Kansas appeals court reinstates lawsuit over voting law
March 17, 2023 GMTThe Kansas Court of Appeals on Friday reinstated a lawsuit that challenged provisions of a voting law enacted in 2021 that opponents argue is unconstitutional and limits voting rights.
The lawsuit was filed in 2021 by Loud Light, the League of Women Voters of Kansas, the Topeka Independent Living Resource Center and the Kansas Appleseed Center for Law and Justice.
Veto of Kansas bill on trans athletes sets up override fight
March 17, 2023 GMTTOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas bill banning transgender athletes from girls' and women's sports was vetoed by Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly for the third year in a row Friday, setting up a hotly contested fight in the Republican-controlled Legislature to override her.
Kansas ‘school choice’ backers struggle to get past governor
March 16, 2023 GMTTOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Conservative Republicans in Kansas hoping to earmark state education dollars for helping parents pay for private schooling are struggling to win over enough rural and moderate GOP colleagues to get a law enacted, in sharp contrast to debates in neighboring states.
Lawmakers fear spill on Keystone system in southern Kansas
March 15, 2023 GMTTOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — State lawmakers worried Tuesday that southern Kansas is vulnerable to oil spills from the Keystone pipeline system because earthquakes have become more frequent there, as they questioned an executive for the pipeline's operator about a massive spill in northeastern Kansas in December.
Complaint: Kansas agency probing GOP broke open meetings law
March 2, 2023 GMTTOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Two defense attorneys who've questioned the fairness of a yearlong investigation in Kansas into Republican campaign activities accused the state ethics commission Thursday of violating Kansas' open meetings law.
Abortion opponents seek smaller changes in Kansas after vote
March 2, 2023 GMTTOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Seven months after a decisive statewide vote affirmed abortion rights in Kansas, the Republican-controlled Legislature’s annual session in some ways looks a lot like previous ones, with multiple anti-abortion proposals.
Anti-abortion allies change tactics after post-Roe defeats
March 1, 2023 GMTHARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Republicans and their anti-abortion allies, who suffered a series of defeats in ballot questions in states across the political spectrum last year, are changing tactics as new legislative sessions and the new election season start.
Conspiracies fuel GOP switch on Kansas’ ballot grace period
February 24, 2023 GMTTOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas' GOP-controlled Legislature showed Thursday that it's likely to pass a bill eliminating the three extra days state voters get to return mail-in ballots after an election, highlighting the influence election conspiracy theories still hold over Republicans' thinking.
Despite GOP rift, Kansas lawmakers target ballot drop boxes
February 21, 2023 GMTTOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Conservative Kansas lawmakers pushed ahead Tuesday with trying to eliminate most ballot drop boxes in elections, despite a split among top Republicans that could doom the conspiracy-driven effort.
Supreme Court won’t upset Arkansas anti-Israel boycott law
February 21, 2023 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to step into a legal fight over state laws that require contractors to pledge not to boycott Israel.
Kansas GOP won’t punish officials straying in 2022 elections
February 17, 2023 GMTTOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Republican Party has ended efforts to punish party officials who backed non-GOP candidates in last year's elections and reversed any sanctions already imposed, its new leader announced Friday.
Amid US TikTok bans, a few balk at writing its name into law
February 17, 2023 GMTTOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Banning TikTok from government devices enjoys bipartsan support across the U.S., but a few Democratic legislators in Kansas object to expanding a ban imposed by their party's governor because they don't want a state law to target a company by name.
States’ push to define sex decried as erasing trans people
February 15, 2023 GMTTOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Adam Kellogg was a self-described nerdy 16-year-old preparing to board a flight from Kansas City to Florida for a space and science camp trip to Cape Canaveral when security held him up for 30 minutes because his driver's license identified him as female.
Kansas GOP picks election conspiracy promoter as new leader
February 12, 2023 GMTTOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republicans on Saturday narrowly picked an activist who has promoted unfounded election conspiracies and promised a shakeup to lead the Kansas GOP for the next two years, following weeks of infighting that mirrors the acrimony in the party across the U.S.
Kansas commits $304M to chip plant to lure federal funds
February 3, 2023 GMTTOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas plans to give $304 million in taxpayer-funded incentives to a semiconductor company in its largest city to build a huge new factory, but the project won't go forward without funds the U.S.
‘School choice’ is culture-war focus for Kansas lawmakers
January 31, 2023 GMTTOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Top Republican legislators in Kansas are focusing on helping conservative parents remove their children from public schools over what's taught about gender and sexuality rather than pursuing a version of what critics call Florida's “Don't Say Gay” law.
Pandemic, culture wars revive ‘school choice’ policy push
January 27, 2023 GMTSALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Nichole Mason first became concerned when she learned administrators at her children's public school were allowing transgender students to use girls' bathrooms. Her frustrations mounted when she felt her children's next school went too far with how they enforced COVID regulations during the pandemic.
Governor decries ‘distracting’ Kansas with ‘wedge issues’
January 25, 2023 GMTTOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly called Tuesday for Kansas officials to stop distracting themselves with "wedge issues” in education, sharply rebuking a Republican-controlled Legislature pursuing policies catering to conservative parents unhappy with public schools.
US divided over Roe’s repeal as abortion foes gird for march
January 18, 2023 GMTAnti-abortion activists will have multiple reasons to celebrate — and some reasons for unease — when they gather Friday in Washington for the annual March for Life.
The march, which includes a rally drawing abortion opponents from across the nation, has been held annually since January 1974 — a year after the U.S.
Defense: Man harmless despite threat against Kansas lawmaker
January 17, 2023 GMTTOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A man charged with threatening to kill a Kansas congressman is harmless, believing he has a special relationship with God and his weapons are “meteors and plagues,” not “knives and guns,” a defense attorney argued Tuesday during a federal criminal trial.
Kansas governor learns COVID test gave her false positive
January 12, 2023 GMTTOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly plans to return Friday to the Statehouse after learning that a COVID-19 test earlier in the week gave her a false positive result, her office said.
Kelly has been working in self-isolation at the governor's residence since the false positive Tuesday.
Fight over Kansas budget surplus: How much gets socked away?
January 12, 2023 GMTTOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly and the Republican-controlled Kansas Legislature are headed toward big fights over spending on special education programs, pay raises for government workers and how much the cash-flush state should sock away for worse economic times.
AG wants Kansas court to rethink abortion rights protections
January 11, 2023 GMTTOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas' anti-abortion Republican attorney general is asking the state's highest court to reconsider a landmark decision protecting access to abortion months after a decisive statewide vote affirming abortion rights.
Kansas governor tests positive for COVID, puts off address
January 10, 2023 GMTTOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly has been forced to postpone her annual State of the State address after testing positive for COVID-19.
Kelly's office announced Tuesday that she had tested positive.
Kansas right pushing back more aggressively on LGBTQ rights
January 10, 2023 GMTTOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Conservative Kansas legislators are pushing back more aggressively this year on LGBTQ-rights issues than in the past two years, with proposals to ban gender-affirming care for trangender youth and restrict how public schools discuss sexual orientation and gender identity.
Democratic Kansas Gov. Kelly urges civility; Kobach is AG
January 9, 2023 GMTTOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly called Monday for leaders in Republican-leaning Kansas to follow the lead of the state's residents and “turn down the volume” on “this hate, this vitriol, this divisiveness” in politics as she started a second term with a new, hard-right state attorney general.
States target transgender health care in first bills of 2023
January 7, 2023 GMTAfter a midterm election and record flow of anti-transgender legislation last year, Republican state lawmakers this year are zeroing in on questions of bodily autonomy with new proposals to limit gender-affirming health care and abortion access.
Young voters’ enthusiasm for Democrats waned during midterms
December 12, 2022 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — Young voters who have been critical to Democratic successes in recent elections showed signs in November’s midterms that their enthusiasm may be waning, a potential warning sign for a party that will need their strong backing heading into the 2024 presidential race.
Oil spill in rural Kansas creek shuts down Keystone pipeline
December 11, 2022 GMTTOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — An oil spill in a creek in northeastern Kansas shut down a major pipeline that carries oil from Canada to the Texas Gulf Coast, briefly causing oil prices to rise Thursday.
Canada-based TC Energy said it shut down its Keystone system Wednesday night following a drop in pipeline pressure.
Kansas governor requiring masks for state workers, buildings
July 28, 2021 GMTTOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Gov. Laura Kelly on Wednesday announced that she's imposing a mask mandate for Kansas state government workers and visitors to state buildings in the wake of a “self-inflicted” surge in new COVID-19 cases fueled by the faster-spreading delta variant.
Governor: Kansas agencies resuming normal operations in June
May 12, 2021 GMTTOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas state government offices will return to normal operations in mid-June after more than a year of having many employees work remotely because of the coronavirus pandemic, Gov...