Blaise Mesa
News ReporterBlaise Mesa is a reporter for the Kansas City Beacon. He is based in Topeka, where he covers the Legislature and state government. Mesa previously covered social services and criminal justice for the Kansas News Service. He graduated from Columbia College Chicago where he was one of the most decorated journalists in the history of the college’s newspaper. Mesa served as co-editor-in-chief of the Columbia Chronicle and was that organization's first executive producer. Mesa also spent a year reporting on local government for the Topeka Capital-Journal during the height of the pandemic.
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Foster agencies have spent years trying to prevent children from sleeping in offices and bouncing between foster homes, but the problems continue.
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Rural foster parents have the same struggles all rural Kansans do, but more legal deadlines adds additional stressors in their life.
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The SOUL Family program is specially designed to help older foster youth who are aging out of care.
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Guardians ad litem say their heavy caseloads make it hard to be everywhere at once. Foster parents want them to know the children they represent better.
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The child reportedly had a medical condition, but authorities haven't released many details.
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The Kansas Legislature didn’t approve money for additional public defenders, but it did support pay raises.
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The U.S. Supreme Court appears poised to strike down abortion protections, making an upcoming Kansas vote on abortion rights even more important.
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Kansans with substance use problems say they are falling through the cracks of a legal system that’s more concerned with punishing them than getting them sober.
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Facilities closed down during the pandemic. Those that survived are now struggling to find workers.
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The Lakeside Academy was set to close, but the company Successful Dreams has reportedly stepped in to save it