TOPEKA (AP) — Gov. Laura Kelly's nominee for a spot on Kansas' second-highest court said Thursday his experience as a public defender would bring real value to an appellate court that is now filled with former civil litigators, former prosecutors and former district judges. Carl Folsom III, ...

TOPEKA (AP) — Republican lawmakers advancing a proposed anti-abortion amendment to the Kansas Constitution insisted Thursday that it should go on the state's August 2022 primary ballot, prompting criticism that they fear failure if the statewide vote is held in a different election. The ...

TOPEKA — While the world faces a global health crisis, advocates say, Indigenous people are facing an epidemic of their own with American Indians missing or murdered at disproportionately high rates. Two legislators are acting to change that reality in Kansas. As of Jan. 7, 2021, there are ...

Updated at 9:28 a.m. Thursday State university CEOs will soon be able to suspend, dismiss or terminate employees — including tenured faculty members — due to a temporary policy approved by the Kansas Board of Regents in light of the financial crisis many universities face. The policy ...

TOPEKA — Former Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback’s service as U.S. ambassador at large of international religious freedom ends Wednesday with close to the administration of President Donald Trump. Brownback departs the State Department along with another Kansan, Mike Pompeo, who has been the ...

TOPEKA — Republican lawmakers seized the opportunity Tuesday to direct frustrations at Kansas health secretary Lee Norman over his agency’s rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine and failures to clarify when and where Kansans can go to get inoculated. In a joint hearing before Senate and House ...

University of Kansas chancellor Douglas Girod is concerned that proposed cuts to state funding for higher education could cause "irreparable harm" to the university, he wrote in a campus message Tuesday. Girod wrote that Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly's budget recommendations include a 5.3% cut to ...

TOPEKA (AP) — Four nurses at a rural health department in Kansas are refusing to administer any COVID-19 vaccines, citing the fast development and production of the shots. Coffey County Public Health Administrator Lindsay Payer said the nurses made their own decisions and expressed their ...

TOPEKA (AP) — A proposed anti-abortion amendment to the Kansas Constitution cleared its first hurdle in the Legislature on Tuesday as abortion opponents moved quickly to try to get it on the ballot. The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the measure on a voice vote, sending it to the full ...

Story updated at 12:47 p.m. Tuesday TOPEKA (AP) — State office buildings near the Statehouse have been closed to the public and the Legislature has curtailed its meetings due to security concerns ahead of President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration in Washington, D.C. The closures came in ...

Story updated at 12:48 p.m. Monday TOPEKA (AP) — Kansas lawmakers have been moving quickly on legislation that would extend the state's COVID-19 emergency declaration before it expires on Jan. 26. “I’ve not seen, and I don’t think we’ve seen before, a bill that moved with such ...

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Abortion opponents are moving with unusual speed to put a proposed anti-abortion amendment to the state constitution on the ballot, fearing a COVID-19 outbreak could thwart them if they delay action even for a few weeks. The proposed amendment would overturn a Kansas ...

TOPEKA — Senate Majority Leader Gene Suellentrop doesn’t prefer to wear a mask in the Capitol as the COVID-19 pandemic rages outside the confines of the limited-access building. The Wichita Republican takes what might be considered a diplomatic approach to admonitions from public health ...

Topeka — Two months after a record-breaking general election, Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab told state lawmakers that he was confident the election was free and fair, but that hasn’t stopped lawmakers from both parties from introducing new election-related legislation. In ...

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Abortion opponents and abortion rights supporters on Friday previewed arguments they'll make to voters if lawmakers put a proposed anti-abortion amendment to the state constitution on the ballot. House and Senate committees heard testimony on a proposal to overturn a ...

Story updated at 1:45 p.m. Friday TOPEKA (AP) — Kansas is on track to pay out an extra $300-a-week federal unemployment benefit as part of a coronavirus rescue aid package enacted late last month, a top Department of Labor official said. Ryan Wright, who stepped down as acting secretary of ...

TOPEKA (AP) — The Republican-led state Senate on Thursday approved a bill that would extend Kansas' state of emergency while limiting Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s power to direct the pandemic response, as workers sought to speed up the pace of coronavirus vaccinations. A law enacted in ...

TOPEKA (AP) — Gov. Laura Kelly is restricting access to the Kansas Statehouse due to the possibility of an armed protest, telling state lawmakers Thursday that an event is planned for Sunday with "other potential gatherings" next week. The Democratic governor's chief of staff, Will Lawrence, ...

TOPEKA — Kansas legislators moved quickly Thursday to try a different approach in seeking to limit city and county taxes after Gov. Laura Kelly and a key group signaled that they're not as opposed to the concept as they once were. The Senate voted 34-1 for a proposed transparency law that ...

TOPEKA — A little insurrection goes a long ways. Kansas legislators and Capitol Police are bracing for the potential of violence in the days leading up to and including Wednesday’s inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden. There are no specific threats to sack the Kansas Statehouse, but ...