Gov. Laura Kelly has signed legislation passed during a special session Monday, clearing the way for unvaccinated workers to keep their jobs in the face of federal mandates.
The Republican-controlled Legislature is expected to lean toward adoption of boundaries in the four congressional districts favorable to winning each of the partisan elections.
David Condos / Kansas News Service
In a pair of predominantly Hispanic southwest Kansas communities, two women try to become the first Latinas voted into local office. Elections earlier this month show both how far Latina candidates have come and how many barriers they still face.
The Kansas Legislature completed a 14-hour special session Monday night by sending Gov. Laura Kelly a bill packed with generous medical, religious and philosophical exemptions to federal COVID-19 vaccination mandates and the potential of state unemployment benefits to people fired for refusing to be inoculated.
Anti-vaxxers packed the gallery overlooking the House chamber for this historic special session debate, and were repeatedly admonished for jeering, applauding or coughing on the lawmakers below.
The Kansas Senate struggled with a series of amendments Monday before passing a bill defining wide religious and medical exemptions to federal COVID-19 vaccination mandates and extending state unemployment assistance to people fired for refusing inoculations.
On the to-do list for the Kansas Legislature’s special session will be laws making it easier for a person to claim a religious exemption to vaccination mandates, and they’ll likely consider granting unemployment benefits to anyone fired for refusing to be vaccinated or to undergo regular testing.
Lee Norman stepped down Thursday from his high-profile cabinet post as the chief medical officer in Kansas, where he managed the state’s response to COVID-19 throughout the pandemic.
Norman retreated from public view in June following a tense exchange with the governor’s chief of staff, who wanted Norman to stay in his lane and avoid sensitive political issues when speaking to news reporters.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment is advising Kansans to follow the pillars of infection control and take steps to keep themselves and family safe from COVID-19 during the holiday season.
Carlos Moreno / KCUR 89.3
Emails between an auditing firm and Kansas show how quickly the state bent to the company’s wishes to keep information out of public view. Experts say this reflects a disturbing national trend.
