Sam Zeff
Sam grew up in Overland Park and was educated at the University of Kansas. After working in Philadelphia where he covered organized crime, politics and political corruption he moved on to TV news management jobs in Minneapolis and St. Louis. Sam came home in 2013 and covered health care and education at KCPT. He came to work at KCUR in 2014. Sam has a national news and documentary Emmy for an investigation into the federal Bureau of Prisons and how it puts unescorted inmates on Grayhound and Trailways buses to move them to different prisons. Sam has one son and is pretty good in the kitchen.
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Kansas lawmakers charted a major change of course Tuesday night when it comes to tax policy. Both the House and Senate voted to override a veto from Gov. Sam Brownback and roll back many of the 2012 tax cuts that were a model for conservatives across the country.
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Conservative activists tried to unseat most of the members of the Kansas Supreme Court, but their effort fell short.
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The presidential and Senate races dominate many states' politics. In Kansas, the fight is over whether to retain 4 state Supreme Court justices. It will be a deep-pocket campaign like none before it.
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There are huge gaps in school funding between affluent and property-poor districts. And, with evidence that money matters, especially for disadvantaged kids, something has to change.
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Kansas State University is aggressively recruiting those students by using privately raised money to provide grants and scholarships. Other schools have closed the door on such funding.
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A Kansas law will allow students to carry concealed weapons into their college classrooms, and many teachers aren't happy about it.
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Kansas has had its share of political and fiscal problems in the past year. Huge income tax cuts have led to cuts in everything from staff at state mental hospitals to shrinking classroom budgets for public schools. Now the state is having trouble recruiting and retaining teachers, and some are fleeing to neighboring states.