
• Topeka police seize student phones, demand passcodes, without telling families. Parents cry foul. (Dec. 22) Mark McCormick
• ‘Good luck to the finder:’ Seeking clues to who we are at the oldest working courthouse in Kansas (Sept. 21) Max McCoy
• A century ago, Kansans celebrated by introducing Wheat Girl to the president. Madness followed. (Jan. 26) Max McCoy
• Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly’s sober speech runs into buzzsaw of obstruction from GOP leaders (Jan. 16)
• Way down yonder in southeast Kansas, demonstrators protest to vent frustration and find solace (May 19) Marsha Hayes
• Think the FIFA ‘peace prize’ was laughably absurd? It was, but the joke’s on us. (Dec. 14) Max McCoy
• Death of Kansas teen, and failure to prosecute, demands accountability (July 10) Mark McCormick
• What’s the value in doing good for others? A Kansas nonprofit tests the market with executive pay. (Aug. 24) Max McCoy
• Kansas Democrat plugs tough new approach: ‘When they go low, introduce their a$$ to the basement’ (Feb. 17)
• Marshall says paid agitators swamped Kansas forum. If he proves it, I’ll eat a copy of Project 2025. (March 5)
• Is Kansas AG Kris Kobach a citizen? After persecution of Lenexa leader, it might be time to ask. (Aug. 7)
• A citizen reporter strayed onto a police gun range. Cops sought a warrant for his online newspaper. (Nov. 30) Max McCoy

 

Sen. Renee Erickson chats on the Senate floor during the April 10, 2025, veto session. (Photo by Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)

Columns 45-67

• You took the country out of Cracker Barrel — then put it right back in (Sept. 12) Eric Thomas
• Kansas Legislature’s supermajority makes mockery of open records law over efficiency portal messages (April 23) Max Kautsch
• Last week’s letter from the Department of Ed will make Kansas classrooms twitch, then suffer (Feb. 21) Eric Thomas
• Dedicated, hardworking Kansans support farmers. DOGE has targeted their office. (March 5) Jeff Darrow
• In 1922 a Kansas paper gave readers an inside look at the Klan. The evil it exposed was timeless. (Aug. 10) Max McCoy
• A fire on the Kansas prairie: the life of Jim Hoy, cowboy scholar (March 2) Max McCoy
• Kansas Senate leaps at opportunity to follow in Elon Musk’s footsteps with ‘COGE’ committee (Feb. 8)
• Kansas leader was grilled over citizenship based on sketchy voicemail. Don’t ignore the racism. (Aug. 11)
• U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran needs to hold a Kansas town hall and stand up for Medicaid. Not later. Today. (June 25)
• Here’s an update from Hays, Kansas: My wife was rehired after DOGE cuts. Maybe? (March 27) Sam Foglesong
• As D.C. turns out the lights, Kansas politicos double down on performative dumbness (Oct. 2)
• What is a Christian Warrior? Shooting of Kansas priest draws attention of church security YouTuber (April 18) Eric Thomas
• Kansas State University a hotbed of ‘wokeness’? Horsefeathers! (Nov. 26) H. Edward Flentje
• This might not be your first rodeo. But it was mine, far out in western Kansas. (Aug. 6) Sam Foglesong
• Turbocharged by your tax dollars, Kansas ICE prison will sweep up legal residents and U.S. citizens (July 7)
• Your 2025 Kansas Statehouse session: A belly flop into a swimming pool full of curdled milk (April 14)
• Happy holidays, one and all, as Emporia State’s worst president ever finally leaves the building (Dec. 28)
• Our immigration cops have donned masks. Time to ask what they — and we — are hiding. (June 15) Max McCoy
• Searching for morsels of gratitude this Thanksgiving as Kansas careens off the rails (Nov. 27)
• Kansas lawmakers in D.C. would rather work the refs than answer tough questions back home (Aug. 18)
• This Kansas town knows prisons. It doesn’t want a for-profit company opening a ‘hell hole’ for ICE. (April 6) Max McCoy
• Expand the night-vision hunting season for Kansas’ top varmint? I’m rooting for the coyotes. (April 27) Max McCoy
• Gloomy tidings as Kansas Statehouse overflows with anger, confrontation and confusion (Feb. 22)

Clay Wirestone is Kansas Reflector opinion editor. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.