Mackenzie Clark / The Lawrence Times
“I am the mother of Sarah Gonzales-McLinn, the 19-year-old woman who killed Hal Sasko in 2014. … To imply that my daughter’s sentence was cut in half is misleading,” Michelle Gonzales writes in this column.
“Jury nullification is a basic refusal to convict based on the jurors’ beliefs and principles,” Kirsten Kuhn writes in this column.
“As my team at Kansas Suicide Prevention HQ looks back at the wonderful success of the 2021 Youth Art Contest, we are overwhelmed by the love, support, and care that these students embedded into their works of art,” Steve Devore writes.
“An increased tax burden has very real implications. The ongoing effort to address affordable housing issues will be dented as struggling homeowners will be pushed out of ownership and renters will see increased pass-through costs as well,” Patrick Wilbur writes in this column.
“Everything has only gotten more complicated since I’ve stumbled out of the closet, and I’ve realized there are new and dreadful ways that society at large perceives a body like mine,” Kimberly Lopez writes in this column.
Mackenzie Clark / The Lawrence Times
“Because this case is closed, we ethically can address misconceptions that have arisen from a misguided narrative based on supposition and speculation,” Douglas County DA Suzanne Valdez and defense attorney Jonathan Sternberg write in this column.
C.J. Janovy/Kansas Reflector
C.J. Janovy writes about what she learned on her trip to Lebanon, Kansas, “site of the Jeep commercial in which Bruce Springsteen begged Americans to walk back their fury at each other and find common ground,” in her last column for The Kansas Reflector.
“Through civil asset forfeiture, police may seize any property or money that they can claim may be connected to an alleged crime,” Kirsten Kuhn writes.
“As of June 18, 2021, Juneteenth is recognized as a national holiday. But the end of slavery was also a sweeping national declaration, and yet the material conditions of Black people were left largely unimproved,” Jameelah Jones writes.
Fally Afani/Contributed
Let’s take a brief look at each evening’s film along with a few other short statements submitted by Free State Festival participants.
