KDHE Warns of Possible Measles Exposure at Wichita Airport
TOPEKA, Kan. (KPR/KWCH) — Health officials are warning of a possible measles exposure at the Wichita airport. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment says passengers may have been exposed to the disease at Eisenhower National Airport Friday evening, May 2nd. Anyone who was in the Wichita airport that evening should watch for symptoms of measles through Friday, May 23rd.
KWCH TV also reports potential exposures at the Hutchinson Public Library... and at an auto parts store in Cimarron in southwest Kansas. State health officials continue to monitor the measles outbreak. Most of the 48 cases in Kansas so far have been in people who are not vaccinated. Half of the cases involve children.
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Dan Hawkins to Run for State Insurance Commissioner
TOPEKA, Kan. (KPR) – Kansas House Speaker Dan Hawkins on Tuesday entered the Republican primary for state insurance commissioner. Hawkins has served in the Kansas House of Representatives for 12 years, representing a district in Wichita. He’s been House speaker since 2023. The 64-year-old previously worked in the insurance industry to help provide employee benefits. He is also a veteran of the Kansas National Guard. His campaign website describes him as pro-life, pro-gun and pro-Trump. As speaker, he has helped coordinate several overrides on bills vetoed by Democratic Governor Laura Kelly. That includes passing a ban on gender-affirming care for minors. Republican Vicki Schmidt is in her second term as insurance commissioner. She has not yet announced whether she will run again.
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Auditors Question COVID Relief Money Distribution Process at KS Commerce Department
UNDATED (KNS) – Auditors say the Kansas commerce department’s process for awarding $99 million in federal COVID relief money was inconsistent and lacked transparency. the Kansas News Service reports that some lawmakers are raising concerns about the program’s integrity. The program was designed to fund infrastructure and economic development projects. Auditor Andy Brienzo says the commerce department did not always follow its internal process for scoring applicants, and Secretary David Toland did not document his final selection process. “We don’t know the projects the secretary considered, why he approved the projects he did, how the amount of funding was determined, and of course that limits the public transparency of the program,” Brienzo said. Some lawmakers say they’re concerned about the geographic distribution of funding. Around half of the money went to Johnson and Butler counties. A commerce representative says the program’s short timeline led to human errors, and Secretary Toland considered a variety of factors in his selection process. Toland is also the state’s lieutenant governor.
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Kansas Education Leaders Considering Changes in Terms for Student Achievement Tests
WICHITA, Kan. (KNS) – Kansas education leaders are considering a plan to clarify terms on state tests that measure student achievement. The Kansas News Service reports that groups of Kansas teachers set cut scores on the annual tests and determine four performance levels. Level 1 means a student is not on track for college or the workforce. Level 2 means "basic" ability, Level 3 is "effective," and 4 is "excellent." The new test would be instead tied to grade-level standards, and Level 3 would become "proficient." It's a term lawmakers and educators have clashed over in recent years. Dan Gruman, chairman of the Kansas Assessment Advisory Council, said “...there is really no escaping from the term 'proficient,' because it's used at the federal accountability level. There is no escaping that term.” The state board is developing new state assessment tests, and officials warn that results won't be comparable to previous years.
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Conservative Kansas Board of Education Members Say They'll Continue to Reject Some Federal Funding
WICHITA, Kan. (KNS) – Conservatives on the Kansas Board of Education say they will keep rejecting federal funding for programs they see as wasteful or unnecessary. The Kansas News Service reports that last month, the Kansas board voted down a plan to promote a summer meals program for children. The state returned $20,000 to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Now board attorneys are urging members to consider the implications of rejecting federal funding for long-running programs that depend on it. Republican board member Connie O’Brien opposed the summer meals grant and says she’ll continue to question spending. She says federal agencies try to control schools through funding. “I don’t care where you get it from, whether it’s from agriculture, healthcare — it has strings attached to it, and they do that on purpose,” she explained. Two conservative Republicans won seats on the state board last fall, shifting its ideological balance.
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FBI Transfers 40 Agents to Kansas City Area Field Offices
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - More than 1000 positions at the Federal Bureau of Investigation are being moved out of Washington, D.C., into field offices around the country. FBI Director Kash Patel told Congress that the plan includes sending dozens of agents to the Kansas City Regional Office to help tackle, what Patel calls, "an explosion of violent crime" in middle America. KCTV reports that the agents will be assigned to help crack down on violent crimes, drugs, homicides, and gang activity. Patel says the plan is to bring almost 40 agents to the region with 33 assigned to the Kansas City field office and several others to Springfield and Jefferson City in Missouri as well as one additional agent each in Topeka and Wichita In Kansas.
Patel told Congress that move is not necessarily in response to violent crime in these areas, but rather because the Kansas City office offers a centralized location to access other areas. The FBI staffs 55 field offices across the country.
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Colyer Appoints Campaign Treasurer for 2026 Kansas Governor’s Race
TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) - Johnson County surgeon and well-known conservative Republican Jeff Colyer appears to be moving closer officially announcing his bid to be the next governor of Kansas. WIBW TV reports that Colyer has appointed state Republican Representative Kyle Hoffman of Coldwater as his campaign treasurer. Hoffman is the assistant majority leader for the Kansas House.
Colyer led Kansas as the state’s 47th governor for about a year after serving as Sam Brownback’s lieutenant governor for seven years. He stepped into the top job for what would have been the final year of Brownback’s term after Brownback accepted President Donald Trump’s appointment as the U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom. Colyer would be seeking his first full term as governor and looking to win the post in an election for the first time.
In 2018, he ran for a full term as governor, but narrowly lost the Republican primary to Kris Kobach, the state’s current attorney general. Governor Laura Kelly defeated Kobach in the 2018 election. Kelly, who was reelected in 2022, is not eligible for a third term and can’t run next year. Colyer recently served as Donald Trump’s 2024 Kansas Chairman in the presidential election.
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Chase County Detention Center Houses Majority of Kansas ICE Detainees
WICHITA, Kan. (KMUW) – The majority of Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees in Kansas are housed at the Chase County Detention Center, a 148-bed facility in the Flint Hills. KMUW reports that there are two places in Kansas contracted to hold ICE inmates: a unit in the federal prison in Leavenworth and the Chase County Detention Center. The jail in Cottonwood Falls has had an ICE contract for more than 20 years. Though these days it can’t keep up. In the last month, the 148-bed facility has been over capacity on 18 days. Michael Sharma-Crawford, a Kansas City-based immigration attorney, asks “...what’s the industry in Cottonwood Falls, Kansas? There’s a Casey’s and the jail. You’re stressing that community out because people are working extra and all of that kind of stuff. You’re stressing out these communities where you’re taking these people out. We’re way past capacity.” Sharma-Crawford said given current immigration policies, he doesn’t see Chase County’s jail roster decreasing soon. (Read more.)
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“Chiefsaholic” Sentenced to 32 Years For Oklahoma Bank Robbery
TULSA, Okla. (KCTV) – An Oklahoma man, widely known as the ‘Chiefsaholic,’ was sentenced Monday for his role in a Tulsa bank robbery in December 2022. KCTV reports that a Tulsa County judge found 30-year-old Xaviar Babudar guilty of robbery with a firearm, one count of assault while masked or disguised and one count of removing an electronic monitoring device.
Babudar, who became known around Kansas City for appearing at Chiefs games in a wolf costume, was sentenced to 32 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to a 2022 bank robbery. That sentence will be served concurrent to a 17.5-year federal sentence he received last year for a spate of bank robberies.
Babudar was charged after an armed robbery at the Tulsa Teacher’s Credit Union in Bixby, Oklahoma. Bixby police were called and took him into custody while he was riding a bike through a neighborhood shortly after the robbery. His bond was lowered two months after his arrest and he bonded out of jail in February, 2023. In March of 2023, he removed his ankle monitor and failed to appear for a court date. In July 2023, he was apprehended by federal authorities in California.
A federal investigation previously linked Babudar to multiple robberies across the country. He pleaded guilty in federal court and was sentenced to 17 and a half years in federal prison in September 2024. The Tulsa County judge made Babudar’s 32-year sentence concurrent to his federal sentence. That means Babudar will be transferred to Oklahoma to serve his remaining 14 -and-a-half years in state prison after his federal sentence expires.
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State of Kansas Reaches Wind Power Milestone
UNDATED (KNS) — More than half of the electricity generated in Kansas now comes from wind power. The state crossed this threshold last year. Dorothy Barnett leads the Climate and Energy Project, a group based in Hutchinson that advocates for renewable energy. She says wind is now vital to power across the regional transmission organization that includes Kansas. “There have been days in the past few years when the Southwest Power Pool - all 14 states - are operating 85, 90% of the electricity comes from wind power," she said. This happens on days with plenty of wind and not a lot of demand for heating and cooling. “And we haven’t even scratched the surface on opportunities for solar and battery storage. And that’s what’s next - that’s what is big on the horizon," Barnett said. Less than 1% of Kansas electricity came from solar power last year. Just two states - Iowa and South Dakota - get more of their energy from wind and solar than Kansas. Proposals for large-scale solar and wind installations often spark heated debates that divide communities.
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University "Common Read" Selections Announced
WICHITA, Kan. (KNS) – Students starting college at some Kansas universities this fall already have their first reading assignment. The Kansas News Service reports that common read programs are a tradition for incoming freshmen. The University of Kansas has selected John Green’s “The Anthropocene Reviewed” as its common book for incoming students. The essay collection explores various aspects of modern life and what it means to be human. Kansas State University is encouraging students to read “Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World” by former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy. And Wichita State students will be reading “Eat Like a Fish” a memoir by ocean farmer Bren Smith that explores food justice and environmental issues. Universities are planning lectures and other events related to their common books. John Green will visit Lawrence in September.
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KC Apartment Complex Fire Displaces 11 People
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KMBC) — A fire at a Kansas City apartment complex has displaced 11 people. The Kansas City Fire Department says crews responded to the two-story apartment building around 7 pm Sunday in the 1100 block of Hardesty Avenue. KMBC TV reports that the fire damaged eight units. No one was hurt. The cause remains under investigation.
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Executive Order Requires Commercial Truck Drivers To Be Proficient in English
UNDATED (HPM) — A recent executive order will mandate that all commercial truck drivers be proficient in English. President Donald Trump’s directive comes as more immigrants enter the trucking industry in recent years, with numbers exceeding 700,000, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Harvest Public Media reports that there’s already a federal rule that requires truck drivers to be proficient in English, but Trump has called the new executive order a "non-negotiable safety requirement." That requirement includes speaking and reading well enough to understand road signs and to communicate with officials at agriculture checkpoints, weight limit stations, and the border patrol. Raman Dhillon, CEO of the North American Punjabi Trucking Association, says there is a fear that the directive could target some drivers. “All these rule and regulations are vital to the trucking industry…but are these measures gonna be used against the people of color to retaliate or to discriminate?” he asks. The Department of Transportation will soon issue new guidance on English proficiency testing and enforcement. (Read more.)
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Chiefs Tapped Again for Christmas Night Game
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KAKE) - The Kansas City Chiefs have announced that the team will play on Christmas Day again this year. KAKE TV reports that the Chiefs will host the Denver Broncos on Christmas night at Arrowhead Stadium. This will be the third consecutive season in which the NFL’s most popular primetime team plays on Christmas. The league plans a doubleheader for the December 25 holiday, which falls this year on a Thursday. The other game pits the Green Bay Packers against the Chicago Bears in an NFC North matchup in Chicago. The NFL revealed the special event on Monday in the first in a series of announcements of notable games ahead of the full schedule release set for Wednesday night. The NFL will also unveil the matchups for its record seven international games this season.
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This summary of area news is curated by KPR news staffers. Our headlines are generally published by 10 am weekdays and are updated through 7 pm. This ad-free news summary is made possible by KPR members. Become one today. And follow KPR News on X (formerly Twitter).