From the Alvin and Rosalie Sara Check studio, PBS Kansas Presents.

Kansas Week state officials are battling a growing measles outbreak in southwest Kansas.

Governor Kelly urges Kansans to get vaccinated.

Also, a legal fight over a former Leavenworth prison.

Could it reopen as an immigration detention center under a new Trump administration push?

But first, protests well in downtown Wichita.

Hundreds rally on an historic anniversary, fearing expanded federal powers.

Kansas week starts right now.

Hello and welcome to Kansas Week.

I'm Jared Cirillo.

For weeks, downtown Wichita has seen growing crowds protesting government actions.

This past Saturday in fact, marked a national day of action.

Attendance soared to over thousands of people.

Cakes.

Lily O'Brien reports.

250 years ago today was the first shot shot heard around the world of the American Revolutionary War.

And, you know, we've got we've got Minutemen out here.

It's a historical fact that stood out to Michael Powell as he looked around at street corners lined with people, signs and flags.

The weekly protests in downtown Wichita began in early February with less than 100 demonstrators.

Its organizer, Shannon Boone, says that number is growing and the protest has quickly grown into something bigger.

We've had pretty regular, regularly attended about 350 to 400 people, and today I think we're probably around 1213 hundred people.

Protesters gather every Saturday at noon.

Boone says each week brings more headlines, more concerns and more reasons to show up.

And there's not one group represented here with any of these signs that is not under attack right now.

And until something changes, I think people are just going to keep keep coming out and keep raising their voices.

For some protesters, that momentum is fueled not just by anger, but fear.

I'm scared for a lot of people.

I'm scared for myself.

And I think that we as Americans deserve a government that we shouldn't be afraid of.

That's why I'm outraged.

While the crowd lightened with pouring rain, some demonstrators rode out the weather, holding their rain soaked signs high.

For now, there's no indication of the demonstrations slowing down.

When something changes from Washington, D.C. to Topeka to Wichita.

I don't I don't know, is the answer really.

There's no no end in sight at the moment.

Just unfortunate in downtown Wichita.

Lily O'Brien, Kik news on your side.

Lots to talk about this week.

In fact, here to talk about this and some of this week's other big stories is Republican State Senator Renee Erickson from Wichita.

Democrat State Representative Henry Helguson from East Bureau and the managing editor of Harvey County.

Now, Adam Strunk, thank you all for joining us today.

Henry, I'll start with you.

The right claims.

This is what the Trump campaigned on.

This is what the majority of Americans want.

Do you agree with that?

Do I agree?

Yeah, I believe that that's what Trump campaigned on.

The left has some opposition.

And while people have concerns about the protests, actually it should be you know, everybody should look at it as very favorable.

It is good to have people getting out and voicing their feelings and opinions.

If they have concerns about policies, either in Topeka or in DC.

It is good for them to get out and express it.

Too often, legislators don't give them an opportunity to exercise that option.

And you know, it's great to see him out there.

For the most part, we've seen these protests, in fact, nationwide.

They have been growing for for weeks now.

Senator Erickson are prominent Republicans afraid to speak up about what's going on at the federal level?

Is too much happening?

We saw Senator Murkowski speak up this last week or so saying she was afraid.

Are prominent Republicans afraid to speak up and say things aren't right?

I don't think so.

I think people have a right to voice their opinion, just like Representative Helguson said.

And and I think it's good.

We have a constitutional right to peaceably assemble a symbol and a freedom of speech.

So I think it's a good thing that people are speaking up.

But I don't know that people are afraid to.

I think always people always weigh political costs to doing so.

But being afraid to.

I don't think so.

Adam, tell me your feelings.

What do you think about these growing protests all around the nation?

Not only.

I had the chance.

I was in Wichita for another reason.

I had a chance to drive through it, and there was a pretty darn good sized crowd.

I mean, Harvey County's usually pretty laid back on stuff.

We've got a protest through the Mennonite church is scheduled to borrow at the courthouse.

So and I'm hearing more from people.

There are people voice their concerns.

Democrats and sometimes some Republicans I run into.

I mean, it's positive that people feel comfortable, going out and protesting.

And it's something that like we as American citizens, all of us right, left and center should keep our eye on and do what we can to protect even if we disagree with people.

Because I covered plenty of protests 3 or 4 years ago who were viewed situation from the other side.

So I think it's an important American.

Right, because it seems like the the right, the right is claiming that most of these protests are the left out.

They're protesting what's what's going on.

Do you agree with that?

I don't I don't think.

I don't think they're hurt.

The left.

I don't necessarily think that the right.

Yeah.

I think it's people that have real concerns and questions about things such as Social Security or their health care benefits.

They want to know are they going to be taken care of?

And legislators historically have said these are federal or state programs that are available for you.

We've made that conscious decision, and they're going to be there from now until long time in the future.

But right now, there's too many individuals.

It doesn't matter which party that are raising questions and concerns.

So they're picking up the nervousness to many individuals in the public.

You mean that they have a public, microphone, let's say, understood and might be tactful enough?

Yeah, absolutely.

I guess.

Yeah.

You know, it just seems, though, that these do you think these these protests will continue to escalate?

Elon Musk has said he's going to be stepping back.

Do you think things might quiet down then in the future?

Yeah.

Well, it's hard to say if it will.

Depends on what comes out of Washington, what comes out of Topeka if people stay fired up or not?

I do think, though, that it probably is more of the left at this point protesting because it tends to be the party that doesn't have the white House or Congress that tends to, you know, be more dissatisfied than those in the in the majority party.

So I would think that would hold true here, although, I don't know, I think everyone has the right to voice their opinion.

Well, I'm just tacking on to that.

I kind of wonder a little bit how much this is a symptom of when you have, like US senators, U.S. Congress people kind of refusing to hold town halls like, Roger Marshall was in Newtown a couple days ago.

I had the chance to kind of talk to Roger Marshall as he toured Mir and they asked him, hey, are you going to hold any town halls coming up?

And he said, no, I don't feel like it's a safe situation for me to do it.

We need to calm down the political rhetoric, lower the temperature.

So I don't see that in the near future.

And so you have this disconnect where you have these U.S. elected people and they're not holding these town halls.

I mean, you've done journalism like summers, like town hall season where you're here and you're there and everyone's glad.

I think someone did hold a town hall.

It might have been Senator Marshall, I can't I can't write well and not hang on.

But it was draft.

It was by telephone.

So definitely the times are changing there.

Well, so yeah, one last thing I think, is I remember there was a public meeting for legislators and the general public up in Andover, and then there was one downtown, 21st and eminent at the, work center.

You know, there are opportunities for them to speak directly to Kansas legislators.

So, you know, I don't know what he is afraid of.

I think the best thing is to get out and mingle with the people and talk to them.

Yeah, they elected them.

Yeah.

So call me.

You would think so.

We'll move on to the next story in Leavenworth.

Now.

Illegal battle is brewing over the future of a former federal detention center.

Private corrections company, core Civic wants to reopen the facility, which closed in 2021 as an immigrant detention center to support federal deportation efforts.

The city of Leavenworth is suing, arguing the company needs city permission to reactivate the site.

The plan also faces opposition from groups citing the prison's troubled past.

I did a little research on this one that core civic does have quite, a history dating back in Tennessee.

They've had a lot of trouble in Tennessee, Michigan, private.

They run private prison facilities all over the country.

They don't seem to be a stranger to controversy.

See here.

Adam and I did a little research on this, too.

It's not a local issue here, but, like, I think it's telling that a lot of the people leading these protests are the people who used to work at the facility, like, I think that says a little bit.

And my other side is like, you know, we're weighing local control, state control, federal control, and I'm always a local control guy.

And, I mean, I cover economic development a lot.

And that's one of those issues where it feels like local control.

It's always weighted in the other end where like, people care about what's going the community, but the process is always hard to navigate.

The process always seems stacked.

The people are trying to get it done.

And so, you know, I always try to hope for and look at those people, like exercising their rights, saying, hey, this is our community.

We pay taxes, we employ you.

We are allowed to have a say on what opens in our community.

I always hate when I see local control stepped on.

Yeah.

Senator Erickson, are you are you are you in favor of letting a private, for profit company run the prison in Leavenworth?

Well, I think that this is obviously stemming from a nation, nationwide effort to reinstate those private contracts with the prisons.

And I agree, though, with Adam, that this is a local control issue.

I believe that this issue was in court a couple days ago.

I don't know the outcome of that hearing.

But I do think it's a local control issue.

Let them work it out and go through that process and we'll see what happens.

Representative Helgeson well, I'd also add it if local individuals have made the decision to bring in that business or to have that business in place.

Questions I started asking is, how's that going to impact the job situation that we have?

Because right now we can't fill all of the jobs we have in the correctional system.

Have they been paying property taxes throughout this period of time?

Has there been some gap in that period of time where they didn't pay property taxes?

You know, if they're fulfilling all the requirements of being a business, you know, they have certain rights also that someone should say that they may not have been, as ideal of an employer as we'd like.

But at the same time, as a business that operates within the laws of Kansas, they have some rights.

Yeah.

Representative Helgeson brings up an interesting point about employment.

You know, I remember stories with the prison in El Dorado, the prison in Hutchinson, they can't find enough people.

They go to work in spots.

I mean, I think it's always hard to fill those correctional facilities because, I mean, you have to increase the pay.

It's not always a pleasant job.

And, I mean, I haven't had a chance to work in a correctional facility, but just talking to people, you know, there's certain risks, there's certain stuff you deal with.

And so, yeah, it is always hard to find that employment.

And then you have to weigh, well, what's the benefit of these jobs it brings to our community, right.

We like the benefit to work in one of the prisons.

We can make that available, but not a specialty.

I'm a journalist.

I don't pay much, but I'm happy where I am, right?

Right.

Our next story southwest Kansas continues to grapple with a measles outbreak first reported in March, cases have now climbed to 37 across eight counties in Kansas, with most affecting unvaccinated individuals, particularly children.

Governor Laura Kelly held a press conference urging families to get vaccinated.

Sydney Ferguson has the story.

Put your kids first.

Talk to your doctor.

Get your child vaccinated.

Governor Laura Kelly speaks to the Garden City community about measles prevention during a Tuesday press conference, the same city where a positive measles test was reported by an employee at Clarion Inn.

We are almost out of the incubation period where folks exposed would have shown up with symptoms.

Senator Bill Clifford says the Clarion Inn has the all clear to return to business as usual.

But Finney County is one of eight the Kansas Department of Health and Environment confirms is currently dealing with an outbreak in order to stop it.

The governor is spreading the message about prevention.

The health of our communities, and especially of our children, depends on all of us to recognize our collective responsibility to each other.

The Cdphe says vaccination is the strongest defense against measles, yet vaccination rates have dropped below 90%.

30 of the 37 isolated cases the state has documented are in unvaccinated people.

No parent wants to see their child in the hospital over something we know how to prevent.

Kelly blames the resurgence of measles on misinformation.

And the legislature, she says, has made it hard for schools and local health departments to act quickly when an outbreak occurs.

Tuesday, the governor said the vaccine isn't dangerous, but measles, or you can prevent it with two doses of the MMR vaccine.

It is not about ideology.

We've done this before.

Let's do it again.

Let's protect our Kansas kids.

In Wichita.

Cydney Ferguson, Kake, news on your side.

Senator Erickson, I'll open it up to you.

Tell me your thoughts here on this.

Do you think the governor's words will make vaccination rates climb?

Well, we'll see, but the health and welfare of our children is of utmost importance, and it shouldn't be politicized.

And so I think there's a couple things to consider here.

We know that the vaccination rate, according to CD, is kindergarten.

Coverage assessment is a little over 90%.

2.9% of those students have exemptions.

And so the CDC recommended rate is 95%.

The exemption rate isn't causing the problem with us hitting that 95% goal.

There's 6 to 7%.

We don't know what's happening.

So I think we need to look at why we're seeing a dip in vaccination rates.

I think that it's important that people take the right health precautions.

To blame this on the legislature, though.

I don't know if she's referring to Senate Bill 29 or not, but she vetoed that bill this session.

We overrode the veto on it on April 10th, which, of course, we knew about this issue prior to that.

So I'm not sure what obstacle she believes the legislature is putting up.

Representative Halvorson, tell me your response to that.

I think we should do everything we can.

And not just through legislation to get kids vaccinated.

I didn't hear, health and environment come before the budget committee and ask for any specific, marketing tools or tools in order to get the children vaccinated that are not vaccinated now.

But I think if the governor has a proposal or that if the legislature, since they're going to be putting a budget together to think there are ways of getting all of the kids vaccinated, we should look at it.

Is it still required?

It's still legally required to be vaccinated to enter kindergarten.

Correct.

Right.

Correct.

So those exemptions we're talking about that 2.9%.

You talked about a very likely religious, religious or medical exemptions.

Yeah.

Together.

Adam Strong, tell me your thoughts.

My thoughts.

I mean I'm pro vaccination.

I think it's good.

I mean, from being in the trenches, going through the whole Covid disaster, like, I mean, this is still the fruit of, like, active misinformation campaigns we had with Covid.

Like we had so much stuff put on on how not to trust the vaccine, how this is bad, how this is bad.

And I mean, it's just it's osmosis like.

And so now all vaccines are bad where this vaccine has been around since, what, like the 60s, the 70s like clearly like it's safe and like I mean, yeah, I understand the 2.9% isn't getting us to that 95%.

But you know, a few percentage points get gets us a little closer.

And, you know, I do think that we need to encourage vaccination, but I also think it's on the same people who said, hey, you know, we shouldn't be forced to vaccinate for Covid if they do think that measles is a concern, it's also them to go out and educate all of the people who listen to them and say, hey, but this is an important thing.

Maybe there's another message we should talk about, and that is parents have a personal responsibility not only to take care of their own child, but the children that they play with and whether or not it's at school or on the playgrounds.

And we don't talk about that enough.

In our society, we have personal responsibilities to take care of each other and society, and that should be emphasized.

Absolutely understood.

Wichita now receiving national recognition for its veterans health care, a study by Trajectory Medical ranked Wichita as the top city in the nation for veteran care in 2025, the Robert J. Dole VA medical center earned praise for timely and high quality care, scoring a perfect 100 based on low wait times, high patient satisfaction, and superior hospital quality.

The Dole VA ranked first nationwide in access to specialty care and fifth in mental health care cases.

Representative Hawkinson this is definitely good news for Kansas and Wichita and the VA center.

You know, maybe it's a sign of the type of people we have living in Wichita that they care about the veterans, they care about, those that are sick and they go a step beyond to take care of them, whatever the situation is.

And that's that's great for the employees.

It's great for the hospital and it's great for the state.

Senator Erickson.

Ditto.

You know, our veterans deserve the best care and support that we can possibly give them.

And out of respect, it's so good to see Wichita getting this recognition.

I agree it's the care of our people.

Our people care about each other, and veterans especially deserve that honor.

And we need to honor them in this way.

So congratulations and keep up the good work.

You know, we have heard a lot of complaints in the last couple of years about delays, veterans not being able to get access at VA health centers, not only in Kansas but nationwide.

Well, I mean, it's hard to argue the cost on a veterans center doing really well.

It's good news for Wichita.

I mean, I think that's stuff to be proud of.

And I think it's also stuff as a community.

If this is something we're proud of, it is something we promote.

It's indicative for us to keep our eye on it and to make sure that that same level of service continues, especially when there are suggestions on cutting various positions at the VA and at the federal level.

There have been do we think we can maintain this?

I guess the question becomes, well, I think we have to maintain it because when people serve our country, we have a responsible military to take care of those people.

Yeah.

And our last story potential U.S. tariffs could soon make buying new clothes more expensive.

Driving more shoppers to second hand stores.

Industry watchers say about a third of Americans already buy used clothing, a trend expected to grow.

Cakes Jocelyn Schiffer Decker visited a Wichita vintage store that's already seeing a big boom in customers of all ages.

Vintage clothing shopper David Robledo showing off the new to him but old Pantera shirt he bought Tuesday afternoon.

It's a band that means a lot to him.

I grew up with this when my parents, Robledo says.

He wouldn't be able to find anything like this at a regular retail store.

These shirts are really hard to find, like when it comes across.

As soon as I see it, I'm just I'm already there.

Plus the price.

That's why he is part of the one out of three Americans who get their clothing secondhand, according to a study last month from Capital One.

I go to Goodwill's in, you know, antique stores just to look at shirts, and I'm buying shirts more than I am going to Walmart or to the mall.

2 a.m.

Fit's owner, CR Curlies, says recently he's been noticing an increase in shoppers at his store as people of all ages are looking to save money.

We have a little older demographic starting to come in, and then also we're starting to see a lot younger demographic of kids that are in their teens or early teens pre-teens.

If tariffs drive up the price of new clothing, this trend is expected to continue.

The AP reports nearly all clothing sold in the U.S. is imported from another country, but for the most part, secondhand owners sourced their products locally, and that can come from all over.

I would say a little bit of a state sales garage sales and a lot in thrift stores.

This means he isn't planning to raise prices much to shoppers like Rob Letos relief.

He says his friends have even started following his lead.

My friends used to shop big stuff and then once they start seeing that, you know, these shirts over here are way better than what he was buying.

Now they're slowly getting into the antiques and the old stores type of style.

Adam Strunk.

It does seem like we've heard nothing but negative come out of the tariffs, at least from the from the left side of the argument.

So we're we're trying to make a positive out here.

But yeah I mean shout out to etc.

shop and they do a good amount of business.

I do I can make a negative I do I'm sorry, but I mean, I do think that this talks to some of the, like, consumer habits you're starting to see out of uncertainty.

I'm not saying good, bad, whatever, but I'm saying, like, right now, the last few months have been months of uncertainty.

And like, what do you consumers what do business?

What is everyone do in uncertainty?

You start stocking money with me, my wife and I like we've changed our habits because it's like, well, we don't know what's going to happen.

Hell, I planted extra potatoes this year just in case.

But, so, like I do think you see that anxiety and that's an anxiety like I see on Main Street.

Like, you know, you talk to the local coffee shop that's going to have to increase price by 10% because we can't grow coffee in the United States.

Like, you've got some of our larger employers that are really seeing impacts from these tariffs or just not knowing what the future holds like that translates and trickles down to the regular public.

And I mean, as a guy who's not really into consumerism, I think it is great that we are not throwing away clothes and we are reusing clothes like, that's really awesome.

But as a guy who says maybe this is a good bellwether of like consumer, confidence in the market.

Yeah, yeah.

I think that this is an indicator.

Yeah.

Renee Erickson, tell me your response.

Do you agree?

Yeah.

Well, you know, I love thrift and vintage shopping, so I've done it for years.

But look, I think that there are other factors other than maybe the tariffs playing into this.

You know, we came out of a, inflation rate of 7% in 2021.

I think that's taken a hit on people's pocketbooks.

I think this I agree, the uncertainty paired with what people have experienced lately with with their dollar not having as much purchasing power, they're looking at ways to save on their budget.

And I think that's not necessarily a bad thing.

We'll see what happens with the tariffs.

You know, we have a $1.2 trillion trade deficit.

We've got to do something.

So but uncertainty does breed people.

You know the market affects markets and people's pocketbooks.

So yeah the representative Helgeson the story seems to blame tariffs for this.

Do you agree with that?

No not necessarily.

There's been a strong, desire over the years to use to get more value out of clothing or shoes that are available.

Heck, I, I hate to admit that I have several pairs of shoes and pants that I've gotten in, from those kind of sources.

But the thing that's not talked about is I heard on the story recently that credit card bills are at some of the top levels right now.

Yeah, we are borrowing more money just to get by.

And that is a real concern that we should have as a country, because more people are having a hard time meeting, making ends meet.

That's part of the reason why the clothing is in demand, in order to try to take care of their, Well, they're living.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It is.

It is definitely a time at the signs.

How do we do making that a negative?

Yeah.

That's true.

Representative Helgeson, I did want to bring up one last thing here.

A couple of weeks ago.

We did run a story here on Kansas Week.

About a motion you made to cut, funding for public broadcasting.

And I wanted to give you a chance to respond to that.

And there has been a little bit of an outcry to save the funding for public broadcasting.

Tell me your thoughts on funding state funding for public broadcasting.

We we funded at a horrible level compared to other states.

But there are other discussions we should have.

First of all, we took it.

I was taking it back to the historic level of $500,000 because we were trying to do this across the board to all agencies, because if you've heard, we have 750 to $1 billion deficit that's going to hit us in the next couple of years.

But we need to figure out more ways to make sure that public television thrives and can and does a better job in providing the news that and programing that we need across the state.

That means that all the stations have to come together and have some discussions about how we have limited resources and how we get the best for the bucks that we have.

You know, it is very limited.

Senator Erickson, do you think funding for public broadcasting should be cut?

Look, one of the areas that I so respect, the representative on our fiscal issues so far, be it for me to contradict its position on this issue.

But I think with the financial state we're looking at, we know we've either got to raise taxes or cut spending, and I don't know the specific areas that we're going to have to look at, but it's coming.

And so I think for us to to take a look at the budget process like we did this year, start anticipating that making the necessary steps is prudent.

I'm going to interrupt.

Go ahead quickly there.

We have a program where not for profits, can get a license tag in this state that members are supporters.

Q I think got $300,000 last year because supporters of Q bought license tags.

They have a little thing.

Wichita State did the same thing.

I'll help.

Channel eight get its own license tag so we can get more money for the station and get more things going for this state is a good idea because there are opportunities, and a lot of people want the station to thrive.

All right.

Sponsored on the Senate side.

There you go.

We are out of time today.

Thank you so much to Renee Erickson, Henry Halverson, and Adam Strunk for participating.

And thanks also to Kake news and KSN for sharing their stories with us.

We'll see you next week.

Oh.