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Brownback Rallies Crowd to Oppose Birth Control Mandate
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Governor Sam Brownback has urged a large crowd at the Kansas Statehouse to work to overturn a federal government policy that mandates most employers' health plans cover contraceptives. Brownback, a practicing Roman Catholic, joined the state's Catholic bishops yesterday in decrying the policy as an attack on religious freedom. Several thousand people attended yesterday's rally, which is part of a nationwide campaign prompted by the policy announced by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sibelius earlier this year.
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Judge Halts Kansas from Barring Family Planning Funding
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A federal judge has again barred Kansas from stripping federal family planning funds from Planned Parenthood clinics in Wichita and Hays as well as an unaffiliated clinic in Dodge City. U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten yesterday extended his preliminary injunction first issued a year ago. Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri and the Dodge city Family Planning Clinic sought the extension.
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State Tax Collections Exceed Projections for June
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Department of Revenue reports that the state collected $32 million more in taxes than anticipated in June. The department also said yesterday that the June surplus allowed the state to meet projections for tax collections for the 2012 fiscal year, which ends today.