From the Alvin and Rosalie Sara Check studio.

PBS Kansas Presents Kansas Week a bold play to drought proof the Metro.

Why Wichita is launching a pilot program to turn municipal wastewater straight into tap water.

Plus reigning in the duplex boom.

We'll break down new zoning restrictions in one Wichita suburb that targets new subdivisions and giant garages.

But first, the gubernatorial primary is exploding over the future of recreational pot.

While presumed Republican frontrunner Tim Masterson faces fierce fire over a six figure co-funded salary.

That's what we're talking about right now on Kansas Wheat.

Hello and welcome to Kansas Week.

I'm Jared Cirillo.

The smoke is still clearing in Topeka as two Democratic gubernatorial hopefuls are breaking from Kansas tradition and campaigning on legalizing recreational marijuana.

Cindy Holsinger and Ethan Clawson participating in a debate here at the PBS Kansas studio just this week.

They talked about their reasons for supporting full legalization of recreational marijuana.

Their stance contrasts with Overland Park Mayor Kurt Skoog.

Medical first approach as Holsinger warns, Kansas is losing taxes to Missouri, which raked in $255 million in cannabis revenue just last year.

On the Republican side, Senate President Tim Masterson strongly opposes legalization, but he's facing severe political scrutiny of his own.

As reported by Matthew Kelly of the Kansas City Star, Masterson is under fire for his $163,000 annual salary as director of Wichita State's coke funded go create workspace.

GOP primary rival Philip Saanich has labeled it a corrupt, no show job, and that's ignited a fierce public trust debate ahead of the August 4th primary.

Masterson and Saanich both declined to participate in a Republican gubernatorial debate sponsored by PBS Kansas and the Wichita Eagle.

That one hour debate will air again this Sunday afternoon at 330, and then on Thursday, you can see all three Democratic candidates debate.

That will be at 7 p.m.

here on PBS Kansas.

Here to discuss the gubernatorial races and some of this week's other big news is Wichita City Councilwoman Maggie Ballard.

Former fourth District congressional candidate James Thompson and conservative radio talk show host Andy Hoosier.

Thank you all for joining us.

Let's talk about this gubernatorial race.

First off, I'll start with James.

Welcome to the show.

This is your first time appearing.

It is.

It is.

Loosen up a little bit and tell us what you think about this gubernatorial race from an overall standpoint.

Well, I think that Cindy Holster is going to win.

I think that she's a great candidate.

And when the Democratic primary win the whole thing.

Well, the whole thing, I in my opinion, I think that she is the right person in the right job.

But I think that, you know, the discussion about marijuana is long overdue.

We're the only state, in the area that doesn't have it legalized.

I think we're one of two in the entire country that don't have some form of legalization.

So it's long overdue.

And I think that they realize that our gubernatorial candidates are moving forward in the direction that the state is moving.

Yeah.

And with the with the marijuana debate on the Republican side.

You're a Democrat.

No secret.

You're a Democrat.

But on the Republican side, it's interesting.

There has been polling that shows that even Republicans, a majority of Republicans support some form of legalization, whether it be medical only or medical and recreational.

But none of the legislature that super majority controlled legislature, none of these gubernatorial candidates on the Republican side are going to budge at all, it appears, and I maybe they're not paying Ty Masterson enough, you know, at his job to be able to afford, an opinion on it.

I don't know, but, you know, we have polling, as you suggested, 70% of Kansans believe that we should have some form of legalization.

60% in are in favor of recreational use.

So the polling is there.

A Kansans want it.

And the Republicans, need to step aside and, you know, enforce the will of the people.

Let me move over to Andy, who's your welcome to the show again.

Yeah.

Tell me, tell me about the overall.

You're a Republican.

No secret there either.

What is your overall view of the Republican primary?

There's still a lot of candidates, a lot of candidates, a lot of great candidates.

And I think that any one of them would be do a great job for the state.

And I think that, you know, any one of them will beat the, you know, the Democrats in the general election.

I'm really optimistic about that.

We've seen the trend every eight years, kind of swing the pendulum back and forth.

So, you know, the momentum is on our side, I think for sure, which is why there's so many in the field.

On the issue of marijuana.

You know, I probably one of the few issues we probably will agree with is I do agree that we need to have the conversation, and a lot of Republicans do support the idea of a conversation, recreational or medicinal, on marijuana.

And as the vice chair of the state Republican Party, you know, we are having those conversations.

Here's what I'll say is that the candidates on the campaign trail right now are saying that they're not in support of marijuana.

But, look, decriminalizing is a conservative stance, is a limited government, anti-government stance on the issue.

And the Trump administration's the one that re categorized marijuana from a schedule one to a schedule three for the research.

So we're moving in the right direction.

All the candidates have admitted that if the Trump administration does find medical benefit, if they do decriminalize, then it would be state policy here as well.

They're just kind of waiting to see what happens at the federal level and looking at the examples of what's happened positive and negative from other states around us.

So it is here.

It's all around us.

We will address it.

We're just waiting for the right time to do so.

Speaking of Republicans, Ty Masterson and, star Nikki Phillips, star Nikki both refused to participate in the debate that's coming up.

They seem to be the top two frontrunners.

Why don't they want to debate?

Well, look, I mean, the words were the last month and we've already had 2 or 3 debates across the stage.

We wanted to do one in each congressional district.

They're on the campaign trail.

They're talking to people.

They're knocking on doors.

Every time they talk to someone at a town hall, at some type of meet and greet, they're answering the same questions, are still getting the same information.

They're just doing it on the local front, with the grassroots knocking on the doors and talking to people directly.

You know, debates are great.

It gives an opportunity, I think, to fuel fire, that as we're trying to come together as a caucus, sometimes divides that a bit.

But look, I mean, they're all all the candidates are all hustling around the state of Kansas and getting their word out.

And we'll see what happens.

On August 4th, City Council member Maggie Ballard, how does the gubernatorial race you're a city council person in Wichita.

How does the gubernatorial race affect the city, and what are you hoping to see out of it?

Well, I'm hoping to see some more of, our partners in Topeka listen to the cities, participate in some of our problems, like, our unhoused problem is not just a Wichita problem.

It's not just a Sedgwick County problem.

It's a statewide problem.

And, some of our friends up in Topeka, I think, don't understand that.

So kind of disappointing that time as our send in Dan Hawkins, we're in a higher leadership position and kind of really moved the needle on some things for Wichita or Sedgwick County and chose not to participate.

And speaking of marijuana, the city kind of sort of decriminalize marijuana about 6 or 7 years ago.

It was just a few years ago, to in East Point.

I a little disappointed that we're waiting for, guidance from the federal level.

I think the state should take our own initiative.

And, join the rest of the United States.

We're leaving a lot of money on the table.

That it certainly does seem like we are missing out on millions and millions of tax revenue other people are doing this weekend.

I will push back a little bit on that and say, look, again, I think personally not speaking as a leadership in any fashion, I think we need to have the conversation.

I'm open to it.

I came from Colorado, I get it, a lot of states that have gone recreational or medicinal, really haven't seen as much of the revenue as a net profit as they potentially could because they turn around and have to use it for rehabilitation programs and for other things.

So, you know, look at it from the standpoint of limited government.

Get the government out of the way, let people make their choice.

And you can go and do what you want to do.

But from the standpoint of is it going to be a net benefit from the government, you can look at it as either we're spending money on enforcement now or spending money on rehabilitation later.

Will we see an actual profit from it?

Probably not.

It'll probably be a net neutral one way or the other.

But you know, we have to have the conversation moving forward.

Last thing about this topic.

Ty Masterson has faced serious criticism just in the last couple of days about this job that he has.

I mean, it's been no secret that he is the director of the go create, space at WSU, the tech campus.

James Thompson, what do you think about this is it is should he continue in that job, or is this just campaign rhetoric or what?

Well, it's definitely not just campaign rhetoric.

I mean, I think it's a trust issue.

You have a, our Senate leadership, that has a six figure job at Wichita State University that he doesn't show up for.

When the reporters went in, they didn't know who he was.

The people there didn't know what he looked like.

And somebody else came out and said that they were director, which is the position that he has.

So, you know, all of those things create real trust issues.

When you look at who funds that and the Koch brothers.

And so when you are the Koch Industries, and so when Koch Industries is funding that, and he is receiving this money, that makes you wonder how much of their interest he's pushing as opposed to the interest of Kansas.

And so I think it's a trust issue that has to be addressed.

And he should not be in that position.

Any Hoosier quickly, any response to yeah.

Well, look, look, I would push back in two different fronts.

Number one, I would say that, he has been there, he's been very successful.

He's one that started it with the investment of the Koch Industries to make it happen.

It's been a very successful program.

So regardless of how involved he's been in it on a day to day basis, it's been a successful program helping people in need for the creativity, opportunities for that.

Secondly, I would push back and say that it is campaign rhetoric just from candidates doing things on the campaign trail.

Because look at the end of the day, how many presidents and elected officials in DC have professorship positions making a half million dollars, and they never have taught a single class, including, by the way, Barack Obama.

So it's kind of a silly argument.

All right.

Our next story, a new Kansas law that just took effect, is giving renters another opportunity.

At stable housing, tenants are now able to expunge eviction records older than three years, provided they have no new judgments and have paid off all of their court order debts.

Advocates with the Coalition to End Homelessness say permanent eviction records used to haunt renters for decades, causing them to fail background checks.

Even ten years later, landlords now have 30 days to object.

Once a request is filed.

If there are no objections, the eviction is cleared without a hearing and renters can file for free online using the state's new eviction expungement portal.

Maggie Ballard I remember during the 2021 campaign, you campaigned hard on, tenants rights and homelessness, things like this, but specifically here.

Tenants rights.

I assume you're happy to see this go forward.

I am, I mean, we are still in a housing shortage, and that makes it even more difficult for, some folks that have maybe, cleaned up their credit or, you know, things are they're moving in a on a better path than they were in the past.

And I don't think they should be, punished for ten years is a long time.

So, yeah, I'm definitely happy to see that changes.

And, hope that it is helpful for several people, but is it punishing the landlords when they're or is it making it harder for the landlords to collect when renters aren't paying the bills?

Yeah.

Well, look, I mean, the landowners, the land renters are the ones that actually have to foot the bill for a lot of the maintenance, a lot of things.

Look, I mean, we need to find a happy balance between making sure that the, the actual owners of the property have the ability to make profits and actually stay in business so they can reinvest into it, and then giving the renters, as well, the opportunity to have that second chance and be able to continue on.

So it's a fine balance.

We'll see how this program works out.

But so you have to find that happy medium.

James Thompson any comments?

I've got a few concerns about the program.

One is that the enforcement of this, as far as when you say it's going to be expunged, people get records expunged all the time, and they're still part of the public domain now because of the data scraping that goes on all the time.

And so I question how much that's really going to be effective.

And if there's no enforcement mechanism for somebody to go, look, you're putting stuff out there that's expunged, then I don't know how much that's going to help because there's too many data, systems out there that will keep records.

Yeah.

All right.

Securing a release is only part of the challenge as well as area suburbs are tightening their codes on the types of homes that are going up.

The Goddard City Council unanimously approved new zoning laws designed to rein in the metro's rapid duplex boom to offset skyrocketing single family housing costs.

Builders have relied heavily on duplexes in recent years, but Goddard's new rules are capping duplexes at 40% per subdivision.

They also require developers to add trees and neighborhood amenities, and prevent grant giant garages from dominating the front of the home.

While the Wichita Area Builders Association did secure some concessions, neighboring cities like Mays and Derby are watching to see if this blueprint becomes the new Metro standard.

Andy Hoosier, I'll give you the first word here.

What do you what do you think about this?

We talk about affordable housing all the time.

And it seems like this is the, the way developers are using a cheaper route.

But is it the better route?

It's a good question.

At the same time, you know, where's the role of government to tell the private industry what to do?

I mean, come on.

Look, we need houses.

We need a lot of houses.

We need them fast and the market's going to respond accordingly.

We're going to go through a phase like this.

We could do with every type of other home.

And then it's going to change and the style is going to change.

Or we're going to want bigger homes again.

I mean before we just few years ago we were talking about micro homes, right?

And then we were talking about the massive, bigger, better, faster, stronger.

So we're going through a phase.

They're duplexes.

Are they the, you know, the best way to cram people into a short amount of space?

I don't know, but really to tell us we have to have a certain number of trees on our yard, like, come on.

Like the government needs to stay out, let the private sector do their thing and we'll respond accordingly.

So he asked a question.

Let me ask that to you, Maggie.

He asked, where is it the government's responsibility to tell private developers and businessmen what to do?

Many of these developers get taxpayer funding through SIDs or IRBs that you're very familiar with, I would assume.

So if they're using taxpayer money, is it okay for the city to tell them what to do then?

Well, I think some of the developers would not put in trees.

I mean, they might take out hundreds of trees for their project.

But, if we don't make it a priority to replace some of the trees and landscaping and grass and all the things that come with that, I worry that we would be even worse off than we are.

I mean, our canopy is way far behind aging, disease, a million things.

So we've really tried to take initiative.

I think there's a balance.

But yeah, I think that there needs to be a little bit of requirement.

And you go into some of these neighborhoods that have popped up largely on the outskirts, gotten Mays and on the far outskirts of town.

And, you know, I'm maybe I'm it's it's hard to say these neighborhoods are attractive at all because they are not they it's the houses are not unique.

It seems like they are.

I call them cookie cutter houses.

Is is this the the way we should be going or should we be encouraging uniqueness, I guess.

Well, I think that, you know, we we've got two very valid points here.

I mean, you know, if you are receiving government money then yeah, the government has a right to, you know, make some rules on how you're going to do that.

But I also see this as a classic case of not in my backyard.

You know, we don't want that over here.

I do, you know, somewhat agree with, with Andy on that.

You know, we also do have to allow, you know, the market to kind of drive, that to the extent that, you know, we are still providing houses, I mean, we have housing needs out there.

We have a large population that needs it.

So I, I think that we have to do better.

It's expensive.

And we have just a huge housing crisis because of how expensive it is and how low wages are.

And, you know, why can't we get developers to, focus?

We've been talking about this for decades as well.

Why can't we get developers to focus more on infill?

You know, we continue expanding out.

Yeah.

And and I suggestion I love it.

I mean, we need tons of infill in Delano Midtown, right in the core.

We want people to raise their families so they go to Wichita schools.

Yeah.

I mean, infill something that we talk about a lot.

It's not real attractive to some developers because they're not making enough money.

So is that is that the case?

If you got it, you got to do across the board, right?

I mean, we are expanding.

We got to go outward and upward.

We have to go inward and outward.

So I mean, we have to look at all of it.

The developers are going to find out where the money is and how to make a profit off it, because if they don't make a profit, there's no point in doing it.

So it's got to be happy across the board.

But you're right.

I mean, we have an expanding population and that's a good problem to have.

So on the positive side of it is that, you know, we're facing challenges with expansion, which is a growing pain that a lot of cities experience.

And we're in the middle of that.

So overall it's a good problem for us to have we'll figure it out.

But look, I mean we're going to make things that are affordable, which is why we're going duplex instead of a four story, you know, a, you know, a four bedroom house and something crazy that's, you know, $300,000.

We got to make it affordable, but we got to make it reliable and enough to be able to fill the demand, which it does seem like $300,000 is suddenly becoming the median home price here in Wichita, which is which is hard to believe.

I assume some or all of you are familiar with doctor Billingham Chase Billingham at Wichita State University, sociologist at Wichita State University.

He's talked about this topic at length over the last few months and says it's a huge problem.

Is it a huge problem?

As a city council member, do you think this is a problem?

And do you do you have any plans to do anything about it?

I guess I do think it's a problem.

I spoke with Wabba and some developers yesterday.

They were talking about Gordon and Derby and Mays is watching, but it's also just not the housing.

It's also the infrastructure that comes with that.

It's the fire that we're not just expanding houses, we're expanding the services.

And that's a serious problem too.

That needs to be discussed more.

We are adding some fire stations that we desperately need, but I don't think people talk about that part of it as much as they should.

Enough.

Yeah.

There was a fire station that was added, I think, down in Pawnee and Mays Road area.

So yeah, we are expanding somehow, but getting the tax dollars to pay for that as well.

Anything else to add, James?

No, I think that we, need to work as Andy said.

As Maggie said, on making more housing available.

But we've also got to make sure we have a good plan in place.

Yeah.

All right.

Sustaining an expanding metro area will require securing the region's most critical shrinking resource water.

The Wichita City Council approved a bold pilot project to recycle municipal wastewater and treat it directly to safe drinking standards for the tap.

Currently, the city treats wastewater and then sends it straight down the river.

Under the new master plan, it will be cleaned and rerouted right back into our water supply.

With Kansans recovering from historic dry spells, officials say drought proofing the metro is vital to keep local utility rates low and protect the 17% of Kansans who rely on Wichita's infrastructure.

I'll give you the first word as someone who voted on this, Maggie, tell us about this project.

First off.

Well, I think we learned during the drought that how important water is, and I think it's something that we all certainly take for granted, when we dropped eight feet, you know, in just a short amount of time or what seemed like a short amount of time and then filled back up in a month or, you know, eight weeks or whatever, was pretty magical.

But we certainly can't depend on that.

We need to take care of our most precious resource.

And I think the drought forced us to be forward thinking in, water reuse in any way that we possibly can.

Botanica is doing a great, project recycling some of the water as well.

And so I'm all for trying to get creative, and see what we find out.

And, you know, when, when we were going through those water restrictions there for a while and thankfully, we don't have to deal with it quite so badly right now.

But when we were going through things, businesses like car washes faced a lot of scrutiny.

But I don't think a lot of people realize that car washes actually recycle their water as well.

So it's not that their water is not going straight down into the sewers.

Yeah, we were just looking, not we.

People were probably just looking at someone to blame.

And you know, we're saying you can't water your yard, but you can run your car wash.

So yeah, Wichita is not the only city that's doing this is nothing new.

Other state.

Do you know any other cities that are doing this?

I know council Member Tuttle is really.

She was on the board for the water reuse, and at the state level as well.

So, I don't know the specifics, but she is very in tune.

Okay, Andy, who's your tell us your thoughts on.

Yeah.

Waiting wastewater and making us drink it.

Well, look, I mean, I'm glad.

I mean, it's a plus for creativity.

We're looking for ideas to try and research.

I think all of us can agree that, you know, trying to recycle, reuse water, preserve water during times of drought.

We never know when that's going to happen.

That's always a good thing.

So I applaud that we're working on that.

Maybe this is me personally nitpicking, but obviously, you know, going from wastewater to drinking water can be something weird for a lot of individuals.

And at the same time, what does that process look like?

If we want true, healthy water making people healthy in a health crisis, which God bless the Maha movement that we're seeing right now, we're trying to get chemicals out of water.

We're trying to get chemicals out of our consumption in our food.

I don't know what this process looks like.

I'm not aware of it.

But, you know, we have so many chemicals in water already.

It's dead water.

It doesn't do anything for us when we drink it as is.

How much more is going to be in there?

You know, if we get rid of fluoride, we get rid of some of this other stuff.

I think we could actually have some healthy water.

There's nothing wrong with it.

I get we have to do something.

But you know, what kind of chemicals are we in taking when we go through this recycle process?

Interesting.

And something I didn't think about either.

James Thompson, anything to add here on on this topic?

Yeah, I've got a couple things.

Getting rid of, fluoride in the water is asinine.

But I think that we do need to make sure that we're working to preserve our most precious resource, water.

I think that with data centers coming online around the country and they're increasing water usage, we've got to find ways to preserve water.

So we have a system that we're going to try.

We're one of the few places in the country is, my understanding, is really going to be more of a pilot program on this.

I'm excited to see if it works, but we've got to take steps to preserve water.

And, you know, let's talk about the water since we're talking about water.

Maggie Ballard, what what is the latest on the city's water plant out by the zoo is there's been a lot of trouble.

Yeah, it's no secret.

It's still not online.

Nope.

I think things are, on track.

They have repaired the clarifiers, and they have started the water testing, so hopefully very soon, we'll be taking over the plant.

Yeah.

And and also, this is a big project for our brand new city manager who's been less than a year in.

How is he dealing with with problems like this that are, you know, well, probably he's, taken them face on them head on.

He knows how important it is for our community to have, healthy, clean working water, especially that we provide 17% of the water for the state.

There's a lot of a lot of people leaning on us and looking to us for water, which is not a suggestion.

So, yeah.

So it looks like he's doing really well, addressing it, you know, learning about it and and seeing what we need to do to move forward.

Andy, who or anything else to add was with the water plant network.

I mean, I just that it just push back a little bit on the floor.

I think there's zero value to have fluoride in your water whatsoever.

Look, we drink dead water.

We want to even it's.

Well, that's it doesn't even really do much there.

But at the same time, heating studies and building studies and a lot of them have been paid for by certain groups.

It's a waste chemical out of manufacturing stuff, and it really doesn't do any value, at least in my opinion.

But regardless of Florida itself, the number of chemicals that we consume makes water not nutritional.

In the first place.

We want to make ourselves healthy.

And during a time with, you know, America, one of the worst places when it comes to health, a health crisis, which is why we have the modern movement.

We want that clean water.

Again, I applaud the fact that we're looking for ideas and we're looking for alternatives.

We want to preserve water.

We want to try and do what we can with a potential drought.

Again, we're in a good position now.

Who knows what that's going to look like later.

But if we're going to try and take care of people in a certain way and offer them resources, I want us to be healthy.

I want it to be nutritious.

The fluoride debate is not going away anytime soon, James, is it?

It's not going away anytime soon.

I you know, I will say that, you know, the the one thing that I do have with this is the yuck factor that, you know, everybody's got to agree on, but, I mean, our rivers, deal with it every day.

I mean, anybody that lives downstream from any other city is dealing with the same thing that we're going to be doing through a plant here.

So I think that it's it's part of the future to preserve water.

And something else I just thought about as well, with not only we talked about duplex neighborhoods coming up, and now we're talking about water.

Something I thought about with neighborhoods is fescue grass that takes so much water it's not native to our area.

What could the city think about bringing in some regulations for people not to plant in there?

I think I believe was the airport board has extensively talked about that because it does take so much water.

The golf courses take so much water.

Now there some of them are on wells still still water.

So, yeah, there's been a lot of conversation.

It's been a lot of conversations about fescue.

I don't know that we can, like, bring any, but I wish that people would be more responsible on their own and always, how much water it should or.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Buffalo grass.

There's tons of other anything to add with about 30s, either of you gentlemen.

With grass?

No, look, I mean, I guess maybe I'm in the minority on that one.

I don't necessarily try to have that prim lawn.

I don't really care.

I like that one.

All natural too.

Yeah.

All weeds here in my lawn.

Thank you all.

That's a wrap for this week.

Thank you so much to Maggie Ballard, James Thompson and Andy Hoosier for being here with us today.

And thanks also to cake and CSN for sharing their video with us.

I'm Jared Cirillo.

We'll see you again next week.