State and Region

Prosecutor in Ralph Yarl case says legal precedent favors keeping court records open

LIBERTY, Mo. — A Missouri prosecutor is asking a judge to carefully consider the public's right to information while determining whether to seal court records in the case of Andrew Lester, a white homeowner who is accused of shooting a Black teenager who mistakenly came to his home. Lester's ...

Abortion foe who forced recount of Kansas vote dies in plane crash

WICHITA — Mark Gietzen, a longtime conservative Republican and anti-abortion activist in Kansas who forced a recount of the state's decisive vote affirming abortion rights last year has died in a plane crash. He was 69. The Kansas Republican Party said in a Facebook post that Gietzen, of ...

Consultants: Design issues, operations lapses led to big Kansas oil spill

TOPEKA — Pipeline design issues, lapses by its operators and problems caused during its construction led to a massive oil spill on the Keystone pipeline system in northeastern Kansas, according to a report for U.S. government regulators. An engineering consulting firm said in the report that ...