Kansas Business Lawsuit Upheld by Supreme Court
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) _ The Kansas Supreme Court is allowing businesses and trade groups to go forward with a lawsuit challenging a financial maneuver used by the state in 2009 to help balance its budget. The court issued its ruling Friday. The case received widespread attention after it was filed in 2010 because one of the suing parties' attorneys was then-House Speaker Mike O'Neal. The lawsuit challenged a decision by legislators and former Governor Mark Parkinson to divert fees paid by businesses to finance their state regulators to general government programs instead. The suit argued that the state exceeded its police powers in sweeping the funds and sought to prevent a future repeat.
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New Judge Selection Law Challenged
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) _ A Kansas judge is suggesting that the independence of the state's courts is at stake in a dispute over an administrative policy imposed on them by legislators. An attorney for District Judge Larry Solomon of Kingman County on Friday asked District Judge Larry Hendricks of Shawnee County to strike down a 2014 law changing who selects chief judges in the state's 31 judicial districts.
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White Supremacist Testifies in Trial
OLATHE, Kan. (AP) _ A white supremacist charged with killing three people at Jewish sites in suburban Kansas City last year has testified that he wishes he could have killed more. Frazier Glenn Miller Junior, who is acting as his own attorney, called himself to the stand, where he was also cross-examined by the prosecutor. He detailed Friday afternoon how he went to the two sites and shot the people because he thought they were Jews.
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Death Penalty Sought in Kansas City Multiple Murder Case
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) _ Authorities will seek the death penalty against a man charged with killing five people in a quiet south Kansas City neighborhood. Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced the decision in a news release Friday. Brandon Howell is charged with five counts of first-degree murder in the September 2014 killings.
