TOPEKA – Newly elected and re-elected members of the Kansas House will meet in Topeka on Dec. 3 to elect leadership teams in both parties, and both the top Republican and Democratic leaders will face internal challenges this year. On the Republican side, conservative House Speaker Ron Ryckman Jr., of Olathe, faces an unusual challenge from a hard-line conservative, Rep.-elect Owen Donohoe, a former legislator ...
TOPEKA - The Kansas Supreme Court this week upheld the University of Kansas' dismissal of an assistant professor in molecular biology in 2010 due to insufficient academic research and publishing. Edina Harsay began teaching at KU in 2004 when she was hired for a tenure-track position in the department of molecular biology. When she came up for tenure review five years later, she reported having only one article ...
TOPEKA — The Kansas Republican Party will have new leadership for the first time in six years when the state committee gathers at its annual convention in February. Kelly Arnold, the Wichita-based operative who has served as chairman since 2013, has announced that he will not seek another term in that office. "Really, it’s time," Arnold said in a phone interview this week. "This is a decision I had kind of ...
TOPEKA – Democratic Gov.-elect Laura Kelly hopes to push through a Medicaid expansion bill during her first term in office, but she says it may end up looking different from the one lawmakers passed in the 2017 session, which then-Gov. Sam Brownback vetoed. “I think we need to evaluate that again, given that we’re two years out,” Kelly said in a recent interview. Under the federal Affordable Care Act, ...
TOPEKA — Gov.-elect Laura Kelly campaigned on a long list of things she wants to change in Kansas, but one of the first things she plans to address after she takes office in January is fixing the state's beleaguered child welfare system. In an interview with the Journal-World on Monday, Kelly said one of the first things she plans to push for is increasing the number of social workers and other staff at the ...
For many people, Thanksgiving was a day to spend at home or elsewhere with friends and family; to enjoy a traditional feast and give thanks for the blessings in their lives. But for hundreds of others in the Lawrence community who don't have family nearby, who couldn't get out of their homes to visit others or who simply wanted to volunteer their time helping others, the annual Community Thanksgiving Dinner ...