TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s proposal to move up the date to require proof of citizenship for voter registration is again before the Kansas Senate. The Lawrence Journal -World reports that House members have replaced the contents of a Senate bill with Kobach’s plan. Kobach said the move allows the Senate to vote on it. Opponents of the ID requirement say the move, called a “gut and go,” is a questionable maneuver to sneak through controversial legislation. Legislators enacted a law last year requiring Kansans registering to vote for the first time to provide proof of U.S.…
Author: KMAN Staff
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A weekend rally in Topeka is being held for the unarmed black teenager shot to death in an Orlando, Fla., suburb. Sonny Scroggins, a community activist, told The Topeka Capital-Journal that the rally is scheduled for Saturday at 7 p.m. on the south side of the Statehouse. Trayvon Martin was shot to death last month in Sanford, Fla. A neighborhood watch volunteer has said he shot Martin on Feb. 26 in self-defense. No arrests have been made. The Justice Department and FBI have opened a civil rights investigation, and the local prosecutor before he quit the case…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) An email from the manager of the governor’s residence said the purpose of private dinner meetings with Republican legislators at the residence was, in part, to discuss business. The Shawnee County District Attorney is investigating seven Republican-only dinners at Cedar Crest, the governor’s residence, for violations of the Kansas Open Meetings Act, which prohibits a majority of a legislative body from gathering behind closed doors to discuss business. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that among hundreds of RSVPs obtained through an open records request, there’s one in which Rebecca Witte, who manages Cedar Crest, told a legislator’s assistant…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Anti-abortion activist Randall Terry says he’ll go to court to try to get his name on the ballot in the Kansas Democratic presidential caucus. The Kansas Democratic Party determined this week that Terry is not a bona fide Democrat and won’t be awarded any delegates from the party’s April 14 Kansas caucuses The Wichita Eagle reported Friday that Terry said keeping him off the ballot is a violation of the Constitution. Democratic Party attorney Joe Sandler said Terry also failed to meet two mandatory deadlines, one for naming his state representative and another for filing a plan to…
LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) The city of Leavenworth has taken down the last of the temporary fences put up at city parks during last year’s flooding on the Missouri River. Crews removed the last of the barriers Wednesday and reopened the walkway along Landing Park. The quarter-mile stretch of riverside parkway had been at least partially closed since June, when the Missouri began flowing out of its banks. Other flood-related repairs and renovations at Leavenworth parks are complete, and the city expects to open the Riverfront Park Campground as scheduled on April 1.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Gov. Sam Brownback is preparing to name a new secretary of the Kansas Department of Transportation. Brownback scheduled a news conference for late Friday morning, saying he would introduce his newest Cabinet secretary. His aides declined to identify the new secretary before the event. Barb Rankin, former KDOT chief attorney, became acting secretary in December following the resignation of Deb Miller. Miller stepped down after nearly nine years to take a job in the private sector. The department is two years into a 10-year, $8.2 billion program of highway, bridge and other transportation projects. KDOT has about…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) The lead research coordinator in a Kansas clinical trial of an allergy pill on human subjects is expected to learn her fate for conspiring to falsify test data. Olathe nurse Lisa Sharp was scheduled for sentencing Friday in U.S. District Court in Topeka. Her co-defendant, Dr. Wayne Spencer, was sentenced earlier this month to a year of probation. Sharp pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to defraud and failing to maintain records in a clinical trial as required by the Food and Drug Administration. Sharp and Spencer worked for Lee Research Institute, which was paid by Schering-Plough…
RUSSELL, Kan. (AP) Residents of a north-central Kansas community are mourning a 9-year-old boy who was struck and killed by a freight train. Details were still being gathered Thursday night, but authorities in Russell said the boy was hit by a Union Pacific train on the west edge of town a little after 11 a.m. Thursday. Witnesses said the boy, whose name was not immediately released, had been playing on the railroad tracks. Union Pacific spokesman Mark Davis said the train was traveling east from Denver to Salina. Russell is a city of about 4,500 people, located 170 miles west…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) An Oklahoma woman has been convicted of fatally shooting her ex-husband and his fiancee as they slept in a Topeka duplex in 2002. A Shawnee County jury deliberated just 90 minutes Thursday afternoon before finding 52-year-old Dana L. Chandler, of Duncan, Okla., guilty of two counts of premeditated first-degree murder. Prosecutors say Chandler was angry with her ex-husband, 47-year-old Mike Sisco. They said she drove to Topeka from Denver, where she lived at the time, after learning Sisco planned to marry 53-year-old Karen Harkness. The couple’s bodies were found in a basement-level bedroom in Harkness’ home. The…
LENEXA, Kan. (AP) Northeastern Kansas is losing 400 jobs as T-Mobile closes some of its call centers around the country. The customer care call center in the Johnson County community of Lenexa is one of seven the company announced Thursday it will close by the end of June. T-Mobile says the employees will have the option of transferring to one of the 17 remaining centers. KMBC-TV reports the 400 Lenexa workers are among 980 T-Mobile employees in Kansas. The company’s nearest remaining call centers are in Wichita and in Springfield, Mo.