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Go ahead and guess which individuals are paired up. Surprised? Intrigued? Have your own story? We asked members of the #xculturelove group to submit photos of themselves and share reactions they've heard about their interracial relationship.

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach (File Photo by Stephen Koranda)TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate in Kansas must remain on the November ballot even though he wants to withdraw against incumbent Republican Senator Pat Roberts. Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach said Thursday Democrat Chad Taylor did not comply with state law in withdrawing from the race. He says Taylor didn't formally declare that he would be unable to serve if elected. On Wednesday, Taylor withdrew from the race without explanation, raising questions about whether he quit to give independent candidate Greg Orman a better shot at defeating three-term conservative Roberts, who has struggled to solidify re-election in a predominantly Republican state. The Kansas race suddenly emerged as a wild card in the national fight for control of the U.S. Senate. Republicans need a net gain of six seats to control the chamber. Observers say Republican incumbent Robert’s chances of winning in Kansas improve if a Democratic name is on the ballot. But Secretary of State Kobach says politics played no part in his decision and says his office researched the law thoroughly before issuing the ruling. "We wanted to make sure that we looked for all case law. We also wanted to look at past examples of people who have filed such requests. We did all of the above, looked at the past practices of this office and made as thorough review of the law as we could. We also wanted to involve the attorney general's office. The attorney general is in complete agreement."Chad Taylor said in a statement Thursday that he was assured by a top Kobach aide that a letter he sent to the secretary of state's office was sufficient for withdrawing. Taylor says he will fight to have his name removed from the ballot but Kobach said Taylor's only recourse would be to file a lawsuit.

The Ghost Army is credited with saving thousands of American lives and helping end WWII in Europe. But its contributions were kept secret for half a century before it was awarded Congress' top honor.

The Kansas Department of Corrections says an inmate disturbance at the Norton Correctional Facility in western Kansas has been brought under control.

The EaglePicher plant in Galena (Photo credit: kansastravel.org) GALENA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas health officials say pollution from a former southeast Kansas smelter operation is scheduled to be cleaned up next year and the site could eventually be redeveloped. The former EaglePicher plant began operation in 1878 and remained in service for much of the following century. The Joplin Globe reports the 68 acres of the former smelter site will be cleaned up using $6.5 million from EaglePicher's 2005 bankruptcy settlement. The project also will include cleaning up sediment from Short Creek, which flows across the back of the property. The cleanup effort is expected to begin next summer. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment presented its remediation plans to the Galena City Council on Monday. KDHE unit chief Christopher Carey says the goal is to eventually make the property available for development .

The redbelly snake has been removed from the Kansas threatened species list. (Photo credit: Suzanne Collins, Center for North American Herpetology)SALINA, Kan. (AP) - Despite scientific recommendations against it, a Kansas commission voted to remove a snake species from the state's threatened species list. The Kansas Wildlife, Parks and Tourism Commission voted 6-1 on Thursday to remove the redbelly snake from the list. The vote came after developers in northeast Kansas complained the species' threatened status had caused costly delays in development projects. State lawmakers threatened during the last session to remove the species themselves, or to end the state's threatened and endangered species program. The Wichita Eagle reports that Robin Jennison, Wildlife and Parks secretary, said he feared lawmakers would impose more limitations on his department if the snake was not removed from the list. The snake will be considered a "species in need of conservation," which provides little protection from habitat destruction.

Source: Gallup Poll (Image credit: The Huffington Post)KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A new Gallup poll shows Kansas is the only state in the nation to see a significant increase in its uninsured rate this year, while states that adopted parts of the Affordable Care Act have seen the largest declines. The Kansas City Star reports that the adult uninsured rate in Kansas rose from 12.5 percent last year to 17.6 percent during the first half of this year, giving it the seventh-highest uninsured rate in U.S. Missouri's uninsured rate remained essentially flat, with 15.2 percent uninsured in 2013 and 15.1 percent uninsured this year. Research director Dan Witters did not offer an explanation for the growth in Kansas uninsured. A spokeswoman for the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services says the ACA was directly responsible for the state's spike.

(Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The victim in a fatal weekend shooting in Topeka has been identified as a Wichita woman who had been married just hours earlier. Police on Tuesday released the identity of 42-year-old Tiffany Davenport-Ray. She was shot about 1:30 am Sunday at an intersection south of downtown Topeka and died several hours later at a hospital. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that a 30-year-old man arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder had his bond set at $1 million during a court appearance Tuesday. Police said earlier that officers who responded to the shooting also found a traffic accident had occurred. A friend of the victim told the Capital-Journal that Davenport-Ray had lived in Wichita for the past 10 years working at Beechcraft and had just returned to Topeka for her wedding Saturday.

Viktoria Nasyrova was convicted in February and sentenced this week in New York. Her lawyer says she'll eventually likely get deported back to Russia — where she's wanted for a 2014 murder.

Ben Mezrich had been a struggling author, without a regular job and knee-deep in debt. But that all changed at a dive bar in Boston, when Mezrich saw a local college student whip out a $100 bill.