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Transgender Kansans had their IDs invalidated overnight, causing confusion and panic
Some transgender Kansans received letters urging them to request new IDs that conflict with their gender identity and presentation, because their current ones are “invalid immediately.” It’s the result of a new law that also regulates which bathrooms transgender people are allowed to use.
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Civil rights • Voter rights • Anti-trans legislation • Abortion • Immigration • Municipalities’ local control • Kansas State Board of Education
MORe KANSAS NEWS
If you’re worried about invasive species in the Midwest, try eating them! Here’s where to start
Harvesting invasive species like autumn olives or carp is a great way to learn about the woods and rivers close to home, and to realize that our interaction with these local ecosystems matters. KCUR put together this intro to edible invasive species.
Greg Kramos / USFWS
The lesser prairie chicken is dying. Kansas experts say the last of the prairie will go with it.
Because lesser prairie chickens need extensive tracts of open, well-managed prairie to survive in a state where 97% of land is privately owned, its fate is largely in the hands of ranchers.
Kansas anti-abortion groups are celebrating legislative wins. Here’s what that means for patients
Republican lawmakers passed measures that will force abortion patients to report more information to state officials, make it easier to prosecute people for coercing someone to get an abortion and allot more money to anti-abortion counseling centers.
‘Incredibly positive’: Disability advocates commend Kansas Republicans’ effort on waitlists
As the dust settles on the legislative maneuvering of the chaotic 2024 session, disability rights advocates applaud a budget provision meant to shorten wait times for disabled Kansans who need services.
Kansas lawmakers pass trio of crime bills dealing with juvenile justice, fentanyl
New bills passed in the last frenzied days of the legislative session would allow Kansans to seek potentially life-saving drug overdose treatment without fear of arrest, expand parameters for teenagers held in state custody and increase penalties for fentanyl-related crimes.
Kansas Legislature adopts $2.3 billion, 5-year tax cut despite bipartisan forecast of veto
The Kansas Legislature passed a tax reduction plan early Wednesday that closely mirrors the package vetoed by Gov. Laura Kelly and includes property tax relief, elimination of sales tax on groceries and more.
Kansas prosecutors reviewing nearly 10,000 pages of documents in Marion newspaper raid
Kansas special prosecutors have received “a detailed synopsis” of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation’s ongoing review of last year’s police raid on the Marion County Record.
Open enrollment starts soon in Kansas schools. At least one district says there’s no space available
A state law passed in 2022 goes into effect this year and lets Kansas students attend schools outside the districts where they live, as long as there is space available. Some districts have begun posting the number of slots they’ll have open for out-of-district students.
Jackson County dropped the ball, so Kansas making last-minute drive to lure KC sports teams
Kansas House and Senate members worked Monday to consider whether to approve an economic development package designed to attract the Kansas City football team, Kansas City Royals or professional hockey or basketball franchises to Kansas.
Kansas Senate fails to override governor’s veto of tax cut package
Three Senate Republicans joined with Democrats on Monday to sustain Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of a massive tax cut package over concerns about reshaping income tax brackets and the state’s long-term fiscal vitality.
Kansas House fails to override veto on bill that would ban gender-affirming care for kids
As the Kansas Legislature renewed its yearslong assault on transgender children, Sen. Mary Ware told her Senate colleagues Monday she had a “simple” question for them: ”What is the acceptable number of youth suicides?”
Kansas school finance bill, passed without ‘poison pill,’ on its way to governor
Kansas lawmakers have sent a bipartisan school finance bill that will shape state education funding for the next three years to the governor’s desk, packaging a $75 million increase in special education funding into the bill.
A ‘Green Glacier’ of trees and shrubs is burying prairies, threatening ranchers and wildlife
A juggernaut unleashed by humans is grinding slowly across the Great Plains, burying some of the most threatened habitat on the planet beneath dense junipers and shrubland.
Kansas House overrides governor’s veto of tax cut bills despite gloomy five-year forecast
House members voted to override Gov. Laura Kelly’s vetoes of income, property and sales tax cuts that would lower state revenue by about $520 million per year.
Kansas governor slices border funding, anti-abortion program, ESU earmark from state budget
Gov. Laura Kelly sliced tens of millions of dollars from the state budget through a series of line-item vetoes, striking out funding to deploy the Kansas National Guard to the Mexico border, support for anti-abortion programs, and another earmark for Emporia State University’s enrollment-cratering “model.”
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