TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A key Kansas lawmaker is promising that Gov. Sam Brownback’s next appointee to the state Court of Appeals will be thoroughly scrutinized during a special legislative session. Independence Republican Jeff King chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee. King said Wednesday he’s planning a confirmation hearing for the yet-to-be-named judge when the special session opens Sept. 3. King also said the committee will meet as long as necessary that day. King dismissed a claim by Senate Democratic Leader Anthony Hensley that considering the appointment during the special session is intended to minimize scrutiny of the appointee. The Republican governor…
Author: KMAN Staff
HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) A Kansas congressman’s legislation seeking a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage has picked up more support, but not from his Kansas colleagues. Republican Rep. Tim Huelskamp’s bill has picked up at least 47 co-sponsors in the U.S. House since its introduction a month ago. That includes 20 supporters added in July. The Hutchinson News reports that absent from the list of co-sponsors are Kansas’ other three House members, all Republicans. U.S. Rep. Mike Pompeo says he strongly believes in defending traditional marriage and is looking at the amendment carefully. Reps. Kevin Yoder and Lynn Jenkins declined…
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) A celebrity hunter from Tennessee who unlawfully killed a deer in Kansas has been banned from hunting anywhere in the United States or the world for the next year. The U.S. attorney’s office also announced Wednesday that William “Spook” Spann, 50, must spend a total of 30 nights and weekends in federal custody by the end of February. U.S. Magistrate Judge James O’Hara imposed the sentence Tuesday after finding that Spann violated the terms of a plea agreement that banned him from hunting for six months. Last year, Spann pleaded guilty to transporting across state lines…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Kansas officials say revenue collections beat estimates by $3.1 million in the first month of the new fiscal year. A report Wednesday from the Department of Revenue says July’s figures were boosted by strong sales tax collections, which were $9.1 million higher than expected. Overall revenues for the month totaled $425.4 million. Among other categories, individual income tax collections in July topped expectations by $3.4 million. But corporate income taxes came in $1 million below the figure predicted earlier by economists and researchers. Severance taxes on production from Kansas oil wells also missed the estimate, by nearly…
FORT SCOTT, Kan. (AP) A team from the National Weather Service has confirmed the touchdown of a small tornado in southeast Kansas this week. KOAM-TV reports the twister dropped Monday evening in Bourbon County, near Bourbon State Lake. No injuries were reported. The Weather Service rated the tornado an EF-1, about 100 yards wide with maximum winds of about 90 mph. It was on the ground for roughly a minute. The tornado moved a mobile home about four feet off its foundation, destroyed a small shed and blew a boat into a tree.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Some Wichita Democrats want Kansas legislators to use the special session in September to fix a problem they say exists in the state’s new voting laws. Currently, more than 12,000 voter registration applications are in suspense because individuals lacked proof of citizenship when they registered to vote through the state Division of Vehicles. The Wichita Eagle reports that Democrats want to fix the problem when legislators meet starting Sept. 3. The special session was called to rewrite the state’s Hard 50 prison law in response to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Secretary of State Kris Kobach and…
HAYS, Kan. (AP) An era that began in 1878 is ending in Hays this week. Three Capuchin priests are moving from the St. Joseph friary in Hays to a friary in Victoria. The Capuchin order started the St. Joseph parish in 1878 but the order announced last spring that it would leave the parish this year. Fathers Earl Befort, pastor of three small area Catholic parishes, and retired priests Father Canice Froehlich and Father Felix Petrovsky will join eight other Capuchins at the St. Fidelis Friary, 10 miles from Hays in Victoria. The Hays Daily News reports that for the…
IOLA, Kan. (AP) A Texas company that makes oilfield equipment says it plans to expand and add about 100 jobs in Iola. State commerce officials announced Tuesday that Catalyst Artificial Lift, a Gainesville, Texas company that manufactures oilfield reciprocating rod pumps, bought a 150,000-square foot manufacturing building in Iola. The company says it will expand its current workforce in Allen County from 22 employees to 120 workers during the next five years. Catalyst’s bought a building that formerly housed the Haldex facility, which closed in 2011 after its operations were relocated to Mexico, costing 160 people their jobs. Catalyst was…
HILLSDALE, Kan. (AP) The search continues for two suspects who broke into a northeast Kansas home and tied up the female resident. The search began Tuesday and was concentrated for most of the day northeast of Louisburg in Miami County. Authorities say three men broke into a home in the unincorporated town of Hillsdale Tuesday morning. Police said they tied the woman up, ransacked her home and fled. After a car carrying the suspects was stopped, one of the men was quickly captured but the other two escaped into the woods.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) University of Kansas police are investigating several acts of vandalism at campus buildings this month. The vandalism began July 12 when someone caused $5,000 damage in a bathroom at Wescoe Hall and benches on the building’s ground floor. Damage was later reported at Blake Hall, Fraser Hall, Malott Hall and Stauffer-Flint Hall. The total damage was estimated at $9,000. The Lawrence Journal-World reports all the buildings were unlocked because people were working inside. It’s not clear if all the vandalism incidents are related.