TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A Kansas Senate committee wants to limit the fees charged by state and local agencies when they when fulfill requests to produce public records. The Federal and State Affairs Committee approved a records-fee bill on a voice vote Thursday, sending the measure to the full Senate for debate. The state’s Open Records Act says agency fees must be reasonable, but agencies still can demand hundreds of dollars. The bill says that if a request can be met in less than an hour of staff time or less than 25 pages, the documents are to be provided free…
Author: KMAN Staff
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Kansas legislators are considering changes in a state energy regulation to balance the interests of utility companies with those who use renewable fuel sources. At issue is a practice known as net metering, in which individuals or businesses generate their own electricity and sell excess power to a utility company. During periods of peak demand, credits earned from selling excess power can be used to offset the cost of higher utility bills, such as during summer months. Senate Utilities Committee Chairman Pat Apple said Thursday lawmakers want to make sure that utility customers aren’t subsidizing the cost…
Last year, his sights were set locally, running for the Manhattan City Commission, but this year, Dan Hogan is seeking the Libertarian nomination for the Kansas House of Representatives for the 67th District. Working as a conductor for the Union Pacific Railroad, Hogan states, in a press release issued Friday, “I have seen and done a lot in my life and learned much from the experiences that it has offered. No matter where I have gone, what I have done, or who I have met, the one major lesson I have taken from these experiences is that none of us…
On today’s InFocus, Cathy talks with State Senator Tom Phillips of Manhattan, followed by Jamie Ramsey, Director at the Riley County Senior Service Center, then Ginny Barnard, Riley County Extension Health, Nutrition, Food Safety agent, and ending with April Mason, Kansas State University Provost.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A bill that would have eased some restrictions on spanking will not get a hearing by a Kansas House committee. Rep. John Rubin’s office said Wednesday the House Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee will not consider the bill. Rubin is the committee’s chairman. The bill, introduced by Rep. Gail Finney, a Democrat from Wichita, spelled out the types of corporal punishment that were allowed in the state. It would have let parents, teachers and other caregivers to hit children hard enough to leave marks or bruising. The Wichita Eagle reports Finney says on her website that she…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Federal prosecutors have indicted a California woman accused of pretending to be pregnant with twins to scam prospective adoptive parents in Kansas. An indictment filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Kansas charges Chrystal M. Rippey with wire fraud and mail fraud. Prosecutors say a Shawnee couple wired $22,225 to an escrow account in Temecula, Calif., set up by an adoption agency for Rippey’s living expenses. The mail fraud count stems from the mailing of a birth mother packet sent from an Overland Park adoption agency to the woman. Court records do not name a defense attorney.…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The Kansas Senate has approved a bill adding cellphone numbers to the state’s no-call law for telephone solicitors. The measure proposed by Attorney General Derek Schmidt passed Thursday on a vote of 38-0 and now goes to the House. Kansas enacted the no-call statute in 2002 to protect residents from unwanted telemarketing calls. People add their numbers to a list maintained by the Federal Trade Commission. The attorney general can pursue complaints about solicitations made through landline phones but has no authority over calls made to cellphones. The bill would create that authority. Supporters say the measure…
ARKANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) The former director of a southern Kansas senior center has been sentenced to 60 days in jail and ordered to repay $53,000 he took from the city-owned center. Forty-seven-year-old Edward Greene pleaded no contest last month to theft, misuse of public funds and giving false information. Cowley County authorities believe he took or misused as much as $138,000 during his four years at the Arkansas City Senior Center, but they could only prove $53,000 in losses. The Arkansas City Traveler reports Greene will serve his jail time on a work-release basis under the sentence he received…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The Kansas Senate has approved a bill making a minimum of 50 years in prison the presumed sentence instead of an option for juries to consider for premeditated, first-degree murder. The 35-3 vote Thursday sends the measure to the House. The measure would be the second major revision of the “Hard 50” law within a year. Lawmakers had a special session in September to ensure that juries rather than judges weighed the evidence on whether the sentence should be imposed. The U.S. Supreme Court had said in a Virginia case that juries must decide. Kansas law now…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A Kansas House committee has approved a bill to bring the state into a compact with other states seeking to exempt themselves from the federal health care law. The bill approved Thursday by the Federal and State Affairs Committee also would allow compact states to remove themselves from other federal health regulations if Congress consents. The Republican-dominated committee approved the measure on a voice vote with no debate. The measure goes next to the House for debate. Many GOP lawmakers are strong opponents of the federal health care law championed by Democratic President Barack Obama, viewing it…