Missouri-Kansas Line

  Check out my new  MPSA - Midwest Political Science Association  Blog Post: What's the Matter with Thomas Frank ?

  The market for scrap materials from recycling has cratered, particularly for plastics. Many recycling centers have no choice but to send some of the items to the landfill. Instead of tossing everything in the recycling bin and hoping for the best, it is time for a top-to-bottom rethinking of our systems of production, packing, and use, I wrote in  last week’s column .

  The latest Kansas Speaks poll shows that Kansans have a lot of worries about the economy. Many economic indicators are positive, so why are they worried? A big part of the answer is housing costs, I wrote in  last week’s column .

  Planting native and pollinator-friendly plants in your yard is a great way to help the ecosystem and have a beautiful garden. Unfortunately, many local ordinances discourage or ban such plantings. This needs to change, I wrote in  last week’s column , which got picked up by Yahoo! News.

  Kansas today is a predominantly suburban state. The suburbs were built with exclusive zoning, Interstate highways, and single-family houses. With housing costs skyrocketing, it is time for a rethink- but it won’t be easy, I wrote in  last week’s column .

 College life is about so much more than getting just enough credits to graduate.  The whole college experience is under threat, and it is worth preserving, I wrote in my latest MPSA blog entry .