An unusual political balance in Kansas has kept the state on a moderate path for decades, even as neighboring states turned right.

Now it seems those days are numbered, and the change has come more swiftly than in other places where conservatives won control of statehouses last fall.

In a mere five months, new Republican Gov. Sam Brownback and likeminded lawmakers have made Kansas a laboratory of conservative ideas.

Kansas will soon become one of the most difficult places to obtain an abortion. Its public schools will have leaner budgets.

And Kansas will no longer fund the arts. Educators and other targets of cutbacks are shaken by the changes. But Brownback and Republican lawmakers say state government now reflects Kansas voters' social and fiscal values.

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Kansas Legislature: http://www.kslegislature.org