TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Kansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Lawton Nuss is preparing to give the annual State of the Judiciary address to a joint session of the Legislature. The court didn’t disclose the topic of his remarks ahead the speech, scheduled for 5 p.m. Wednesday. But it comes as the Supreme Court is reviewing recommendations from a special commission on the operations of the state’s judicial branch. The Supreme Court created the 25-member Blue Ribbon Commission a year ago to consider such issues as the number of court offices, their hours of operation, using technology to reduce costs and increasing…
Author: KMAN Staff
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A northwestern Kansas man has been convicted of selling cattle that were mortgaged to the Agriculture Department’s Farm Service Agency and keeping the money. The U.S. Attorney’s office says 26-year-old Travis L. Siebert, of Colby, was found guilty by a jury Tuesday of one count of conversion of mortgaged property. Prosecutors say Siebert received three loans totaling $115,000 to purchase a bull, 60 cows and 90 feeder calves. He fell behind on loan payments in 2007 with about $84,000 left to repay. The government says that Siebert schemed to sell the livestock from 2007 to 2010 under…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A Senate redistricting committee is meeting to discuss how it will draw new boundaries for the chamber’s 40 districts. The committee is scheduled to meet at least briefly on Wednesday to develop the rules and policies it will use in the redistricting process. A separate House committee, chaired by Speaker Mike O’Neal, is looking at redrawing that chamber’s 125 districts. Lawmakers are adjusting the boundaries of the state’s legislative, Board of Education and U.S. House districts to reflect population changes as reported by the 2010 census. The new maps must be approved by both chambers and the…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Secretary of State Kris Kobach is both the defendant and his own attorney in a lawsuit now before a federal appeals court over how Kansas deals with small political parties. He planned to argue the state’s case Wednesday morning before the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver. The Constitution Party of Kansas wants to regain its status as a recognized political party and is challenging the secretary of state’s refusal to allow people to affiliate with the party when they register to vote. Kobach is known nationally for advising officials in other states about cracking…
OLATHE, Kan. (AP) Three elderly, hearing-impaired pedestrians were injured when they were hit by a car in Olathe. Police say one of the pedestrians was critically injured and two others suffered serious injuries on Tuesday night. They were hit after leaving an event at the Deaf Cultural Center, which is across the street from the Kansas School for the Deaf. Police say the driver of the vehicle stopped after the accident. An investigation is continuing.
VALLEY CENTER, Kan. (AP) A suspect is in custody in the 2003 death of a Kansas woman whose case was originally considered an accident. Police believed 26-year-old Patricia Hughes accidentally drowned in June 2003 while trying to rescue her 2-year-old daughter from a residential pool. Sedgwick County sheriff’s captain Greg Pollock said new information was uncovered last year, and Hughes’ death was reclassified as a homicide last September. He said he could not divulge more information in the case. The Wichita Eagle reports that an arrest warrant has been issued for a 52-year-old man, who is charged with first-degree, premeditated…
DODGE CITY, Kan. (AP) The Kansas Historical Society is looking for unusual water towers that might be considered important to history. Amanda Loughlin, survey coordinator, says the society is taking an informal survey to raise public awareness of unusual water towers. She says the survey could be the first step to listing the towers on the National Register of Historic Places. The Dodge City Daily Globe reports four water towers in the state have been listed on the register. They are the 1927 Hillsboro water tower, the Florence water tower built in the mid-1880s, the 1913 Highland water tower, and…
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) Starky gets to stay in Lawrence. The Lawrence City Commission on Tuesday agreed to allow potbellied pigs to live in the city. The informal decision came after Lawrence resident Ehren Penix and about a dozen supporters pleaded that Penix be allowed to keep his pig Starky. The Lawrence Journal-World reports commissioners said they couldn’t find a good reason to keep potbellied pigs out of the city. However, owners will have to agree to keep only one potbellied pig at a time, and traditional farm pigs will not be allowed. And if smell becomes an issue, the city…
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A proposed House bill would give Kansans a chance to support the arts while paying their taxes. The bill would create the Kansas Arts Commission Checkoff Fund. It would allow taxpayers to add a donation while doing their income tax returns. The proposal is sponsored by 40 House Republicans. It coincides with efforts by Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration to encourage private support for the arts, rather than using public funds. Last year, Brownback cut public funding for the Kansas Arts Commission. His budget proposal for the coming fiscal year proposes $200,000 in state funding for a new…
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) Differences over where and how to hang its wires on utility poles have affected Google’s plans to launch its super-speed Internet project in Kansas City, Kan. The Kansas City Star reports that Google said nine months ago that it hoped to begin service on its gigabit-per-second Internet connections to Kansas City, Kan. by the first quarter of this year. But the company is still working out details over where to install the needed fiber optics. Google declines to comment on the issue and hasn’t publicly acknowledged any significant delays in the project. Mayor Joe Reardon says…