Kansas Governor Sam Brownback signed 11 bills into law Friday afternoon, bringing the total number of bills signed by the governor during the 2013 Legislative Session to 46. The bills are as follows: SB 21 amends several firearms-related statutes including authorizing official recognition of any valid concealed carry permit from another state for individuals traveling through or visiting Kansas. SB 24 amends certain risk-based capital (RBC) provisions in the Insurance Code to update the specified effective date of risk-based capital instructions and increase an RBC factor associated with a trend test calculation for life and health insurance companies. The new…
Author: KMAN Staff
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Kansas legislators are preparing for final votes on a sweeping anti-abortion bill that blocks tax breaks for providers and outlaws abortions solely because of the baby’s sex. Senate leaders scheduled a vote for Friday on the measure. If senators approve it, as expected, it would go to the House, where passage would send the bill to Gov. Sam Brownback. The final version reconciles differences between the House and Senate. The bill also prohibits abortion providers from being involved in public school sex education classes and spells out in more detail what information doctors must provide to patients…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) It appears more likely that a Kansas Bureau of Investigation forensics laboratory will be built at Washburn University after some lawmakers who had opposed it said they now support the project. The House Appropriations Committee twice rejected pleas for $3.5 million in planning and design money for the lab. On Thursday, some of those lawmakers announced their support. Rep. Mark Hutton, a Republican from Wichita, says Washburn had answered many of his questions, including that the state would own the building once bonds are paid off. And the $3.5 million will be repaid to the transportation department…
LUCAS, Kan. (AP) The winner of a city council seat in a small north central Kansas town probably won’t ever serve in office, at least until he becomes a U.S. citizen. Adam Baker is a British immigrant living in Lucas, a town of about 500 people in Russell County. He has applied for U.S. citizenship but has been waiting for two years to receive it. Baker won a city council seat in Tuesday’s election after 62 people wrote in his name, giving him three more votes than the incumbent. Baker says he told people before the election about his citizenship…
SALINA, Kan. (AP) Salina police say a 19-year-old woman was arrested after officers found about 4 pounds of marijuana in her car. Lt. Jim Norton says the woman was stopped Wednesday for speeding in a school zone. He says the officer was overwhelmed by the smell of marijuana as he walked toward the car. The Salina Journal reports police found 3.8 pounds of marijuana and $3,200 in cash in the car. The drugs were packaged in large bags, small bags, metal containers, a cooler, backpack and purse. The suspect is a former Salina resident who lives in Colorado. Norton says…
ATCHISON, Kan. (AP) Police seized an airplane full of marijuana and arrested five people at a northeast Kansas airport. Atchison police Mike Wilson says investigators found 42 pounds of marijuana on the airplane Wednesday night at Amelia Earhart Airport. Wilson says police received information that the 1952 Beechcraft C-35 aircraft was headed to Atchison and a car from Kansas City would be waiting for it. When the plane landed, officers arrested three people from Colorado in the plane. A fourth Colorado resident and a Kansas City resident were arrested in the car. The St. Joseph News-Press reports the suspects are…
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) Wyandotte County authorities say a woman is charged with trying to drown her two young daughters. The 1- and 4-year-old girls, who were taken from the home on Tuesday, are in critical condition at The University of Kansas Hospital. Their mother, Johnna Green, 23, was charged Thursday with two counts of attempted first-degree murder. She is jailed in Wyandotte County on $1 million bond. It was not immediately clear if she had an attorney. Wyandotte County District Attorney Jerome A. Gorman says the charges allege Green tried to drown her daughters with premeditation. He says Green…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Kansas legislators are close to passing legislation reducing state regulation of telecommunications while beginning to phase out state subsidies for telecom firms. The Wichita Eagle reports the Senate voted 37-3 on Thursday for a compromise version of the bill reconciling differences with the House. Passage by the House would send the measure to Gov. Sam Brownback. Under the bill, some telecommunications firms could avoid minimum service quality standards or having to provide land-line service to all customers. But the bill also reduces the subsidies for universal land-line service financed through a charge on customers’ bills. Affected companies…
STILWELL, Kan. (AP) A worldwide agricultural research company has chosen northeastern Kansas for the headquarters of one of its divisions. California-based Syntech Research already has a laboratory in the Johnson County community of Stilwell. The Kansas Commerce Department and the Kansas Bioscience Authority said Thursday the company will also locate its contract research organization headquarters in Stilwell. Nearly 90 jobs are expected to be added over the next five years at the headquarters. SynTech does research for the agricultural, biotechnology and food industries. It has operations and field locations throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and Latin America.
SALINA, Kan. (AP) A former cadet leader at a Kansas military school is due in court for a hearing on whether there’s enough evidence to try him on charges of sexual battery against a younger student. The preliminary hearing for David James Burke, 18, of McLean, Va., was scheduled Friday in Saline County District Court. The case stems from incidents alleged to have occurred last October at St. John’s Military School in Salina involving another cadet age 16 or older. Burke is charged with seven counts of aggravated sexual battery and one count of attempted aggravated criminal sodomy. A lawyer…