Gov. Laura Kelly said during her inauguration address that Kansas politicians should work together for good policy. But her agenda likely faces strong opposition from Republican lawmakers.
Gov. Laura Kelly enters a second term in office Monday committed to a centrist philosophy of governing capable of irritating Republicans and at times frustrating Democrats.
State legislators and the governor approved a $10,000 settlement of a lawsuit filed by a former Kansas prison inmate stabbed repeatedly by white supremacists when placed in the general population at El Dorado Correctional Facility despite known threats to his safety.
Despite Democrats flipping three Kansas House seats in Johnson County — the state’s most populated area — Republican strength in rural communities remains as strong as ever. That gives rural lawmakers more say in important budget and policymaking discussions.
Education deans at public universities in Kansas working on solutions to a K-12 teacher shortage want to dramatically expand over three years state financial aid for college students in education programs and to implement a partnership to uniformly compensate student teachers.
Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly wants to accelerate the phaseout of the state’s food sales tax. That could have the greatest impact on people with low incomes. But Republican lawmakers may not feel the need to do it.
A former Republican member of the Kansas House deepened his legacy of corruption when a U.S. District Court jury returned guilty verdicts on a dozen felony counts of defrauding federal and state agencies of $355,000 in COVID-19 business recovery funds.
Gov. Laura Kelly initiated a campaign Monday to convince the Republican-led Legislature the revenue surplus was sufficient to end the state sales tax on groceries by April 1, create a three-day sales tax holiday on school supplies and increase the state income tax exemption on Social Security benefits.
Restoring life safety and functional integrity to nearly 500 academic or research buildings on state university campuses in the Kansas Board of Regents system would cost an estimated $1.2 billion, officials said Thursday.
Medical marijuana may have a future in Kansas after all, though lawmakers are still uncertain whether any medical marijuana legislation will garner support in the Senate, or wither away like previous bills.
