Kansas Judge Rejects GOP-Drawn Congressional Map for Violating Minority Voters' Rights
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (KNS) — A Wyandotte County judge struck down the state’s new congressional map, clearing the way for the Kansas Supreme Court to weigh in on how far politicians can go in gerrymandering political boundaries. District Court Judge Bill Klapper ruled the map — drawn by the Republican-dominated Kansas Legislature — violates the rights of residents in Lawrence and Wyandotte County by watering down the influence of Black voting blocs to serve partisan ambitions. He said a gerrymandered map violates provisions in the state constitution related to free speech, voting and equal protection rights. “The State has created classes of favored and disfavored voters, allowing voters of one party to elect their candidates of choice while denying that same right to voters of another,” Klapper wrote in the ruling. “The Kansas Constitution, which recognizes citizens’ right to political equality, stands as a bulwark against such legislative misconduct.” Klapper ordered the Legislature to redraw a legal map. However, attorneys for the state are expected to appeal the ruling. Republican leaders in the Kansas House said in a joint statement they looked forward to an appeal.( Read more.)
(AP version...)
Kansas Judge Rejects Congressional Map; Appeal Expected
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas district court judge on Monday struck down a new Republican-backed congressional map that would likely make it harder for the only Democrat in the state's delegation to win reelection this year. It was the first time a court has declared that the Kansas Constitution prohibits political gerrymandering. The state is expected to appeal to the Kansas Supreme Court. The decision from Wyandotte County District Judge Bill Klapper in the Kansas City area came a little more than five weeks before the state's June 1 candidate filing deadline. Lawsuits claimed the map violated voting rights and constitutional guarantees of equal rights for all Kansas residents and freedom of speech and assembly.
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Kansas College Looking into Alleged Water Cooler Tampering
LINDSBORG, Kan. (AP) — Bethany College officials are investigating an allegation that someone associated with its baseball program intentionally contaminated the water cooler used by the opposing team. Athletic director Laura Moreno confirmed the investigation and declined further comment. Kansas Wesleyan athletic director Steve Wilson said a foreign substance was discovered in the cooler during a doubleheader Sunday. He said it is common practice for the home team, Bethany in this case, to provide water for the visitor. Wilson declined further comment, including whether any players, coaches or support staff drank the water or became ill.
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Construction Expected to Wrap-Up Soon at NBAF
MANHATTAN, Kan. (KNS) - Construction is almost complete on NBAF, the federal lab in Manhattan that will conduct animal disease research. The Kansas News Service reports that the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility will be the first of its kind in the U.S. After pandemic-related construction delays, some of the 240 employees at NBAF are moving in. When it opens this summer, it’ll be the first lab in the US that’s big enough to hold large livestock like cattle with the highest level of biosafety containment. That’ll allow researchers to study dangerous animal diseases, work on vaccines and prepare for outbreaks. Communications director Katie Pawlosky says NBAF will help protect an agriculture industry that contributes more than $1 trillion to the US economy. "NBAF, with the capabilities we’ll have, really acts as an insurance policy for our agriculture," she said. The Manhattan facility will employ roughly 400 people once it’s fully operational in 2024.
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Kansas City Area House Fire Leaves 4 Injured, 2 Critically
INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (AP) — Authorities said a fire in an Independence, Missouri, residence with 11 people in the household left four people hurt, including two juveniles. The Independence Fire Department responded to a call Saturday morning and discovered heavy smoke coming from the front door. The four injured were transported to a hospital, where two of them are listed in critical condition. The Kansas City Star reports that the fire was put out just before 9 am. City officials says investigators are looking into the cause of the blaze.
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Strong Storm Rolls Through Western Kansas, Tearing Off Roofs, Damaging Buildings
SHARON SPRINGS, Kan. (AP) - Recovery efforts are underway in western Kansas where a strong storm and possible tornado tore through several towns Friday night. National Weather Service officials were in western Kansas over the weekend to assess damage in Sharon Springs and elsewhere. Authorities say the late Friday storm rolled through numerous Kansas communities, including Grainfield, Mingo and Winona. Large hail was reported in Leoti, Colby, Holcomb, Ulysses, Hugoton and Garden City. There have been no reports of injuries.
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Kansas Gov: It's KU National Championship Day!
TOPEKA, Kan. (KPR) - Kansas Governor Laura Kelly welcomed members of the KU men's basketball team to the state capitol today (MON). The governor greeted KU Coach Bill Self and members of the team and signed a proclamation, declaring April 25th as "KU Men's Basketball National Championship Victory Day."
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Oklahoma Governor Signs Bill for Massive Corporate Subsidy
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt's staff says the Republican governor has signed a bill to authorize up to $700 million in state subsidies to lure an unidentified major manufacturer to the state. Stitt spokeswoman Carly Atchison says the governor signed the Large-scale Economic Activity and Development, or LEAD, Act on Monday. Stitt and lawmakers who crafted the plan have not identified the company they are targeting, but the Japanese broadcast network NHK has reported that Panasonic. is considering both Kansas and Texas as potential sites for an electric-vehicle battery factory. The state of Kansas has passed its own incentive package, worth up to a billion dollars, to attract the company and the 4,000 jobs that are promised to come with it.
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Kansas Lawmakers Consider Override Attempts of Governor's Vetoes
TOPEKA, Kan. (KPR) - Republicans in the Kansas Legislature will attempt this week to override Democratic Governor Laura Kelly’s vetoes of bills key to their election-year agenda. Republican Senate President Ty Masterson says lawmakers will attempt to override Kelly’s vetoes of three bills backed by conservatives during this – the final week of the session. One would ban transgender girls and women from competing against cisgender girls and women in interscholastic sports. Another would give parents more control over what’s taught in the state’s public schools, particularly on topics of race, gender, and sexuality. A third measure rejected by the governor would require unemployed adults applying for food stamps to get job training. All of the bills passed with relative ease, but not with veto-proof majorities. Republicans are within striking distance of getting the votes needed to override the governor in the Senate but appear well short of the necessary two-thirds majority in the House.
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Final Push Underway to Slash the Kansas Food Tax
TOPEKA, Kan. (KPR) - Kansas lawmakers are returning to Topeka for what’s scheduled to be the final week of the 2022 session. Their main job will be to finish work on the state budget. That will require settling a dispute with Democratic Governor Laura Kelly over how quickly to zero out the state’s 6.5% sales tax on groceries. Republicans want to phase it out by January of 2025. But Kelly wants to take it off the books by July 1st of this year. She says with inflation making everything more expensive, Kansans can’t afford to wait. Neither, says Travis Kier, can grocers. He owns stores near the Nebraska border and says the tax is costing him customers. “Each of our contiguous states either has a reduced or zero food tax, which puts our citizens at a disadvantage and puts your retailers at a disadvantage," he said. Totally eliminating the Kansas sales tax on groceries would cost the state around $500 million a year in revenue.
Kansas Lawmakers Return to Tax Cut Debate; Maps Scrutinized
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas lawmakers are ending a spring break with more room to cut taxes and boost state spending than they had even a few weeks ago but not knowing whether they'll be debating political redistricting again. The Republican-controlled Legislature was set to reconvene Monday to wrap up its business for the year. State court cases involving the new political boundaries drawn by GOP lawmakers create some uncertainty over how long they'll be in session. Lawmakers must complete a $22 billion-plus budget for the 12 months beginning July 1. Republican leaders and Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly are scrapping over how to cut taxes now that the state is flush with cash.
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Wildfires Force Some Evacuations in Southwestern Nebraska
CAMBRIDGE, Neb. (AP) — Crews were making progress fighting wildfires that forced people in several communities in southwestern Nebraska to evacuate, authorities said Saturday. The fires pushed by strong winds threatened mostly rural areas hit hard this spring by drought, although residents in the town of Cambridge were the first ones asked to evacuate Friday evening. The community of about 1,000 people is located near Arapahoe, where wildfires burned nearly 35,000 acres earlier this month. Wildfires were reported Friday from the Kansas border to the Cambridge area, with a smaller blaze between Cambridge and Stockbridge. Authorities said Saturday morning that conditions had improved, although the risk of fires and significant blowing dust are still possible.
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Nation's Highest Court Won't Revive Ban on Secret Filming at Slaughterhouses
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by Kansas to revive a law that banned secret filming at slaughterhouses and other livestock facilities but that was struck down by lower courts. The justices did not comment Monday in leaving in place a ruling by a federal appeals court panel that the so-called ag-gag law violated the First Amendment by stifling speech critical of animal agriculture. The Kansas law made it a crime for anyone to take a picture or video at an animal facility without the owner's consent or to enter the facility under false pretenses. Federal appeals courts considering similar laws in Iowa and Idaho had split over the issue.
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Midwest Farmers Turn to Manure as Fertilizer Prices Spike
UNDATED (HPM) - Fertilizer prices have doubled from a year ago and yet, farmers still need to get nutrients into the ground. Harvest Public Media reports that farmers are now turning to a more organic product: manure. Andy Scholting’s phone has been ringing off the hook. He’s the president of Nutrient Advisors, a Nebraska-based manure brokerage. It’s farmers blowing up his phone, desperate to get manure on their fields instead of costly synthetic fertilizers. "We have been inundated with calls. The demand is breaking records. And unfortunately, there's not a lot of supply to meet all of the demand," he said. For the first time since the company’s founding in 2005, demand is outpacing the cows and poultry that produce most of Scholting’s product. He’s pre-sold manure into winter 2023.
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Kansas City Police Department Welcomes Interim Police Chief
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City police department has a new interim chief, as embattled Chief Rick Smith officially retired. Deputy Chief Joe Mabin, a 22-year veteran of the department, was sworn in Friday. Mabin, who leads the department's investigations bureau, has said he will not apply for the permanent position. Smith, who served 34 years in the department, was chief since 2017. Civil rights activists had called for years to have Smith retire or be fired, citing his handling of excessive force cases involving officers and the killing of Black men by police officers. The department announced in November that Smith planned to retire this spring.
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Kansas Man Sentenced in Shooting Death of McConnell Airman
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A 28-year-old Wichita man has been sentenced to 27.5 years in prison for shooting into a crowd of people at a party, killing a man from South Carolina and injuring three others. Markeithen "Red" McClaine was sentenced last week for the July 2019 shooting that killed 20-year-old Airman 1st Class Chancelor Williams, of Spartanburg, South Carolina, who was stationed at McConnell Air Force Base. McClaine pleaded guilty in February to second-degree murder and three counts of attempted second-degree murder . Prosecutors said McClaine fired at least six shots into a crowd who had gathered to celebrate an upcoming Air Force deployment.
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Committee Criticizes Wichita Police Misconduct, Racism
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Wichita city report says the police department needs to reform by clamping down on biased police officers and improving its leadership. A committee appointed by the Wichita city manager issued its report Thursday. The committee was formed after an investigation by The Wichita Eagle found some members of the department's SWAT team joked about using force and exchanged racist, sexist and homophobic texts. The committee's report says the officers involved were not adequately disciplined and recommends an independent review be conducted by a third-party group to determine the extent of bias within the police department.
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Man Whose Rape Case Was Dismissed is Suing Kansas
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A Wichita man who served time in prison before a rape charge against him was dismissed is suing the state of Kansas for wrongful conviction and imprisonment. Albert Wilson was convicted in 2019 of committing a rape in Lawrence. He was later granted a new trial because of ineffective counsel, but the case was dismissed in 2021. He spent two years in prison before the case was dismissed. Wilson, who always maintained his innocence, filed a lawsuit earlier this month in Douglas County District Court. He claims in the lawsuit the conviction and incarceration caused him both economic and non-economic damages.
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Kansas City Chiefs Have Options with 2 First-Round Picks, 12 in All
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — There are two very different schools of thought surrounding the Kansas City Chiefs as they head into the NFL draft, where aggressive general manager Brett Veach has two picks apiece in each of the first four rounds and 12 in all. The first involves working the phones next Thursday night to move up in the first round, perhaps packaging picks to climb the board and select a player they really want. If that's the case, it's likely to be one of the top wide receivers in the hopes that he can help replace Tyreek Hill, the three-time All-Pro that was traded to the Dolphins this offseason. The other thought process takes into consideration the whopping long-term contracts that Kansas City has doled out to quarterback Patrick Mahomes, defensive tackle Chris Jones and several others. In that case, they would use all their draft capital to select a bunch of players that will be on inexpensive rookie contracts for the next several years. "I think it's all opportunity dependent," Veach said. "I think we've shown over the years that if there's a player or talent that we really like, and we think that there's no alternative to match, we'll look to (trade up)." Veach won't tip his hand, of course. But he has more picks than at any point since he replaced John Dorsey in 2017, shortly after Veach pounded the table to convince his predecessor to trade up and pick Mahomes with the 10th overall choice. That means Veach has more latitude to do just about anything he wants over the course of the three-day draft.
"For sure, it's certainly market-directed in what's available and what's realistic," said Veach, who has had six picks apiece in every draft since taking over as GM. "It's just case by case. You just kind of go through the exercise and just make the best decision for the organization."
Last year, that involved trading a package of picks — including the Chiefs' first-round selection — to the Ravens for left tackle Orlando Brown Jr., who played well last season and has since been given the franchise tag by Kansas City.
This year, it involved sending Hill to Miami for five draft picks, including first-, second- and fourth-rounders this year.
Former NFL GM Mark Dominik is in the camp that thinks the Chiefs will stand pat on Thursday night, getting the best wide receiver available at No. 29 and addressing one of their other needs — perhaps edge rusher or defensive back — with the No. 30 selection. Or, Dominik thinks the Chiefs could trade down and acquire even more draft capital. "I don't think you have to go get a receiver unless you feel like this is one of those times where there's only one guy you like. But I think there's so many good ones that you're going to be very comfortable to just kind of play it out and take your two picks," Dominik said. "I think they're going to be more like letting it come to them."
THE WR CLASS
If the Chiefs want the closest player-for-player replacement for Hill, it could mean trading up to pick Alabama's Jameson Williams, who is 10 weeks removed from an ACL injury. But there should be plenty of others available late in the first round: Treylon Burks of Arkansas, Skyy Moore of Western Michigan and Jahan Dotson of Penn State.
Kansas City has not picked a wide receiver in the first round since 2011, when Jonathan Baldwin turned out to be a bust.
WHAT ABOUT DB
The Chiefs lost Charvarius Ward in free agency and could use someone with enough versatility to cover the slot. That is why they have been linked to Florida's Kaiir Elam and Michigan's Daxton Hill, a safety who plays like a cornerback.
RUSH HOUR
The Chiefs managed just 31 sacks last season, better than three other teams, and that's a big reason why they felt compelled to keep defensive end Frank Clark despite his huge salary cap hit. With a deep draft of edge rushers, look for Kansas City to upgrade at that position. Possible targets include Penn State's Arnold Ebiketie and Boye Mafe of Minnesota.
PLUG SOME HOLES
Jones is the only defensive tackle signed through the 2023 season, so the Chiefs are likely to target the position in the second round or later. They are suddenly in a division featuring Russell Wilson in Denver along with Derek Carr in Las Vegas and Justin Herbert in Los Angeles, so getting pressure on the quarterback up the middle is becoming crucial.
WAIT AND SEE
The Chiefs have hosted the past four AFC title games, so it's not as if they have an abundance of holes to fill. And with 12 picks, they have the ability to invest in someone that may not help them right away. So keep an eye on Michigan pass rusher David Ojabo, who tore his Achilles tendon during his pro day last month. Ojabo was viewed as a top-20 talent, but the fact that he could miss the entire upcoming season could make Kansas City a soft landing spot for him.
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These area headlines are curated by KPR news staffers, including J. Schafer, Laura Lorson, Kaye McIntyre, and Tom Parkinson. Our headlines are generally posted by 10 am weekdays, 11 am weekends. This news summary is made possible by KPR listener-members. Become one today!