WICHITA, Kan. (AP) An abortion opponent accused of sending a threatening letter to a Wichita doctor who was training to offer abortions wants a judge, not a jury, to decide her case. Angel Dillard filed a motion Friday in federal court in Kansas opposing a government request for a jury trial. The Justice Department sued Dillard under a law aimed at protecting access to abortion services. The Valley Center woman told Dr. Mila Means in a letter last year that the doctor would have to check under her car every day for explosives. No abortions have been openly done in…
Author: KMAN Staff
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A key state senator is blocking a vote on Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s legislation requiring new Kansas voters to prove their U.S. citizenship ahead of this year’s presidential election. Chairwoman Terrie Huntington said Friday she doesn’t plan to have her Senate Ethics and Elections Committee meet again this year. The committee had a hearing on Kobach’s bill Thursday but adjourned its last scheduled meeting of the year without acting. Kansas has a law requiring people registering to vote for the first time in the state to provide proof of their citizenship, but it doesn’t take effect…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A House investigative panel has dismissed a complaint against a Wichita Democrat. The complaint filed by 26 Republicans accused Rep. Jim Ward of misleading the House during a debate on an amendment he proposed to a property tax bill. A bipartisan panel unanimously dismissed the complaint Thursday. Ward said he did nothing wrong, and said Republicans simply didn’t read his amendment before voting on it. The Wichita Eagle reports that Rep. Lance Kinzer, an Olathe Republican, said House members had other ways to learn what Ward’s amendment did. He and others also said they don’t want an…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The Shawnee Co. District Attorney’s Office is considering what charges to file in the death of an 8-year-old Topeka girl. A 28-year-old man is being held on $10 million bond in the death of Ahliyah Irvin, whose body was found Tuesday in an apartment in southeast Topeka. Family members have said she was sleeping when a man came into the apartment and took her. Ahliyah’s body was found in another apartment about an hour later. Police haven’t said how she was killed. WIBW reports funeral services for Ahliyah are scheduled for Friday afternoon. A memorial fund to…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Attorney General Derek Schmidt says Kansans destroyed more than 5 tons of personal documents during National Consumer Protection Week last week. Schmidt’s office worked with businesses and organizations in five cities to give citizens a place to drop off personal documents, which were then shredded and recycled. Schmidt says the events offered a safe way to destroy documents containing personal information that identity thieves like to steal. The document disposal events were held in Wichita, Salina, Garden City, Topeka and Pittsburg.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A federal appeals court has scheduled arguments May 10 in an age discrimination lawsuit brought by former Boeing workers after the 2005 sale of its commercial airplane operations in Kansas and Oklahoma. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals filed notice of the date for arguments Thursday. The workers are appealing a 2010 ruling by U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren that sided with The Boeing Co. and Spirit AeroSystems. Spirit was created from the spinoff of Boeing’s commercial airplane operations in the two states. Ninety former Boeing workers filed suit claiming they lost their jobs because of…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The Kansas House is preparing to debate a proposed $14.1 billion state budget that has drawn bipartisan criticism over withholding of some education funds. The measure on Friday’s House agenda sticks closely to many of Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s spending recommendations for the fiscal year that starts July 1. It would cut overall state spending by about 4 percent, or $616 million. But it doesn’t include $29 million sought by Brownback to cover higher-than-expected costs incurred by school districts in the current academic year. Without that money, districts would have to use their reserves. Republicans backing the…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback’s proposal for reducing income tax rates cleared a House committee, but it’s unclear if the plan will be debated by the full chamber. The House Assessment and Taxation Committee endorsed the bill Thursday after modifying it to preserve a tax credit for mortgage interest payments. The voice vote sends the bill to the full House, which has already passed a rival plan that differs vastly from the governor’s proposal. Conservative Republicans tried unsuccessfully to amend the bill by removing Brownback’s plan and substituting it with proposals to eliminate the tax on incomes of…
COLUMBUS, Kan. (AP) A southeastern Kansas man has been convicted of murder for causing a double-fatality crash while he led police on a high-speed chase for 11 miles. The Cherokee County News-Advocate reports that a jury took less than 90 minutes Thursday to find Kaston Hudgins guilty on two counts of first-degree murder. Hudgins was fleeing a Cherokee County traffic stop on July 16, 2009, when he slammed into a car driven by 41-year-old school teacher Teresa Kemp. Her 13-year-old daughter, Taylor, died at the scene on U.S. 69 south of Pittsburg. Teresa Kemp died six days later. Witnesses testified…