Tornadoes, High Winds and Hail Hammer Eastern Kansas
LAWRENCE, Kan. (KPR) - As many as five Tornado Warnings were issued for northeast Kansas Wednesday night, affecting a number of counties. The National Weather Service says Tornado Warnings were issued for Lyon, Morris, Chase, Osage, Pottawatomie, Riley, Clay, Marshall and Nemaha counties. There have been no reports of injury but emergency management crews will fan out today (THUR) to survey any damage. Matt Flanagan, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Topeka, says Chase County may have sustained the most storm damage because a confirmed tornado touched down there, near Strong City and Cottonwood Falls.
Kansas seems to have escaped major damage from Wednesday night's storms. Oklahoma was not as lucky. At least two people were killed when tornadoes touched down near Cole, Oklahoma, and officials say that death toll could climb. More than half a dozen confirmed tornadoes rolled across three states in the central U.S. Wednesday night: Kansas, Oklahoma and Iowa.
Residents of Lawrence were awakened early Thursday morning by the sound of large hail hitting their roofs. Flanagan says one-inch size hail moved through Lawrence around 3:30 am. (Get the latest weather here.)
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Storm Report: Baseball and Tennis Ball-Sized Hail Falls in Parts of Kansas
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — Severe storms rolled across Kansas Wednesday, generating 65-mile-per-hour winds and dumping large amounts of hail. KSNW TV reports tennis ball-sized hail fell in Chase County, near Cottonwood Falls and high winds knocked over semi-trucks in Strong City. Parts of Geary County reported egg-sized hail. And baseball-sized hail was reported near Peabody in Marion County. In western Kansas, strong winds pushed irrigation pipes onto Interstate 70 in Sherman County.
Tornadoes Kill 3 in Oklahoma; More Storms Possible in Central U.S. Thursday
COLE, Okla. (AP/KPR) — Strong storms with tornadoes and hail have killed at least three people in the central United States. The National Weather Service began issuing tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings Wednesday evening in Oklahoma, Kansas and Iowa. Central Oklahoma saw tornadoes with two deaths and several injuries reported in the town of Cole. Homes and other buildings were badly damaged or destroyed. KFOR-TV reports that two people in Cole rode out the storm in a manhole and were not hurt. The National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center says an additional round of tornado-producing storms is expected Thursday night in the region.
Tornadoes tore through central Oklahoma, including the one that raced through the communities of Shawnee and Cole, about 25 miles south of Oklahoma City. There also were injuries ranging from cuts and bruises to some requiring hospitalization, although the numbers weren't immediately clear as hundreds of people fanned out in search operations. "It is reasonable to expect possibly more based on the damage that we've seen," McClain County Deputy Sheriff Scott Gibbons said on NBC's "Today Show" of the potential for additional deaths to be confirmed. Power lines also were torn down, trees toppled, and homes and other buildings badly damaged or destroyed. Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee and an airport were damaged before the tornado moved away and weakened. "We do not have a number of homes or businesses damaged, but we do know that significant damage occurred," Benny Fulkerson, a spokesperson for the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management, said in a statement late Wednesday.
At the peak of the severe weather, more than 23,000 customers were without electricity throughout Oklahoma, according to PowerOutage.us. KFOR-TV reported that residents south of Oklahoma City said they were trapped in their underground shelters, mailboxes were blown away, and emergency crews used GPS to find addresses, according to the McClain County sheriff.
More storms with a chance of producing tornadoes were forecast for Thursday night from Texas to Wisconsin by the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center. "A mix of supercells and storm clusters is expected" with possible tornadoes across eastern Texas before the storm moves northward across Arkansas and into Missouri. "Large hail, and possibly a tornado or two" could occur from eastern Missouri, across Illinois into Wisconsin, according to the prediction center.
Storms this spring have spawned tornadoes in the South, Midwest and Northeast, killing dozens of people. An April 1 storm produced tornadoes that killed at least 32 people from Arkansas to Delaware, and days later a tornado left five dead in Missouri. At least 26 died in Mississippi and Alabama when tornadoes during late March storm carved a path of destruction through the Deep South.
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Kansas Governor Vetoes 4 Anti-Trans Bills as Overrides Loom
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas’ Democratic governor on Thursday vetoed a sweeping set of anti-transgender measures, including a ban on gender-affirming care for children and teens, but Republican lawmakers who pushed them appeared to have the votes to override most of her actions.
Governor Laura Kelly rejected restrictions for transgender people in using restrooms, locker rooms and other public facilities; limits on where they are housed in state prisons and county jails; and even restrictions on rooming arrangements for transgender youth on overnight school trips.
Her actions highlighted how her Republican-leaning state has become a fiercely contested battleground as GOP lawmakers across the U.S. target LGBTQ+ rights through several hundred proposals. Kelly narrowly won reelection in November, but the the Legislature has GOP supermajorities and conservative leaders who've made rolling back transgender rights a priority.
The measures on bathrooms, jails and overnight school trips passed earlier this month with the two-thirds majorities needed to override a veto, and on April 5, lawmakers overrode Kelly's March veto of a separate ban on female transgender athletes in girls' and women's sports. However, two days later, the measure on gender-affirming care fell 12 House votes short of a supermajority.
Kelly said in statement on the four vetoes that measures “stripping away rights” would hurt the state's ability to attract businesses. The vetoes also were in keeping with her promises to block any measure she views as discriminating against LGBTQ+ people.
“Companies have made it clear that they are not interested in doing business with states that discriminate against workers and their families," Kelly said in her statement. “I’m focused on the economy. Anyone care to join me?”
At least 14 states with GOP-led legislatures have enacted laws against gender-affirming care for minors, including North Dakota as of Wednesday. At least seven have bathroom laws, mostly focusing on schools, and 21 states have imposed restrictions on transgender athletes.
The Kansas bathroom bill would have applied not only to bathrooms and locker rooms outside schools but rape crisis centers, domestic violence shelters and state prisons, as well as the county jails covered by a separate vetoed bill. Because it also sought to define “sex” as “either male or female, at birth,” transgender people wouldn’t have been able to change the gender marker on their driver’s license, though a 2019 federal court decree still would have allowed them to change their birth certificates.
Advocates of LGBTQ+ rights see the measure as legally erasing transgender people and denying recognition to non-binary, gender fluid or gender non-conforming people.
“I am not going to go back to those days of hiding in the closet,” Justin Brace, executive director of Transgender Kansas, said during a recent transgender rights rally outside the Statehouse. “We are in a fight for our lives, literally.”
GOP conservatives argue that many of their constituents reject the cultural shift toward accepting that people’s gender identities can differ from the sex assigned them a birth; don't want cisgendered women sharing bathrooms and locker rooms with transgender women; and question gender-affirming care such as puberty-blocking drugs, hormone therapies and surgeries.
“By any reasonable standard, governing from the middle of the road should include ensuring vulnerable children do not become victims of woke culture run amok,” Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson said in a statement deriding Kelly's veto of the ban on gender-affirming care.
That Kansas measure would have required the state's medical board to revoke the license of any doctor discovered to have provided such care, and allowed people who received such care as children to sue health care providers later.
Supporters said the bill would not keep transgender youth from receiving counseling or psychiatric therapy. But the measure also applied to “causing” acts that "affirm the child’s perception of the child’s sex” if it differs from their gender assigned at birth.
Treatments for children and teens have been available in the U.S. for more than a decade and are endorsed by major medical associations.
“It’s one thing to have a family member that’s unaffirming of who you are as a person,” said Derrick Jordan, a licensed therapist who works with trans youth and directs the Gender and Family Project at New York’s Ackerman Institute for training child and family therapists. “It’s a whole other thing to have a system tell you you’re not fully human or you don’t have the same rights as other folks.”
Kelly’s office said the Kansas bathroom bill would have complicated the administration of multiple state programs — including programs assisting women farmers and hunters. Also, it said, some of those programs would have violated federal anti-discrimination laws and the state could have lost federal dollars.
The measure borrows language from a proposal from several anti-trans groups. It says “important governmental objectives" of protecting health safety and privacy justify separate public facilities for men and women and applies “where biology, safety or privacy” prompt sex-separation. It defines male and female based on a person’s reproductive anatomy at birth.
While supporters avoid calling it a bathroom bill, they've said repeatedly that it would have prevented transgender women from sharing bathrooms, locker rooms and other facilities with cisgender women.
Masterson portrayed Kelly's veto as “not being able to define a woman." That's a widespread anti-trans talking point at odds with doctors who say that reproductive anatomy at birth doesn’t always align with strict definitions of sex and that binary views of sexual identity can miss biological nuances.
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Kansas Governor Vetoes Abortion Medication Bill
TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS/KMUW) - Governor Laura Kelly has vetoed a bill that would require doctors to tell patients that abortion pills may be reversible. Kelly said the bill is based on dubious science. Anti-abortion groups pushed for the measure, saying it ensures women are informed about all their options if they regret starting a medication abortion. Some doctors say women may be able to continue their pregnancy after taking the first of two abortion-inducing drugs if they receive a high dose of hormones. But mainstream medical groups say the treatment is unproven and potentially dangerous. Republican lawmakers vowed to override Kelly’s veto. It’s unclear if they have the votes to do so.
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2nd Abortion Regulation Bill Vetoed by Kansas Governor
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP/KPR) — Kansas Democratic Governor Laura Kelly has vetoed anti-abortion legislation. The legislation would have required clinics to tell patients that a medication abortion can be stopped. The bill is part of efforts by Republican lawmakers to impose new restrictions despite a statewide vote last year affirming abortion rights. Kelly vetoed the measure Wednesday. Lawmakers are expected to try to override the veto in a vote later this month. Abortion opponents have promoted the "reversal" method for over 15 years and say patients have a right to know about it. The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology says there is no scientific evidence that it even works.
"Kansans made clear that they believe personal healthcare decisions should be made between a woman and her doctor, not politicians in Topeka," Kelly said in a short statement announcing Wednesday's action. It was the second time within a week that Kelly vetoed an anti-abortion bill approved by the Legislature. Last week, she rejected a measure that could subject doctors to criminal charges and lawsuits if they are accused of not providing enough care for infants delivered alive during certain abortion procedures, even if they are expected to die outside the womb because of a severe medical issue.
Kansans for Life, the state's most influential anti-abortion group, called last week's veto of the bill dealing with medical care for infants born during abortion procedures "heartless." After Kelly's veto of the abortion medication measure, spokesperson Danielle Underwood said the governor sided with the "extremist abortion industry." Kansas House Speaker Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, said: "With this veto, Governor Kelly has shown that she does not believe vulnerable women have the right to know all of their options."
The vetoes mean that abortion access and providers in Kansas remain, for now, far less restricted compared to other states with GOP-controlled legislatures that have banned or severely restricted abortion procedures over the past year. GOP lawmakers are expected to try to override both vetoes after they reconvene next week to finish their business for the year. Abortion opponents had the two-thirds majorities that will be necessary to override the veto of the bill on medical treatment for infants delivered alive during abortion procedures. Republican lawmakers also may be able to override the bill vetoed Wednesday, though the vote is likely to be close in the House. If they do, patients asking for a medical abortion would get a state-mandated, written notice that they can interrupt their abortion.
Senate Democratic Leader Dinah Sykes said Wednesday that voters had "rejected giving politicians power over their personal, private decisions" and that "this bill attempts to undermine Kansans' right to bodily autonomy." Sykes is from the Kansas City area, where support for abortion rights is especially strong.
Even if Kansas lawmakers override the governor's vetoes, providers could ask state courts to intervene. Lawsuits have already prevented Kansas from enforcing a 2015 ban on an abortion procedure critics call dismemberment abortion.
In Kansas, the state Supreme Court ruled in 2019 that access to abortion is a matter of bodily autonomy and a "fundamental" right under the state constitution. A vote last year rejected stripping out that protection. But Republican lawmakers and anti-abortion groups contend the vote last year doesn't preclude "reasonable" abortion restrictions or rules for providers like the "reversal" bill.
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Police in Nebraska Locate Missing 14-Year-Old, Topeka Man Now in Custody
NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (KNOP) - A Topeka man is now in police custody and facing multiple charges after a 14-year-old girl was reported missing from North Platte, Nebraska. Police in North Platte say they located the missing teenager and 26-year-old Cameron Quintin, of Topeka, Wednesday morning. KNOP TV reports that Quintin was taken into custody for kidnapping. Nebraska authorities were assisted by the Topeka Police Department, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation and the FBI.
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Kansas Game Wardens: Beware of Rattlesnakes
McPHERSON, Kan. (KAKE) - Kansas game wardens are advising residents to keep an eye out for rattlesnakes, whether they're alive or dead. In a Facebook post, the Department of Wildlife and Parks said that a dead rattlesnake was removed from the McPherson County State Fishing Lake area Wednesday because even dead snakes can pose a threat. In the post, game wardens explained that rattlesnakes can still envenomate - or, inject venom - for some period of time after death. Wildlife officials say there are 42 species of snakes in Kansas, including four native venomous snakes. KAKE TV reports that wild reptiles, alive or dead, can only be collected for non-commercial purposes and cannot be bartered or sold in Kansas.
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Suspect Arrested for Allegedly Passing Fake Checks Across Kansas
BARTON COUNTY, Kan. (KAKE) - A North Carolina man is accused of buying large amounts of goods all across Kansas with forged checks. Detectives with the Barton County Sheriff's Office spent weeks tracking the suspect and now say they have made an arrest. KAKE TV reports 65-year-old Roger Kornegay was taken into custody on charges of using fake checks. Authorities say he would purchase goods at farm stores, implement dealers and parts houses all over Kansas with these checks. Kornegay had recently been released from federal parole and had been using at least 25 different aliases. Detectives obtained a warrant and received information that Kornegay would be heading from Nebraska to Oberlin, Kansas. Kornegay is currently being held in the Decatur County jail.
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Kansas Governor Vetoes Bill Loosening Child Care Requirements
TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) - Governor Laura Kelly has vetoed a bill that would have loosened child care regulations in the state. The bill would decrease training requirements for teachers and other employees in child care facilities. It also would increase the maximum child-to-adult ratio. Kelly says the bill would reverse progress that made child care safer. Supporters say the measure would increase access to child care by reducing red tape for providers. Lawmakers narrowly approved the bill and may not have the votes needed to override Kelly's veto.
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Kansas Governor Vetoes Advance Mail Ballot Bill
TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) - Governor Laura Kelly has vetoed a bill that eliminates the three-day grace period to count Kansas ballots returned by mail. The bill would have only allowed mail ballots in Kansas to be counted if they arrive by 7 pm on Election Day. Currently, ballots returned through the mail may be counted if they are postmarked by Election Day and received within three days after polls close. Kelly says the bill would disenfranchise military voters stationed overseas who rely on the mail to vote. The bill fell short of a veto-proof majority in both the House and Senate, making an override attempt unlikely.
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Kansas Likely to Keep 3-Day Grace Period for Mail Ballots
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP/KPR) — Kansas appears likely to keep giving voters three days after polls close to return mail ballots to county election officials. Democratic Governor Laura Kelly on Wednesday vetoed a Republican bill to eliminate the grace period. The GOP-controlled Legislature created the grace period in 2017 as U.S. Postal Service mail delivery was slowing down, but many Republicans rethought the policy as claims of voting irregularities circulated following the 2020 election. When the bill passed the Legislature, it didn't have the two-thirds majorities needed to override a veto. Democrats argue eliminating the grace period would disenfranchise military personnel serving outside the U.S. Republicans say the bill would make elections more safe and secure.
"We should be doing everything we can to make it easier – not harder – for Kansans to make their voices heard at the ballot box," Kelly said in a statement. House Speaker Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, said the bill would have closed an election security "loophole." Senate President Ty Masterson, an Andover Republican, said Kelly wants "an endless counting of ballots." Kansas law requires counties to certify their results the second Monday after an election.
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No Mandatory Jail Time for Kansans with Suspended, Revoked Driver's Licenses
TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) - Governor Laura Kelly has signed a bill to remove mandatory jail time for Kansans caught driving with a suspended or revoked license. People can lose their licenses because of issues like unpaid fines. If they’re caught driving without a valid license, judges will now be able to decide if a first-time offender should serve jail time. Prior Kansas law had a mandatory five-day sentence. Supporters of the change argue the five-day sentence was excessive and can keep people in a cycle of poverty. This is the latest reform in Kansas around suspended drivers licenses. Previous changes allow waiving court fees and reinstating licenses more quickly.
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Kansas Law Classifies Uber Drivers as Independent Contractors
WICHITA, Kan. (KNS/KMUW) - Governor Laura Kelly has signed a bill into law that classifies Uber and Lyft drivers as independent contractors and not employees. The bill was introduced this session on behalf of Uber. A spokesperson for the ride-share company says it already views its drivers as independent contractors, and the new law simply clarifies that. The spokesperson says Uber drivers furnish their own vehicles, and provide their own gas. They also don’t work set hours and are free to drive for other companies. Some labor unions in the state oppose the new law. They say it will provide Uber and Lyft an unfair advantage against their competitors, which have to pay into programs like Medicare and unemployment insurance. States like Florida and Michigan have recently passed laws with similar language. Some other states, like California, have seen movements to classify Uber and Lyft drivers as regular employees.
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Kansas City Police Shoot, Kill Armed Man Who Allegedly Pointed Gun at People
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KSHB) — A man died after he was shot by Kansas City police Wednesday afternoon. According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, two officers responded to an area (near E. 27th Street and Brighton Avenue) after receiving reports of a man pointing a gun at people. Witnesses told police the man was walking up and down the street, pointing his weapon at passersby. KSHB TV reports that officers tried to de-escalate the situation, asking the man to put down his weapon. Police say the man refused. One officer fired and fatally wounded the man, who was later identified as 43-year-old Reginald Byers Jr. No officers were injured.
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Kansas Man Wanted for Attempted Murder Captured in California
RED BLUFF, CA (Daily News) — A man suspected of shooting at a central Kansas police officer has been apprehended in California. Authorities accuse 38-year-old William Thomas Frederick Junior of trying to kill a Hoisington police officer. On April 1st, a Hoisington police officer attempted to stop a suspicious vehicle. The vehicle sped off at a high rate of speed and eventually crashed in nearby Claflin. Police say during the chase, Frederick fired several shots at the officer, disabling his police cruiser. Barton County Sheriff's deputies caught up with the vehicle, where two suspects were captured but Frederick fled the scene. He was apprehended in Red Bluff, California, Wednesday afternoon and arrested for the attempted murder of a police officer.
The Red Bluff Daily News reports that the driver of the vehicle, identified as 21-year-old Rylan J. Witmer, of Wilson, was charged with possession of methamphetamine and fleeing police.
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Derby High Principal Resigns After Sparring with School Board
DERBY, Kan. (KNS/KMUW) - A Kansas principal has resigned after sparring with school board members who challenged his anti-racism efforts at Derby High School. Tim Hamblin, a longtime principal of Derby High School, south of Wichita, announced in an email that he will leave the district at the end of this school year. About a year ago, Hamblin showed students and teachers a video by Black author Joy DeGruy, in which she talks about being treated differently at a store, and how a relative spoke up for her. A Derby school board member called the video divisive and directed Hamblin to apologize for showing it. That launched a series of actions by the board to oppose efforts focused on diversity and inclusion. Hamblin has accepted a district-level position with Wichita public schools.
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Schools in Kansas and Across the Country Race to Catch Up Kids On Reading
UNDATED (AP/KPR) - Third graders across the country face a looming crisis. The majority will move on to fourth grade next year and will be expected to read well. But many haven't received adequate instruction because of pandemic-fueled school interruptions and reliance in some places on ineffective teaching methods.
From their first days in school until the end of third grade, students receive support from their teachers to perfect their reading and comprehension. Starting in fourth grade, students are expected to read class instructions, math problems and books by themselves and to improve their reading on their own. Research shows students who do not read proficiently by the end of the third grade are four times more likely to drop out of school or not finish high school on time.
Experts believe one of the most effective ways to help students catch up is with so-called "high dosage tutoring," essentially small-group or one-on-one tutoring with a skilled teacher multiple times a week. Some districts have used COVID relief money to pay for this expensive help, while others have struggled to find the staff to offer intensive support. Just as districts try to make up for pandemic interruptions to learning, many also are shifting the way they teach young children to read. More educators are embracing phonics-based lessons in line with scientific research showing many students need to learn this systematic approach to decoding words.
Reading scores reflected historic learning setbacks after the pandemic disrupted U.S. schools. In the fall, the National Assessment of Educational Progress — known as the "Nation's Report Card" — released 2022 scores from hundreds of thousands of fourth and eighth graders across the country. No region was spared. (See how Kansas students fared.)
The test didn't measure this year's third grade class, where the losses may be even more profound. One of the nation's major test makers, NWEA, released a study in December that found third graders are currently suffering the largest pandemic-related learning losses in reading, compared with older students in grades four to eight. Third graders also are not readily recovering, NWEA found.
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Kansas Creates a New State Park in Allen County
TOPEKA, Kan. (KSNT) – Kansas has created a new state park in Allen County that includes 12 miles of trails, an abandoned quarry, a lake and a 300-foot-long cave. Governor Laura Kelly signed off on the bill creating the state’s 28th state park. The measure establishes the Lehigh Portland Trails in Allen County. KSNT reports that measure also provides disabled veterans with free permanent hunting and fishing licenses in Kansas.
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Top Missouri Lawmaker Unveils $2.8 Billion Plan to Expand I-70
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — A powerful Missouri state senator has unveiled a $2.8 billion plan to widen Interstate 70 to at least three lanes across the state. This week, the Senate Appropriations Committee chairman proposed paying for half of the project with bonds. Missouri Governor Mike Parson earlier this year asked lawmakers for $860 million to expand the interstate in the most congested areas. Republican state Senator Lincoln Hough wants to go even further by setting aside money to complete the expansion of I-70 across the state. He says the state currently has little debt and the project could be transformative.
House lawmakers initially balked at the request but on Tuesday gave initial approval to another budget bill that includes $860 million for the interstate. The House also on Tuesday voted to spend $28 million on Interstate 44 improvements, along with a $20 million environmental impact study that's needed before more expansive work can be done on the roadway. Proposals have existed for years to widen I-70 from two to three lanes in each direction across the entire state, but Missouri has never had the money to do it.
Lawmakers now have an opportunity to tap into the state's historic budget surplus to make that happen. Hough urged fellow lawmakers to pump more money into I-70, citing current rates on government bonds and Missouri's few outstanding debts. "The infrastructure improvements that we can make right now given the cash balances we have are transformative," Hough said.
An Associated Press request for comment to Parson's office was not immediately returned Tuesday. The committee and the full Senate still need to vote on Hough's plan. If passed the budget bill would head back to the House for another vote before it could go to Parson's desk for approval. Lawmakers face a May 5 constitutional deadline to pass a budget.
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‘Ring of Fire’ Eclipse to Appear Above Kansas
TOPEKA, Kan. (KSNT) – Later this year, Kansans can catch a glimpse of a "Ring of Fire" in the sky. KSNT reports that Kansans are set to experience an annular solar eclipse this fall when the moon passes between the Earth and the sun while the moon is at its farthest point from Earth. According to NASA, the eclipse, also known as a “ring of fire,” will cross over North, Central and South America October 14 and be partially visible to residents of the Sunflower State. Kansans should able to see 60-80% of it when it occurs, depending on where they live in the state.
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U.S. Traffic Deaths Drop Slightly in 2022 but Still a "Crisis"
DETROIT (AP) — The number of people killed on U.S. roadways decreased slightly last year, but government officials said the 42,795 people who died is still a national crisis. Estimates by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration showed that the number of fatalities dropped 0.3% from the 42,939 killed in 2021. Traffic deaths declined slightly in the fourth quarter, the third straight quarterly decline. But they're still close to 2021 numbers, which were the highest in 16 years. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement that the nation continues to face a national crisis on its roadways. The department says it has adopted a national safe systems strategy to reduce the deaths, including more than $800 million in grants to help communities with projects in high-crash areas.
In releasing statistics for 2021 earlier this month, NHTSA said speeding and impaired or distracted driving are on the rise. Data showed a 12% increase in fatal crashes involving at least one distracted driver, with 3,522 people killed. That prompted the agency to kick off a $5 million advertising campaign in an effort to keep drivers focused on the road. Agency officials said such cases likely are under-reported by police.
The number of pedestrians killed rose 13%, and cyclist fatalities were up 2% for the year. The number of unbelted passengers killed rose 8.1%, while fatalities involving alcohol-impaired driving were up 14%. Speeding-related deaths increased 7.9%, while crash deaths involving large trucks weighing over 10,000 pounds were up 17%, the agency said. People are driving more as the coronavirus pandemic waned, with miles traveled increasing almost 1% over 2021.
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KC Current Fires Coach Matt Potter Hours Before Game in Houston
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Current has fired coach Matt Potter. The team did so just hours before its game in Houston for what the NWSL club called "issues around his leadership and employment responsibilities." The club did not elaborate. Caroline Sjöblom was appointed the interim coach. Potter was in his second season. He led the Current to the NWSL title game last season and was a finalist for coach of the year. The Current, expected to move into a new riverfront stadium near downtown Kansas City next season, are 0-3 to start the season.
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Super Bowl Champion Chiefs Ready for KC to Host NFL Draft
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Chiefs will still be reveling in their Super Bowl triumph when they are on the clock in the NFL draft. They are due to pick 31st overall, last in the first round, after beating the Philadelphia Eagles to hoist their third Lombardi Trophy. The Chiefs have 10 picks overall. They had a very successful draft a year ago, despite picking late in most rounds. A rookie class that included cornerback Trent McDuffie, pass rusher George Karlaftis and running back Isiah Pacheco were major contributors to their Super Bowl run. General manager Brett Veach will try to replicate that effort with holes on the roster at offensive tackle, defensive end and wide receiver.
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This summary of area news is curated by KPR news staffers, including J. Schafer, Laura Lorson, Tom Parkinson and Kaye McIntyre. Our headlines are generally posted by 10 am weekdays and updated throughout the day. These ad-free headlines are made possible by KPR members. Become one today. And follow KPR News on Twitter.