Topeka — Kansas’ new Democratic governor promised not to raise taxes to meet her goals of boosting spending on public schools and social services. Republicans who control the Legislature argue that a tax increase is coming even if state politicians do nothing. One of the first big ...
The smell of raw marijuana, when combined with other circumstances, can give police probable cause to search a residence, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled Friday in a case originating in Douglas County. The court ruled 4-3 to uphold the conviction of Lawrence C. Hubbard, who was arrested in ...
WASHINGTON — Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach worries fraud might have tainted a North Carolina congressional race that a fellow Republican appeared to have narrowly won. The Washington Post reports that Kobach said during an interview that his concerns are "based on what I have read" ...
TOPEKA — Despite concerns over a new process being used by the Kansas Department of Children and Families to choose care providers, the agency's leader said the process is more transparent than at any time in the past. The agency is now awarding grants rather than seeking bids for contracts ...
The Douglas County Commission has added some high priorities to its legislative wish list for 2019: more funding for courts and community corrections, and reforms to the permitting process that utility regulators use for saltwater injection wells. Commissioners approved the county's 2019 ...
TOPEKA — Incoming Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly said she is "stunned" by a state agency's lack of response to a shortage of residential psychiatric beds for children needing care in the state. During a meeting Tuesday of a task force studying the state's child welfare system, Kelly suggested she ...
Story updated at 6:26 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 4: TOPEKA — Kansas’ new Democratic governor wants state lawmakers to roll back a work requirement and other cash assistance rules championed by a Republican predecessor as she prepares to grapple with problems in the state’s child welfare ...
The Douglas County Commission will consider Wednesday supporting a platform in 2019 that calls on the Kansas Legislature to start looking at comprehensive criminal justice reform. In a memo to commissioners, Douglas County Administrator Craig Weinaug wrote that voter dissatisfaction with ...
Topeka — Kansas is reporting it collected $2.5 million more in taxes than expected in November and extended its streak of better-than-anticipated figures to 18 consecutive months. It is the longest streak of better-than-expected tax collections in more than 50 years. An AP spreadsheet ...
TOPEKA — Kansas will swear in its first two openly LGBT state lawmakers next month and the new Democratic governor promises to end a ban on discrimination over sexual orientation or gender identity in state hiring and employment decisions once she takes office. Yet other goals for ...
City leaders will consider adding three issues to their list of legislative priorities, including a statement opposed to making the South Lawrence Trafficway into a toll road. As part of its meeting Tuesday, the Lawrence City Commission will consider approving its Lawrence Legislative ...
TOPEKA — Republicans in the Kansas House elected a new, more conservative majority leader Monday and Democrats dumped their firebrand leader in the chamber in favor of lower-key veteran with a reputation for being able to work with the GOP. The selection of conservative Rep. Dan Hawkins of ...
Gov. Jeff Colyer has ordered that all State of Kansas offices be closed on Wednesday as a day of mourning for the late President George H.W. Bush. President Donald Trump declared Wednesday a National Day of Mourning for Bush, the 41st president of the U.S., who died Friday in Houston. State ...
Kansas City, Mo. — Kansas lawmakers will get a crash course in sports gambling this week as they consider how to capitalize on a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in May that lifted a federal ban on it. Seven states offer legal sports betting, and Kansas is among numerous other states considering ...
TOPEKA — More than 1 million Kansas residents voted in the state's general election earlier this month to set a record for a nonpresidential year. Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach said Friday that the voter turnout of nearly 58 percent was "extraordinary." In nonpresidential years over ...
TOPEKA — Democrats have picked a Kansas House member to fill Gov.-elect Laura Kelly's former state Senate seat, more than three decades after he ran unsuccessfully for it. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that Democratic precinct committee members in Kelly's former Topeka-area district ...
TOPEKA — Kris Kobach said Friday that he's not seeking "random federal jobs" after losing the Kansas governor's race and suggested it could take him at least another month to decide what his future holds after he steps down as the state's top elections official. Kobach told reporters that he ...
TOPEKA - A joint legislative task force agreed Thursday to a general outline of a new multiyear transportation program. However, the plan offers few details about how much the state should spend or how any new projects should be financed, because it's not known how much new funding, if any, ...
TOPEKA - Gov.-elect Laura Kelly will have the opportunity to appoint a new judge to the Kansas Court of Appeals as soon as she comes into office. But the incoming Democrat says she does not plan to use the new system of selecting appellate court judges that former Republican Gov. Sam Brownback ...
TOPEKA - A legislative task force appeared to reach consensus Wednesday on a number of key elements that it believes should be part of the state's next multiyear transportation plan, including increased funding for urban mass transit systems and restoration of state funding for city and county ...