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Kansas gubernatorial candidates questioned on property tax, data centers, goals
Candidates for governor fielded business and economic questions Thursday, exchanging barbs about the “property tax crisis,” encouraging economic growth and steps to filling workforce needs.
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Civil rights • Voter rights • Anti-trans legislation • Abortion • Immigration • Municipalities’ local control • Kansas State Board of Education
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Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector
House GOP kills off another Medicaid expansion attempt by Democrats
Republicans in the Kansas House stiff-armed the latest attempt by Democrats to expand eligibility for Medicaid to 120,000+ lower-income Kansans.
Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector
House rams through preemptive resolution to derail new Kelly mask order
The Kansas House worked to get out front of any effort to extend statewide COVID-19 mask mandates Tuesday.
Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector; file
Election reform bills bring fiery debate for their impact on voters
TOPEKA — A Senate committee’s handling of an election bill last week and legislation considered […]
Noah Taborda/Kansas Reflector
More than 250 arrested in Shawnee County as joint police operation targets violent crime
An operation by law enforcement to reduce drug-related crime in Topeka has led to more than 250 arrests.
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As immigrant’s health deteriorates in Seward County Jail, his wife pleads for mercy
Olvera Argueta now has spent nearly six months in jail after being pulled over for speeding in Texas and transferred to Kansas for a decade-old charge that was dropped.
Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector
Kansas Attorney General’s Office scoffs at ACLU’s ‘grossly exaggerated’ fee request for voter rights case
The Kansas AG says attorneys involved in the ACLU’s 5-year legal battle over voter rights are asking to be repaid for “grossly excessive” fees.
Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector
Kansas Senate majority leader drove 90 mph in wrong direction while drunk, charges allege
Senate Majority Leader Gene Suellentrop was charged Friday with drunk driving and felony fleeing from police while traveling 90 MPH in the wrong direction on Interstate 70 in Topeka.
Screen capture/Kansas Reflector
Kansas House bill would remove guns from abusers
House Bill 2251 would require relinquishment of firearms in instances of domestic violence.
Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health
All Kansans 16 and up will be eligible for COVID-19 vaccine starting March 29, Kelly says
Less than a week after Kansas moved into its current Phase 3/4 stage of COVID-19 […]
Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector; file
Don’t Tread on Me license plate draws concerns from legislators for ‘vile, racist’ connection
A bill passed Thursday by the Senate allowing Kansas to print “Don’t Tread on Me” license plates came under scrutiny by Democrats for its association with a former slave owner.
Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector
House, Senate GOP leaders pledge to derail new mask order if re-issued by Kelly
Kansas Republican leaders of the House and Senate pledged to move swiftly to thwart Gov. Laura Kelly’s issuance of a new executive order April 1 directing statewide reliance on face coverings during the pandemic.
Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector
Senate, House put seal of approval on liquor bills for state fair and Sunday sales
“I do believe the state has gone too far for opening up alcohol sales and encouraging consumption as early as 9 in the morning on Sundays,” one rep said.
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Lawrence rep’s bill on missing and murdered Indigenous people headed to governor
A bill that allows for the Kansas attorney general to coordinate training for law enforcement […]
Noah Taborda/Kansas Reflector
House committee considers major changes to proposed Kansas medical marijuana act
Proposed amendments to a bill creating the framework for medical marijuana legalization in Kansas would loosen the most restrictive regulations on patient-physician relationships and qualifying conditions.
Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector
Anderson County property owner compares wind farms to menacing strip clubs, landfills
Senate Bill 279 would establish state-crafted regulation of wind generation facilities from the turbine to power line.
Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector
Kansas’ 6th correctional facility employee dies of COVID-19
Originally published by Kansas Reflector on March 22, 2021: TOPEKA — A 54-year-old corrections officer […]
Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector
Wind energy advocates argue Senate bill pulls plug on growth in $14B industry in Kansas
A Senate bill scheduled for public debate Monday would heap an unprecedented level of government regulation on Kansas’ thriving wind industry that in two decades attracted $14 billion in investment to a state economy struggling to find new opportunities for growth.
Sherman Smith/@Sherman_News
KU researcher says hostile policies impact well-being of LGBTQ youths
A researcher at the University of Kansas who studies mental health in transgender and LGBTQ youths said there is ample research showing how some legislation can have a negative mental health impact on trans kids.
Pool photo by Evert Nelson/Topeka Capital-Journal via Kansas Reflector
Kansas measure creating penalties for infrastructure damage prompts questions of intention, necessity
A Kansas bill creating new crimes for damage of critical public or private infrastructure prompted inquiries into the need for more stringent protection of these sites and possible restriction of free speech.
Noah Taborda/Kansas Reflector
Gov. Kelly denounces Kansas Senate’s budget plan as ‘sabotage’ of K-12 education system
Gov. Laura Kelly responded with contempt to a feeling of deja vu after the Kansas Senate voted to rely on federal COVID-19 funding rather than Kansas tax dollars to cover as much as $568 million in public education obligations in a proposed two-year state budget.
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