Severe Storms, Tornadoes Slam Parts of Northeast Kansas
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - Severe weather hit northeast Kansas Tuesday night with numerous severe storms and several confirmed tornadoes across the region. Emergency officials are still assessing damage reports but say at least three tornadoes have been confirmed to have touched down in northeast Kansas, one in Westmoreland, another in rural Nemaha County, and one a few miles northeast of Topeka. In Westmoreland, one person died as a result of the tornado and three other people were injured but none of them critically. The entire city of about 700 was without power Tuesday night and county offices were running on emergency generators. Numerous power outages were reported across the region and electric utility Evergy says several hundred customers were still without power early Wednesday morning. The severe storms produced large, baseball sized hail, as well as extremely powerful wind gusts and heavy rains throughout much of the region. Tuesday's storms came just two days after tornadoes tore through Oklahoma on Sunday, killing four people and injuring at least 100. Last Friday, tornadoes twisted through Nebraska and Iowa, demolishing homes and businesses and leaving one person dead. The National Weather Service says more severe weather is forecast again for Wednesday afternoon but those storms are expected to be less intense and the strongest storms are forecast to occur in the southwest Kansas. Additional, weaker storms are in the forecast for Thursday afternoon, with dryer and cooler weather expected at the end of the week and the start of the weekend.
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One Dead After Tornado Strikes Small Town in Pottawatomie County
WESTMORELAND, Kan. (WIBW) — One person died when a tornado ripped through the small Pottawatomie County town of Westmoreland late Tuesday afternoon. County officials say a tornado struck the city just after 4:40 pm, destroying 22 homes, three RVs and five outbuildings. WIBW TV reports that three other people were injured but none of them critically. Officials are conducting searches to survey damage and search for any other people who may have been injured. The name of the person who died has not been released pending family notification. Officials say it’s the first death from a tornado in Kansas since 2012. Westmoreland is a city of about 700 people located about 60 miles northwest of Topeka. Images posted to social media showed a tornado on the ground in Westmoreland, as well as damaged homes, uprooted trees and a flipped semi-truck. Pottawatomie County officials say the entire city was without power last night but most residents have power restored this morning. The Red Cross set up a shelter at the local high school.
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New Tax Plan Goes to Governor Kelly for Signature; Veto Expected
TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) – Kansas lawmakers wrapped up their regular session Tuesday night, but not before attempting once again to pass major tax cuts. The Kansas News Service reports that a spokesperson for Democratic Governor Laura Kelly says she plans to veto the latest package sent to her desk. The governor wants tax cuts passed this year but has already vetoed two previous bills. The latest bill would combine the state’s three income tax brackets into just two. That's a change Kelly has cited as a reason for the previous vetoes. Republican Senator Rob Olson argues that the new bill is too costly, saying “This is even worse than what we had a day or two ago. And, um, you know, it still spends quite a bit.” After passing the tax bill Tuesday night, lawmakers adjourned until January. But Kelly says she’ll call lawmakers back for a special session to craft a new plan.
(–Additional reporting–)
Kansas Legislators Expect Kelly to Veto Their Latest Tax Cuts and Call a Special Session
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas lawmakers approved a new, slightly smaller package of tax cuts before adjourning their annual session early Wednesday, expecting Gov. Laura Kelly to veto it and call a special legislative session to push for a plan more to her liking.
The Democratic governor and Republican-controlled Legislature agree on a good deal of policy that would save taxpayers a total of between $1.42 billion and $1.92 billion over the next three years on their income, sales and property taxes. Their remaining differences are over how the state's personal income tax is structured and whether the state can avoid future budget shortfalls if the tax cuts are worth much more than $430 million a year as of 2029.
The impasse over cutting taxes, particularly income taxes, has continued over the past 18 months. Kansas has been unable to enact major tax cuts even though its coffers are bulging with surplus revenues.
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result,” Senate Minority Leader Dinah Sykes, a Lenexa Democrat, said just before senators adjourned for the year, quoting scientist Albert Einstein. “I will see you all in a couple of weeks.”
Republican leaders spent Tuesday afternoon and evening revising one last tax bill after they couldn't muster the two-thirds majority necessary in the Senate on Monday to override Kelly's veto of a bill approved earlier this month that would cut taxes by $1.56 billion over the next three years. They needed 27 of 40 votes and were one short, thanks to what has become a solid bloc of the Senate's 11 Democrats and three GOP dissidents.
The governor's stance has increasingly exasperated some fellow Democrats in the House, most of whom supported both the last bill she vetoed and the one headed to her desk. The latest version of the big tax bill, one of four measures cutting taxes, would save taxpayers $1.46 billion over three years.
Republican leaders said their differences with the governor amount to only a few million dollars in cuts a year.
“If we can't get a signature on this, I'm not sure what she will sign,” House Taxation Committee Chair Adam Smith, a Weskan Republican, told fellow Republicans during a meeting before the House approved the big tax bill.
The votes on the bill were 108-11 in the House and 25-9 in the Senate. While five senators were absent and one passed, there's still no sense that GOP leaders can muster a two-thirds majority.
Kelly and top Republicans have agreed on eliminating state income taxes on retirees' Social Security benefits, which kick in when they earn $75,000 a year. They also agree on reducing a state property tax for schools and eliminating the state's already set-to-expire 2% sales tax on groceries six months early, on July 1.
But top Republicans began the year hoping to move Kansas from its current three personal income tax rates to a single rate. They view that as simpler and fairer, though Kelly told them in vetoing their first plan this year in January that the move would benefit the “super wealthy.”
The plan Kelly vetoed earlier this month and the one approved late Tuesday night would move Kansas to two personal income tax rates. The highest rate, now 5.7%, would have been 5.55% under the bill Kelly vetoed and would be 5.57% under the one going to her desk.
Kelly told House Democrats earlier this month that she sees going to two personal income tax rates as a step toward the single-rate “flat” tax that she opposes.
But she has focused far more of her criticism in recent weeks on predicting that GOP proposals would lead to budget shortfalls in five or six years. She contends they would eat away too quickly at the $4.3 billion in surplus funds the state expects to have on hand at the end of June — equal to 41% of the state's annual general tax revenues.
“The governor has moved the goalposts on us many, many times,” House Speaker Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, said during the caucus before the House vote on the last big tax bill. “Quite frankly, it's on her. What we have right now is as close to what she wants as we can give her.”
Kelly has argued that tax cuts should cost no more than $433 million during the state's 2029 budget year. The latest version of the big tax bill came in at $439 million, compared with the $469 million for the last bill Kelly vetoed.
Legislators ended their annual session the same day the Kansas Department of Revenue reported that the state’s tax collections in April exceed expectations by nearly $102 million, or almost 8%.
“What we’re arguing over is almost silly,” Senate President Ty Masterson, an Andover Republican, said during a post-adjournment news conference with other GOP leaders. “In the scope of the Kansas budget, it is a fraction of a percent apart, and we’re supposed to believe that one is sustainable and one is devastating.”
But Kelly and her staff argue that Republicans' math is faulty because their figures don't include other tax bills.
Kelly's top figure of $433 million a year for 2029 includes one of them, and when that one is added to the latest bill, its 2029 cost is $487 million, a gap of $54 million between it and Kelly's top number.
“They just want to pretend that those bills don’t count towards this,” her chief of staff, Will Lawrence, told reporters Tuesday evening. “She’s the only one who’s been responsible in that scenario.”
But some lawmakers have grown weary of the back and forth. With elections for all legislative seats looming this year, they just want to confirm for their constituents that big tax cuts are coming.
“I'd much rather have a plan that she would sign than all this theater,” said Rep. Ken Rahjes, an Agra Republican.
Kansas Lawmakers Pass New Tax Bill, Governor Promises Veto
TOPEKA, Kan. (TCJ) - Kansas lawmakers adjourned their legislative session early Wednesday morning after passing a major tax cut package, but Governor Laura Kelly is vowing to veto the plan and call legislators back to the capital for a special session later this month. The Topeka Capital Journal reports that the revised tax bill passed the House 108-11 and the Senate 25-9. But Governor Kelly says the new bill is still unacceptable because it’s too expensive and says she will veto it. The bi-partisan plan would repeal the state income tax on Social Security benefits, cut property taxes, eliminate the state sales tax on food on July 1, and simplify income taxes for Kansas residents. This latest plan is nearly identical to the bill which Governor Kelly vetoed last week and the legislature failed to override. The most recent tax bill makes some minor changes to address the Governor's stated reasons for vetoing the previous bill. But Kelly is expected to also veto this bill and call for a special session later this month to further address tax cut legislation.
(–Previous Reporting–)
Kansas Senate Fails to Override Governor's Veto of Tax Package
TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) – Republicans in the Kansas Senate failed Monday to override Democratic Governor Laura Kelly’s veto of major tax cuts. The Kansas News Service reports that the override failed by just one vote after some Republicans broke with leadership. Kelly and lawmakers from both parties say tax cuts are a priority. They agree on measures like eliminating taxes on social security benefits, but they’ve been unable to reach a deal on income taxes. The governor says she’ll call a special session if they’re unable to pass tax cuts. Some Republicans say the override was their last chance before they end the session. But Republican Senator Dennis Pyle, who voted against the override, says there’s still time. “I want the people of Kansas to understand, we are not done. We’re in the 9th inning,” he added. Lawmakers typically wrap up around 90 days, which will be this Thursday.
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Kansas Has New Abortion Laws, While Louisiana May Block Exceptions to Its Ban
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas is requiring abortion providers to share patient information with the state and increasing funds to anti-abortion centers, while in Louisiana bills to loosen its restrictive ban face an uphill battle, thanks to Republican supermajorities in their Legislatures.
Democratic lawmakers in Louisiana are pushing bills to add exceptions, including in cases of rape and incest, to the state’s near-total abortion ban. A GOP-dominated House committee began its review of those measures Tuesday, but similar proposals failed last year.
Meanwhile in Kansas, the GOP-controlled Legislature on Monday overrode all four of Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly's vetoes of measures sought by anti-abortion groups. Starting July 1, abortion providers must ask patients why they are terminating their pregnancies and report the answers to the state, and it will be a specific crime to coerce someone into having an abortion.
Kansas also will offer both direct aid to anti-abortion centers and tax breaks for them and their donors. The aim of anti-abortion centers is to dissuade people from getting abortions while offering supplies, classes and other services.
Anti-abortion groups still exert a strong influence over Republicans in statehouses across the U.S. That's even after votes on ballot initiatives in multiple states demonstrated public support for abortion rights following the U.S. Supreme Court's Dobbs decision in 2022 — with the first one in Kansas in August 2022.
“We did not put this to bed,” Kansas Senate Democratic Leader Dinah Sykes said Tuesday. “Those people who showed up to vote who had not voted before need to show up in November to vote.”
The two states, nearly 400 miles (700 kilometers) apart, have dramatically different abortion laws because of their top courts. In August 2022, just months after Dobbs, Louisiana Supreme Court rejected a legal challenge to that state's near-total abortion ban, allowing the prohibition to go into effect. That was 10 days after Kansas voters decisively affirmed the position in a 2019 state Supreme Court ruling that the state constitution protects abortion rights.
Kansas doesn't ban most abortions until the 22nd week of pregnancy. Kelly is a strong supporter of abortion rights and has consistently vetoed the GOP-controlled Legislature's abortion measures.
She is expected to veto a fifth measure sought by abortion opponents, a bill aimed at ensuring that judges order child support payments apply to fetuses so that the mother's pregnancy expenses are covered. It would be similar to a Georgia law.
Critics believe the Kansas child support measure advances the anti-abortion movement’s long-standing goal of giving embryos and fetuses legal and constitutional protections on par with those of the people carrying them. There are dozens of proposals in at least 15 states aimed at promoting fetal rights, though most have not advanced, according to an Associated Press analysis earlier this year using the bill-tracking software Plural.
“If we’re going to say that fetuses now have legal rights, that is going to affect downstream a whole bunch of other things,” state Sen. Ethan Corson, a Kansas City-area Democrat, said before the measure passed last week.
But Kansas has had a law in place since 2007 that allows people to face separate charges for what it considers crimes against fetuses, and a 2013 state law declares that “unborn children have interests in life, health and well-being," though it isn't enforced as a limit on abortion.
The child support bill wouldn't change state policy on the legal status of fetuses, said Kansas Senate Judiciary Chair Kellie Warren, a Kansas City-area Republican.
“The real impact of this bill is helping women,” she said.
Abortion opponents also have touted the other measures as helping pregnant women and girls, in part by gathering better data about abortion so lawmakers can set clearer policy.
One measure continues to give $2 million a year in direct aid to anti-abortion centers that provide free supplies and services. Another exempts them from paying the state's 6.5% sales tax on what they buy and gives their donors a state income tax credit.
Kansans for Life, the state's most influential anti-abortion group said in a statement Monday that the measures “seek to meet Kansans where they are and save as many lives as possible.”
Meanwhile, many Republicans reject the argument that the August 2022 vote means Kansas voters expect lawmakers to stop regulating abortion.
“I think most Kansans would agree that we did want certain safeguards,” said GOP state Sen. Renee Erickson, of Wichita.
Louisiana's only exceptions to its abortion ban are when there is substantial risk of death or impairment to the patient in continuing a pregnancy and when the fetus has a fatal abnormality that makes a pregnancy “medically futile.”
Earlier this year, lawmakers rejected an effort to let voters decide whether abortions should be legal in Louisiana. The legislation proposed an amendment to Louisiana’s Constitution to enshrine reproductive rights for women, including access to birth control, abortion and infertility treatments.
Public opinion polls nationwide and some in Louisiana as reported by the The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate, have found that the majority oppose the most restrictive bans.
During the Louisiana House committee's first review Tuesday of bills adding new exceptions, Democrats shed tears and raised their voices in pleading for exceptions to the current law for rape and incest.
Democratic state Rep. Alonzo Knox, of New Orleans, questioned why young girls “who have been violated in the most unfathomable way” should be forced to give birth and be repeatedly traumatized by the experience.
“Not only that, she gives birth to a child that she has no knowledge or education about how to care for,” he added.
The committee expects to take a vote next week. Sponsoring state Rep. Delisha Boyd, another New Orleans Democrat, said she will try to sit down with Republican lawmakers and GOP Gov. Jeff Landry to see whether she can amend the bill to increase its chances of passage.
Landry, elected last year, replaced term-limited Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards, who supported some abortion restrictions but was a vocal backer of some exceptions.
(–Related–)
Kansas House Votes to Override Some Gubernatorial Vetoes of Abortion Bills
UNDATED (KNS) – Kansas House legislators have voted to override some of Governor Laura Kelly’s vetoes of abortion bills. The Kansas News Service reports that House legislators voted to override Kelly’s veto on a bill that would require medical facilities and providers to report the reasons for abortions they perform to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. Also, House legislators voted to override the governor’s veto on a bill that would make coercing a person into getting an abortion a felony crime. To become law, these bills will need to go through another round of override votes in the Senate.
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Backers of a Ban on Gender Care for Minors in Kansas Fail to Override the Governor's Veto
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republican legislators in Kansas failed Monday to override the Democratic governor's veto of a proposed ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors.
The vote was 82-43 in the state House to reverse Gov. Laura Kelly's veto, but that was two votes shy of the necessary two-thirds majority.
Two Republicans who'd backed the bill earlier voted against overriding the veto, citing their concerns about provisions that included one that would have barred state employees from advocating social transitioning for transgender youth.
The House's vote came after the Senate voted 27-13 to override the veto, with the exact two-thirds majority required in that chamber.
Under the bill, social transitioning includes “the changing of an individual’s preferred pronouns or manner of dress,” and the rule against promoting it would have applied to state workers who care for children. The measure doesn’t spell out what constitutes promoting it.
The vote in the House was expected to be close after LGBTQ+ rights advocates raised questions about whether the provision against promoting social transitioning is written broadly enough to apply to public school teachers who show empathy for transgender students.
The bill is part of a broader push to roll back transgender rights from Republican lawmakers in statehouses across the U.S. Kansas would have been the 25th state to restrict or ban such care for minors, and this week the South Carolina Senate expected to debate a similar measure that already has passed the state House.
“Unfortunately, in today’s society, the predator in particular is a woke health care system,” said Republican state Sen. Mark Steffen, a central Kansas anesthesiologist and pain management specialist.
Like other Republicans across the U.S., Steffen and other GOP lawmakers in Kansas argued that they're protecting children struggling with their gender identities from being pushed into health care that the lawmakers see as experimental and potentially harmful. But that puts them at odds with the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and other major U.S. medical groups.
LGBTQ+ rights groups such as Lambda Legal, the American Civil Liberties Union and Equality Kansas have stopped short of saying they would challenge the new law in court, but they've said they believe the provisions preventing state employees from advocating social transitioning violates their free speech rights. They've said that provision makes the Kansas law more sweeping than laws in other states.
Other critics argued that enacting such a ban sends a message that transgender residents aren't welcome. When Kelly vetoed a similar ban last year, she suggested that it would hurt the state's business climate.
“This is not the message we want to send to Americans about the welcoming opportunities that Kansas has,” said state Sen. Tom Holland, a northeastern Kansas Democrat.
About 300,000 youths ages 13 to 17 identify as transgender in the U.S., according to estimates by the Williams Institute, an LGBTQ+ research center at UCLA Law. It estimates that in Kansas, about 2,100 youths in that age group identify as transgender.
Republican lawmakers last year enacted laws barring transgender girls and women from female college and K-12 sports teams and ending legal recognition of transgender residents' gender identities. Transgender residents no longer can change the listing for “sex” on their driver's licenses or birth certificates to match their gender identities, something Kelly's administration had allowed.
“I do feel like there’s a genuine fear about me and what my body means, when I’m very happy,” Isaac Johnson, who is transgender and just finished a social work internship in Topeka’s public schools, said during a recent Statehouse news conference.
Transgender youth, parents of transgender children and dozens of medical and mental health providers all described gender-affirming care as life-saving and argued that it lessens severe depression and suicidal tendencies among transgender youth. At least 200 health care providers signed a letter to lawmakers opposing a veto override.
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Lawmakers Want the Chiefs and Royals to Come to Kansas, but a Stadium Plan Fizzled
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Some Kansas lawmakers see a chance to lure Kansas City's two biggest professional sports teams across the Missouri border. But an effort to help the Super Bowl champion Chiefs and Major League Baseball's Royals finance new stadiums in Kansas fizzled over concerns about how it might look to taxpayers.
Members of the Republican-controlled Legislature pushed a bill Tuesday that would have allowed Kansas officials to authorize at least $1 billion in bonds to cover the entire cost of building each new stadium, paying the debt off with tax revenues generated in the area over 30 years. But GOP leaders didn't bring it up for a vote before lawmakers adjourned their annual session early Wednesday.
Some critics derided the plan as corporate welfare. Others were receptive but didn't want to pass the proposal until the Legislature approved a broad package of tax cuts for their constituents that Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly would sign — which didn't happen either.
Legislators' work on a plan began in earnest behind the scenes after voters on the Missouri side of the Kansas City metropolitan area decisively refused earlier this month to extend a local sales tax used to keep up the complex housing the Chiefs' Arrowhead Stadium and the Royals' Kauffman Stadium for more than 50 years.
The bill's biggest champion, Kansas House Commerce Committee Chair Sean Tarwater, a Kansas City-area Republican, said supporters want to give the two professional sports teams another option should they contemplate leaving Kansas City, which he said would be devastating to both states.
“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take,” Tarwater said. “We need them to stay in the metroplex.”
The idea isn't dead yet.
Kelly and her staff signaled Tuesday that she is likely to veto the last tax package lawmakers approved, cutting income, sales and property taxes by a total of almost $1.5 billion over the next three years. Lawmakers expect Kelly to call a special session of the Legislature to try to get lawmakers to pass a tax plan that she'll accept — and they could consider the stadium financing proposal then.
“We just need a little time on it — we’ll be OK," said Senate President Ty Masterson, a Wichita Republican. "I mean, we’re serious about trying to incentivize the Chiefs to come our direction.”
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson told KSHB-TV in Kansas City on Tuesday that his administration would do everything that it can to keep the Chiefs and Royals in Missouri. His state's lawmakers are in session through May 17.
"We got time to try to work on some ways to try to see what we can do to help with keeping them here, and that’s our main goal,” Parson said.
The Kansas proposal would allow the bonds to finance 100% of the construction of each of two new professional sports stadiums with at least 30,000 seats. State and local officials would have a year to sign off, and the teams would be on the hook if local tax revenues weren't enough to pay off the bonds.
“It was just a concern of running it before we gave real tax relief to our constituents — kind of that juxtaposed look of what appears to be corporate welfare before you’re getting tax relief to the people,” Masterson said after deciding against having a Senate vote.
Before the local sales tax vote in Missouri, the Chiefs wanted to use their share of the revenues to help pay for an $800 million renovation of Arrowhead. The Royals planned to use their share to help finance a new, $2 billion-plus ballpark district that would be part of a larger nationwide wave of sports construction.
The current lease lease on the two teams' complex lasts through Jan. 31, 2031. Royals owner John Sherman has said the Royals will not play at Kauffman Stadium beyond the 2030 season, the Chiefs are hopeful of remaining at Arrowhead Stadium.
“We’ll be in a situation where we go back to the drawing board,” Chiefs owner Clark Hunt told reporters last week. “I do feel very much a sense of urgency, and we will approach it from a broader perspective going forward.”
Backers argue that the Kansas plan is ideal because the money to pay off the bonds would come from new sales and alcohol taxes generated only when the area around each stadium develops. Also, professional players will have to pay income taxes to Kansas on the portion of their earnings made at the stadiums in Kansas.
But Americans for Prosperity-Kansas, a small-government, low-tax group that has long opposed the use of such bonds, also opposed the stadium financing proposal. The group is influential with Republicans and told lawmakers it would consider their votes in evaluating their records.
Critics have long argued that allowing the bonds to finance big projects represents the state picking economic winners and losers instead of the free market. The same kind of bonds have financed multiple projects, including NASCAR's Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas.
One northeastern Kansas lawmaker, Democratic Sen. Tom Holland, called the stadium proposal “economic development for millionaires.” He added that it’s “total foolishness” to have taxpayers subsidize the stadiums — either through taxes they pay when they visit or because the state forgoes revenues that would flow into its coffers.
Another northeastern Kansas lawmaker, conservative GOP Sen. Dennis Pyle, said: “We’ve got a lot of priorities in Kansas, and I’m not sure that’s one of them."
Other lawmakers were critical because the Legislature had no public hearings or debates before three senators and three House members met in public this week to hash out the details of the proposal.
“As much as I would love to see the Chiefs and the Royals both come to Kansas, this is a very large expenditure of tax money that merits careful consideration, not a last minute scheme,” said Democratic state Rep. John Carmichael, of Wichita.
(–Related–)
Kansas Legislature Considers Changes to STAR Bonds to Lure Pro Sports Teams
TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) - Kansas lawmakers have been working on a plan to try to attract the Kansas City Chiefs, Royals or other professional sports teams to the state. The plan involves offering sales tax revenue bonds, known as STAR bonds, to help finance stadiums for the two teams. Those bonds are issued in Kansas to fund major businesses and attractions. They can be paid off over 30 years using diverted sales tax revenue. Lawmakers are considering changes that would allow a stadium to be funded 100% through bonds, rather than the typical 50%. The Legislature adjourned Tuesday night without passing any legislation aimed at luring the Chiefs and Royals across the state line but they might revisit the issue during a special session on taxes later in May. Chiefs CEO Clark Hunt confirmed the team was exploring other options after Jackson County, Missouri voters rejected a sales tax that would've helped fund stadium projects for both the Chiefs and the Royals in early April.
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Governor Signs Plan to Improve Student Literacy
TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) – Kansas Governor Laura Kelly has signed into law a landmark plan to improve the way students learn to read. The Kansas News Service reports that the Kansas Blueprint for Literacy aligns higher education and K-12 programs to train teachers in the science of reading. It directs the Kansas Board of Regents to appoint a director of literacy education and establish new credentials aimed at reading instruction. Republican state Sen. Molly Baumgardner says the bipartisan effort means the state has made literacy a priority. “We’re not going to just take everybody’s word for it, that ‘Oh yes, we’ve offered this new course.’ It’s going to be boots on the ground, eyes seeing exactly what is and isn’t happening,” she explained. The measure appropriates $10 million to Kansas universities for teacher training.
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KU Students Launch Pro-Palestinian Protest
LAWRENCE, Kan. (KNS) – Pro-Palestinian protesters at the University of Kansas have set up an encampment to demand the school halt investments with companies that have ties to Israel. The Kansas News Service reports that the KU chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine started what it says will be a multi-day encampment in front of Fraser Hall on campus. In a letter to administration, the group said they are protesting the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. They demanded the university sever financial ties with all Israeli government or military interests. The group is also calling for amnesty for all students, faculty or staff who participate in the protest. Encampments protesting the war in Gaza have spread to college campuses across the country.
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New Law Facilitates Changing Racist Language in Property Records
JOHNSON COUNTY, Kan. (Johnson County Post) – Homeowners in suburban Johnson County may now find it easier to erase racist language buried in their property records. The Johnson County Post reports that nearly a century ago, Johnson County communities like Prairie Village and Roeland Park were established as white-only enclaves that barred Black and Jewish people from buying homes there. Decades after such segregation was deemed unconstitutional, the exclusionary language in property deeds and homeowners association bylaws remained, often without current homeowners’ knowledge. Now, a new Kansas law makes it easier for cities and individual property owners to scrub racist clauses from local property records. Though the language is never enforced now, some local officials say the move is needed as Johnson County becomes more racially diverse. Others however say the language should not be erased, as a reminder of the area’s racist past.
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KCK Residents to Vote on Bond Proposal for Schools
KANSAS CITY, Mo. KSHB — Voters in the Kansas City, Kansas, Public School District will have the opportunity to vote next Tuesday on whether to approve a $420 million bond proposal. KSHB TV reports that the bond would allow the district to build five new schools, an aquatic center, and a new library branch. If voters approve the bond, the district would combine four elementary schools into two new buildings. Other improvements include additions to the gymnasiums at two high schools. The district would also build a new aquatic center and a new library branch in partnership with the Kansas City, Kansas, Public Library. Early voting is underway now. Election Day is next Tuesday, May 7.
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Overdose Addition to Kansas Good Samaritan Law Awaits Governor's Signature
UNDATED (KNS) – A bill to include drug overdoses in the state's Good Samaritan law is now awaiting the governor’s signature. The Kansas News Service reports that the bill would protect most people from prosecution if they call 911 to get medical attention for someone who’s experiencing an overdose. The bill was amended to not protect people on parole or probation if they call for help. Advocates say the proposed law will allow people to feel more comfortable about calling for help without fear of prosecution for being in possession of an illegal substance. Kansas is one of two states without a Good Samaritan overdose law.
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Supreme Court Leaves in Place a Texas Law Requiring Pornographic Websites to Verify Users' Ages
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to block a Texas law requiring pornographic websites to verify the age of their users.
The justices rejected an emergency appeal filed by the Free Speech Coalition, a trade association for the adult entertainment industry. The provision of House Bill 1181, signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott, remains in effect even as the association's full appeal is weighed by the Supreme Court.
There were no noted dissents from the court's one-sentence order.
Similar age verification laws have passed in other states, including Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Oklahoma, Utah and Virginia.
The Texas law carries fines of up to $10,000 per violation that could be raised to up to $250,000 per violation by a minor.
Last year, a federal judge blocked the law's age verification requirement and health warnings, finding that they likely violated the Constitution. But in March, a divided panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the age verification ruling, although it upheld the health warnings ruling that adult sites can't be forced to publish statements with which they disagree.
The health warnings, disputed by the industry, included that pornography is addictive, impairs mental development and increases the demand for prostitution, child exploitation and child sexual abuse images.
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Leawood Woman Files Civil Rights Lawsuit Against Blue Valley School District
LEAWOOD, Kan. (KCUR) – A Leawood mother is suing the Blue Valley School District, alleging it allowed other students to sexually harass and gender stereotype her transgender son – in violation of his civil rights. KCUR reports that Virginia Franzese says her son, known only by the initials O.O in the lawsuit, was bullied at Leawood Middle School because he was transitioning. The lawsuit alleges students shared transphobic and homophobic Snapchat messages about him and the district and building principal failed to act. O.O. attempted suicide and, the lawsuit says, he continues to suffer gravely from the sexual harassment at Leawood Middle School. These allegations first came to light almost two years ago in a KCUR investigation. The school district wouldn’t comment on the lawsuit but says it takes all accusations of bullying and discrimination seriously.
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President Biden Approves Federal Disaster Declaration for Kansas Related to January Storms
WASHINGTON (KPR)– The Federal Emergency Management Agency has announced that federal disaster assistance is available for the state of Kansas to add to recovery efforts in areas affected by a severe winter storm in January of this year. Public assistance federal funding is available to state, tribal and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by the severe winter storm of January 8-16, 2024. The counties eligible for this funding are Butler, Chase, Cloud, Edwards, Ford, Geary, Gray, Hodgeman, Morris, Osage, Ottawa, Pawnee, Shawnee, Stafford, Trego and Wabaunsee.
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USDA Report: Rural Residents Have Higher Mortality Risk
STILLWATER, Okla. (HPM) - A recent report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture found working-age rural residents die from natural causes at a higher rate than their urban counterparts. And that mortality gap is widening. 25 to 54 year olds in rural areas died of natural causes at a higher rate, six percent, than urban residents in 1999. 20 years later, that number swelled to 43%. National Rural Health Association CEO Alan Morgan says it’s harder for rural residents to seek care. “it's just a matter of not having access to local care and also, taking time off of work to be able to have to drive an hour or two to seek care,” Morgan said. Researchers found cancer and heart disease were the primary natural causes of death for men and women. But researchers found women were a driving force behind the overall increase as pregnancy-related deaths grew by more than 300 percent.
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Family of a Black Teen Who Was Shot After Ringing the Wrong Doorbell Files Lawsuit Against Homeowner
UNDATED (AP) – The family of a Black teenager who was shot by a white homeowner when he mistakenly went to the wrong Kansas City, Missouri, address filed a lawsuit Monday, described by the family's attorney as an attempt to put pressure on the criminal trial later this year.
The complaint, filed by Cleo Nagbe on behalf of her son, Ralph Yarl, alleges that Andrew Lester, 84, was negligent when he shot the 16-year-old without warning more than a year ago, on April 13. It states that Yarl suffered and sustained permanent injuries, as well as pain and suffering, as a direct result of Lester's actions.
Lee Merritt, the family’s attorney, said the civil suit is to “give the family a chance to be in the driver’s seat in pursuing justice for Ralph” as the state’s criminal case against Lester unfolds.
Lester pleaded not guilty in September 2023. The trial was scheduled to begin more than a year later on October 7, 2024.
Lester’s attorney in the criminal case, Steve Salmon, said he is evaluating the civil complaint and will discuss it with Lester. He said at a preliminary hearing for the criminal case that Lester was acting in self-defense, terrified by the stranger who knocked on his door as he settled into bed for the night.
“The suit is based on what he has said,” Merritt told The Associated Press. “If he’s saying, ‘I mistakenly thought this person was a robber,’ we’re saying that’s negligence. You weren’t paying close enough attention. Everybody who rings your doorbell can’t be a robber.”
Yarl mixed up the street name of the house where he was sent to pick up his siblings. Yarl testified at the hearing that he rang the doorbell and then reached for the storm door as Lester opened the inner door. Lester told him, “Don’t come here ever again,” Yarl recalled.
He said he was shot in the head, the impact knocking him to the ground, and was then shot in the arm.
The case, which drew international attention, animated national debates about gun policies and race in America.
In a statement, Nagbe said the shooting “not only shattered our family but also exposed a critical gap in our societal fabric, where the safety of our children is jeopardized by reckless actions.”
The lawsuit also names the homeowner’s association, Highland Acres Homes Association, Inc., as a defendant. The association did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.
Merritt said the family is aware the litigation might be delayed pending the outcome of the criminal case but wanted to still begin the process. He cited state law that allows the victim access to the criminal case records that has not yet been satisfied, as the prosecutor seeks clarification from the judge on the case’s gag order.
Yarl was “uniquely resilient” after the shooting, Merritt said, but “his resiliency has kind of grown into some impatience with being the person who was shot a year ago.”
“He doesn’t want to be that person,” Merritt said. “He wants to be an amazing band player, a good friend, a student, a rising college student.”
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Worlds of Fun to Keep Chaperone Policy After Opening on Saturday
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - Worlds of Fun opens on Saturday and officials tell KCTV that the theme park has no plans of changing its chaperone policy. Guests age 15 years old or younger must be accompanied by a person who is at least 21 years old. This policy first went into effect a year ago after several fights involving 100-150 teens, none of whom appeared to be accompanied by an adult. The brawls resulted in a sheriff’s deputy being punched.
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Former Jayhawk Standout Joel Embiid Reveals Bell's Palsy Diagnosis
PHILADELPHIA, Penn. (KCTV) - Former KU Jayhawk basketball center Joel Embiid has revealed that he has received a diagnosis of temporary partial facial paralysis. KCTV reports that Embiid led the Philadelphia 76ers to victory last Thursday with a 125-114 win over the New York Knicks in Game 3 of the first round of the NBA playoffs. The win, however, may have been bittersweet for the All-Star center. In a news conference after the game, Embiid revealed that he had been diagnosed with Bell’s palsy, which has affected him since before the playoffs began. His symptoms include blurred vision and the left side of his face and eye were affected. Team doctors say the condition is temporary, but there is no set timetable for his recovery.
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Lugo Gets 5th Win in 7 Starts as Royals Beat Blue Jays 6-1
TORONTO (AP) — Seth Lugo pitched seven strong innings to win for the fifth time in seven starts, Michael Massey hit a three-run home run and the Kansas City Royals beat the Toronto Blue Jays 6-1 on Wednesday. Bobby Witt Jr. had two hits, scored once and also drove in a run as the Royals won for the fifth time in seven meetings with Toronto. Salvador Perez had an RBI single and extended his career-best streak of reaching base safely to 21 games. His 27 RBIs lead the American League. Massey homered off right-hander Nate Pearson in the eighth, his second in two games. He finished with four RBIs.
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