Kansas Legislature

Senate Bill 328 would prevent lawmakers and lieutenant governors from holding certain executive branch jobs.

A legislative committee on education offered a glimpse at what Kansas lawmakers could propose during the 2024 session. The Legislature hinted at changing the formula for funding special education and pushing more school choice measures.

Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody initiated the Aug. 11 raid of the newspaper office, the publisher’s home, and the home of a city councilwoman under the pretense that a reporter committed identity theft by looking at public records. First Amendment attorneys say the reporter committed no crime and Magistrate Judge Laura Viar should have known the search warrants were unconstitutional when she signed them.

A suspicious white powder was sent in letters to dozens of GOP legislators and public officials in Kansas over the last few days. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation said that while the substance has not been identified, testing has shown that it is not a risk to public safety.

Research shows that most children need systematic, sound-it-out instruction — commonly called phonics — rather than older approaches that focus on context clues from pictures and stories.

A plan to provide most Kansas state employees a 5% raise costs about $11 million more than expected and is creating a potential for state agencies to shut down next year.

Reproductive rights advocates criticized the bill, which would require that doctors give patients medically unproven information.

The Republican-controlled Kansas Legislature passed a bill into law that bans transgender girls and women from participating in girls and women’s sports. The lawmakers had failed twice in past years to override vetoes by Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly.

The House tax package slims down the cost to the state to roughly $500 million a year while providing relief in several different areas. The plan competes with the Senate’s proposals that would reduce state revenue by more than $1 billion.

The bill would prevent schools and employers from challenging a claim of religious objection for all vaccines.