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Kansas Senate Democrats question plan to force election lawsuits to be filed in Shawnee County
Senate Democrats questioned a plan to require all election-related state lawsuits to be filed in Shawnee County, supposedly to prevent voting rights groups from looking for favorable venues.
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Civil rights • Voter rights • Anti-trans legislation • Abortion • Immigration • Municipalities’ local control • Kansas State Board of Education
MORe KANSAS NEWS
Kansas delegation renews push for Kelsey Smith Act to aid search for missing people
The Kansas congressional delegation renewed the bipartisan campaign to convince Congress to impose at the federal level a law requiring wireless communication companies to promptly share cellphone data with law enforcement officers searching for people at risk of physical harm.
Blaise Mesa / Kansas News Service
Indoor temperatures break 100 at Kansas prisons without air conditioning
Prisons run by the Kansas Department of Corrections aren’t always air-conditioned, and inmates and staff who work inside say the heat can be unbearable.
Kansas students four times as likely to get COVID-19 at schools without mask requirement
Kansas public schools without a mask mandate report COVID-19 illnesses at more than four times the rate of schools where a face covering is required.
Photo Illustration-Carlos Moreno / KCUR 89.3
Feds seized a van carrying $166K from legal marijuana sales in Kansas City, and no one knows why
Legal experts are scratching their heads over a case that implicates a murky area of the law governing when legal marijuana businesses can be prosecuted in states where marijuana is still not legal.
Heather Hazzan/SELF
FDA panel recommends OK for Pfizer’s vaccine for kids 5 to 11
A federal vaccine advisory panel on Tuesday recommended authorizing Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5 to 11, a decision that means as soon as next week everyone in the United States over age 5 is expected to be eligible for a shot.
Kansas legislators to host second round of redistricting town hall meetings in November
Kansas lawmakers announced Tuesday they will hold a second round of town hall meetings to gather public input on the redistricting process, but they won’t attend the meetings in person.
School mask mandate challenge before Kansas Supreme Court stirs broader legal issues
A lawsuit filed by parents of children subjected to the Shawnee Mission School District’s mask mandate Tuesday evolved into a Kansas Supreme Court debate about due process rights, separation of powers, legislative authority and judicial independence.
Heather Hazzan / SELF Magazine
COVID-19 vaccines for kids ages 5 to 11 could be ready as soon as next week
The next wave of the massive COVID-19 vaccination campaign could begin as soon as next week, after federal regulators decide if elementary school students across the United States should begin rolling up their tiny sleeves.
Chris Neal / Kansas News Service
A changing climate will cost Kansas farmers millions in future harvests
A newfound link between increasing heat and drought means climate change-related impacts to Kansas crops could be double what was expected.
Kansas senator makes plea deal in DUI case after driving wrong direction on I-70
Sen. Gene Suellentrop entered a no contest plea to two misdemeanor charges Monday that stemmed from an incident in March in which he drove for miles in the wrong direction on Interstate 70 before stopped by law enforcement officers.
Kansas Evergy customers could soon get help to make homes more energy efficient
Evergy and environmental groups agree investing in energy efficiency is far cheaper for the company and, in turn, its customers than having to add more electric generation, like new wind farms.
Expelled Republican election commissioner condemns politics of voting in Kansas
In more than nine years serving as election commissioner for Sedgwick County, Tabitha Lehman said, she saw several instances of policymakers acknowledging election policies they support could suppress the vote of some marginalized Kansans to benefit their party.
Abigail Censky / KCUR
Why new political maps could give more power to Kansas college towns
For decades, college towns like Lawrence, Manhattan and Emporia lost the political power of their students when it came to state legislative districts. For the first time in more than 30 years, Kansas will count all of its college students in the towns where they go to school for redrawing state legislative districts next year.
Thirteen-year quest for payment of child support exposes Kansas bureaucracy, incompetence
A mother’s testimony about failure of the state’s child support collection system to deliver more than $53,000 owed by her daughter’s father inspired a rousing assault by legislators on state contractors Maximus and YoungWilliams.
KMUW/File Photo
Groups send letter demanding accountability for in-custody death of Wichita teen
Several Wichita clergy members and organizations have sent a letter to local officials following the death of a 17-year-old while in custody.
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