TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The Kansas Senate has reconsidered its rejection of a bill cutting income and sales taxes and passed the measure. The Senate approved the bill on a 29-11 vote Wednesday, only two hours after rejecting it on a 20-20 vote. Nine Republicans, including Senate President Steve Morris, of Hugoton, switched their votes. The bill is dramatically different than Brownback’s plan to overhaul the state’s individual income tax code. Senators embraced Brownback’s proposals to cut the state’s top individual income tax rates and eliminate income taxes for 191,000 businesses. But they rejected his proposals to eliminate income tax credits…
Author: KMAN Staff
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The Kansas Senate has approved a measure that adds protections for victims of stalking and domestic violence. The Lawrence Journal-World reports that Kansas Senate this week approved a version of the measure that the House passed earlier. The bill now heads to conference committee. The bill would make violations of protection from stalking and protection from abuse orders a level 6 felony. Such crimes are now misdemeanors. The measure also would allow judges to extend the length of time that protection orders are valid, up to life. Orders are now valid for up to one year, and…
JOPLIN, Mo. (AP) Flood watches continue for southwest Kansas and western Missouri after a few days of heavy rain that has forced closures of several rural roadways. The National Weather Service said Wednesday that the large, slow-moving storm over north Texas was expected to continue pushing eastward, producing more rain in Missouri and Kansas. Up to 4 inches of rain has been recorded in the Missouri Ozarks and southeast Kansas. The rain is expected to taper off Thursday. The Missouri Department of Transportation reported several roadway sections closed across southwest and south-central Missouri because of high water. Cherokee County, Kan.,…
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) The former owner of the Kansas City Knights basketball team faces charges of evading federal taxes. Prosecutors in Kansas City, Kan., allege James Clark, Leawood, owes nearly $503,000 in unpaid payroll taxes and penalties from 2002 to 2004. The Kansas City Star reports the charges filed March 9 accuse Clark of withholding taxes from employees of the SWISH Holding Corp., a health care consulting firm, and failing to forward them to the Internal Revenue Service. He’s also accused of trying to secure bank credit in 2004 without notifying the bank that he’d sold SWISH’s assets. Kevin…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Dozens of people gathered in Topeka to honor an 8-year-old girl who was killed last week. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the vigil was held Tuesday night near the site where Ahliyah Nachell Irvin was found slain March 13. The child’s mother Angela Ortega cried as family members wrapped a large tree in Dornwood Park with pink, white, yellow and baby blue ribbons. A Topeka man, Billy Frank Davis Jr., has been charged with capital murder, among other crimes that include kidnapping and rape of a child, in connection with the death. Police said the girl was…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A 29-year-old Wichita man has pleaded guilty to taking part in a Wichita bank robbery last year. Sergio Little pleaded guilty in Wichita on Tuesday to one count of abetting a bank robbery. The robbery took place at the Sunflower Bank on Aug. 11, 2011. He is scheduled for sentencing June 7. The Wichita Eagle reports that three other defendants have been convicted in the case and are awaiting sentencing.
BAZAAR, Kan. (AP) Kansas has been gearing up for the 81st anniversary of the central Kansas plane crash that killed Notre Dame football legend Knute Rockne and seven other people. The Wichita Eagle reports that events this weekend will include the unveiling of the 1932 Rockne Family Studebaker at the Chase County Historical Museum. They also will include live music and tours of the Chase County Courthouse and Rockne crash site. Rockne’s death at age 43 at the height of his career having led the Fighting Irish to consecutive undefeated seasons his final two seasons made front-page news across the…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Members of the Kansas Senate aren’t sure a bill cutting taxes can pass their chamber. The measure was up for a final vote Wednesday. It cuts the state’s top individual income tax rates and eliminates income taxes for 191,000 partnerships, sole proprietorships and other small businesses. It also cuts the sales tax from 6.3 percent to 5.7 percent in July 2013. The Senate’s plan could come with a massive price tag as high as $800 million a year. It’s a departure from a plan outlined by Gov. Sam Brownback to overhaul the individual income tax code. He…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The Kansas Senate is preparing to debate a proposed $14.2 billion state budget that’s slightly more generous than one proposed by Gov. Sam Brownback. The budget bill on the Senate’s calendar for Wednesday still cuts overall spending by almost 4 percent, or $572 million, during the fiscal year that begins July 1. But it includes funds for social service programs that Brownback didn’t include in his spending recommendations. It includes an additional $16 million for children’s programs and nearly $9 million to boost the pay of state workers whose salaries are below the pay for people with…
OLATHE, Kan. (AP) A woman who abducted an 81-year-old woman outside a northeast Kansas grocery store and forced her to withdraw money from banks is going to prison. The Kansas City Star reports that a Johnson County judge on Tuesday sentenced 24-year-old Sarah Nicole Zaragoza to 11 years. It’s the same sentence given earlier to her female co-defendant in the August 2010 crime. Edna Wells was in the courtroom to see the second of her kidnappers sentenced. The women grabbed Wells at knifepoint outside a Shawnee supermarket and forced her to drive around Johnson County withdrawing money from ATMs. The…