TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Governor Sam Brownback has signed a law aimed at keeping the state's courts or government agencies from basing decisions on Islamic or other foreign legal codes. A spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations says a court challenge is likely. Brownback signed the measure Monday, and the law takes effect in July.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A 48-year-old homeless man has been charged with breaking into a Kansas television station and attacking several employees. Shawnee County records show the four felonies and two misdemeanors were filed late Thursday against Ray Miles. He remains jailed on $100,000 bond in connection with Wednesday's melee at WIBW-TV in Topeka. The public defender's office didn't immediately return a phone message from The Associated Press seeking comment yesterday.
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer are urging Congress to extend a production tax credit for the wind power industry. Salazar says as many as 37,000 U.S. jobs are at stake. Their comments come a day after President Barack Obama made a similar request to Congress from Newton, Iowa, which has became a major manufacturing center for wind turbines in recent years.
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Wildlife Conservation Society spokesman John Calvelli says a U.S. Senate effort to elevate the Plains bison to America's "national mammal" is meant to mark the animal's place in American cultural history. Calvelli says the "vote bison" campaign is backed by lawmakers from Kansas and other Great Plains states.