Kansas

FILE - U.S. Rep. Jake LaTurner, R-Kan., speaks to Republican volunteers during a campaign stop with other GOP candidates, Nov. 7. 2022, in Topeka, Kan. LaTurner announced Thursday, April 18, 2024, that he is not running for reelection this year in his GOP-leaning eastern Kansas district so that he can spend more time with his four young children. (AP Photo/John Hanna, File)

Kansas GOP congressman Jake LaTurner is not running again, citing family reasons

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Two-term Republican U.S. Rep. Jake LaTurner is not running for reelection this year in his GOP-leaning eastern Kansas district so that he can spend more time with his four young children, he announced Thursday.
 
This combination of booking photo provided by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation shows Tad Bert Cullum, top left, Cora Twombly, top right, Tifany Machel Adams, bottom left, and Cole Earl Twombly, bottom right. On Saturday, April 13, 2024, Oklahoma authorities said they arrested and charged these four people with murder and kidnapping over the weekend in connection with the disappearances of Veronica Butler and Jilian Kelley. (Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation via AP)

Bond denied for 4 ‘God’s Misfits’ defendants in the killing of 2 Kansas women

 
This photo from Friday, April 12, 2024, shows the sign above the door to the Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging inside the main administration building on the main University of Kansas campus in Lawrence, Kan. Republican lawmakers across the U.S. are seeking to restrict diversity initiatives on colleges campuses, arguing that they enforce a liberal orthodoxy. (AP Photo/John Hanna)

Kansas’ higher ed board adopts an anti-DEI policy after pressure from GOP legislators

 
FILE - This combination photo shows Veronica Butler, left, and Jilian Kelley, right. On Saturday, April 13, 2024, Oklahoma authorities said they arrested and charged four people with murder and kidnapping over the weekend in connection with the disappearances of the two Oklahoma women. (Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation via AP, File)

How Kansas women’s disappearance on a drive to pick up kids led to 4 arrests in Oklahoma

 
Metal sidings are throw up in trees on Ethan Steenbach's property Tuesday morning, April 16, 2024, in Overbrook, Kan., following a tornado that hit the area. Strong storms have caused damage in parts of the middle U.S. and spawned tornadoes in Kansas and Iowa. (Evert Nelson/The Topeka Capital-Journal via AP)

Parts of central US hit by severe storms, while tornadoes strike in Kansas and Iowa

 

AP Top Stories April 17 A

Here’s the latest for Wednesday April 17th: Israel vows to retaliate against Iran; First seven Trump jurors selected; Republicans bring to Senate articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary; Tornadoes in Iowa and Kansas.
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Missing Kansas women confirmed dead, kids safe, 4 charged with kidnapping and murder

Four Black assistant coaches ‘true victims’ in FBI NCAA case that wrecked careers, then fizzled

AP Top Stories March 31 P

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FILE - This combination photo shows Veronica Butler, left, and Jilian Kelley, right. On Saturday, April 13, 2024, Oklahoma authorities said they arrested and charged four people with murder and kidnapping over the weekend in connection with the disappearances of the two Oklahoma women. (Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation via AP, File)

Members of self-proclaimed anti-government group ‘God’s Misfits’ held in killings of Kansas women

Authorities have confirmed the deaths of two Kansas women who went missing on a trip to pick up children for a birthday party.
 
FILE - This combination photo shows Veronica Butler, left, and Jilian Kelley, right. On Saturday, April 13, 2024, Oklahoma authorities said they arrested and charged four people with murder and kidnapping over the weekend in connection with the disappearances of the two Oklahoma women. (Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation via AP, File)

Four people charged in the case of 2 women missing from Oklahoma

Four people are under arrest in the March disappearances of two women in Oklahoma. Veronica Butler, 27; and Jilian Kelley, 39, of Hugoton, Kansas, were driving through the Oklahoma panhandle to pick up Butler’s children for a March 30 birthday party in Kansas but never showed up.
 
Several dozen students gather outside the Memorial Union on the University of Kansas' main campus for a campus LGBTQ+ pride photo, Friday, April 12, 2024, in Lawrence, Kan. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly has vetoed a proposed ban on gender-affirming care for minors. (AP Photo/John Hanna)

Kansas governor vetoes ban on gender-affirming care for minors and 2 anti-abortion bills

The governor of Kansas has vetoed a proposed ban on gender-affirming care for minors, a measure to require more reporting from abortion providers and what she says is a vague bill making it a crime to coerce someone into having an abortion.
 
President Joe Biden speaks during a trilateral meeting with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, April 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Biden administration announces another round of loan cancellation under new repayment plan

The Biden administration is canceling student loans for another 206,000 borrowers as part of a new repayment plan that offers a faster route to forgiveness.
 
FILE - Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly speaks about the necessity to expand medicaid in Kansas during a rally, March 6, 2024, in Topeka, Kan. Kansas will increase what have been among the lowest benefits in the U.S. for workers who are injured or killed on the job under bipartisan legislation that Kelly signed into law Thursday, April 11. (Evert Nelson/The Topeka Capital-Journal via AP, File)

Kansas has some of the nation’s lowest benefits for injured workers. They’ll increase in July

Kansas will increase what have been among the lowest benefits in the U.S. for workers who are injured or killed on the job. Democratic Gov.
 
Kansas state Sen. Dennis Pyle, left, R-Hiawatha, confers with Sen. Brenda Dietrich, R-Topeka, during the Senate session, Friday, April 5, 2024, at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan. Pyle supports a bill to make it a crime to coerce someone into having an abortion, while Dietrich passed the last time senators considered it. (AP Photo/John Hanna)

A bill passed by Kansas lawmakers would make it a crime to coerce someone into an abortion

People who make physical or financial threats against others in Kansas to force them to get an abortion could spend a year in prison and be fined up to $10,000 under a bill approved by state lawmakers.
 
Kansas House Taxation Committee Chair Adam Smith, R-Weskan, explains a plan to cut taxes by $1.5 billion over three years to fellow Republicans in the House during a meeting, Friday, April 5, 2024, at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan. Kansas lawmakers have approved the plan but some of them expect Gov. Laura Kelly to veto it. (AP Photo/John Hanna)

Kansas lawmakers approve a tax bill but the state still might not see big tax cuts

Kansas legislators are struggling to overcome political divisions that have prevented their state’s residents from seeing major income tax cuts over the past two years even as other states have slashed income tax rates.
 

Actor in spinoff of popular TV western ‘Yellowstone’ is found dead, authorities say

Authorities in Kansas say an actor who appeared in a spinoff of the popular television western “Yellowstone” has been found dead after he went missing amid a domestic violence investigation.
 
Kansas House Taxation Committee Chair Adam Smith, right, R-Weskan, consults with Edward Penner, a senior economist with the Legislature's research staff, following talks between House and Senate negotiators over proposed tax cuts, Friday, April 5, 2024, at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan. The negotiators have a drafted a plan to cut income, sales and property taxes by more than $1.5 billion over three years. (AP Photo/John Hanna)

Lawmakers criticize a big pay raise for themselves before passing a big spending bill

Kansas lawmakers have approved another year’s worth of funding for most state agencies and services.
 
This photo combo shows from left, Veronica Butler and Jilian Kelley. Foul play is suspected in the disappearance of the two Kansas women whose vehicle was found abandoned in the Oklahoma Panhandle, an Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation spokesperson said Friday, April 5, 2024. ( Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation via AP)

Foul play suspected in the disappearance of two Kansas women whose vehicle was found in Oklahoma

The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation says foul play is suspected in the disappearance of two Kansas women whose vehicle was found abandoned in Oklahoma.
 
Kansas House Taxation Committee Chair Adam Smith, R-Weskan, watches the House debate leading to the rejection of a plan for cutting taxes, Thursday, April 4, 2024, at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan. Smith had expected before the debate that the plan drafted by Republican leaders and Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly would fail. (AP Photo/John Hanna)

Kansas lawmakers scuttle a plan for cutting taxes, defying the governor and GOP leaders

A bipartisan group of rank-and-file lawmakers in Kansas has scuttled a plan for cutting taxes. Republicans on Thursday defied GOP leaders and Democrats ignored a personal appeal from Democratic Gov.
 
FILE - Border Patrol agents ask asylum-seeking migrants to line up in a makeshift, mountainous campsite after the group crossed the border with Mexico,Feb. 2, 2024, near Jacumba Hot Springs, Calif. The number of arrests for illegally crossing the U.S. southern border with Mexico nudged upward February over the previous month. But at a time when immigration is increasingly a concern for voters, the numbers were still among the lowest of Joe Biden's presidency. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)

GOP lawmakers are using the budget to pressure Kansas’ governor on DEI and immigration

Republicans are likely to approve a proposed state budget for Kansas with a provision aimed at forcing the state’s Democratic governor to restrict diversity initiatives on college campuses.
 
In this photo provided by the Kansas House of Representatives, Oz, a Wichita, Kan., police dog, sits on a leash from his handler, Sedgwick County Sheriff's Deputy Tyler Brooks, during a Senate committee hearing on a bill to increase the state's penalties for killing a police dog or horse, at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan., Thursday, Feb. 1, 2024. Brooks' former K-9 partner, Bane, was strangled to death by a domestic violence suspect, and Brooks had a hand in drafting the bill. (Carrie Rahfaldt/Kansas House of Representatives via AP)

A police dog’s death has Kansas poised to increase penalties for killing K-9 officers

Kansas is poised to increase its penalties for killing police dogs and horses. Legislators gave their final approval Tuesday to a measure inspired by a suspect’s strangling of a dog last year in the state’s largest city of Wichita.
 
FILE - Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach speaks during a news conference, Thursday, March 28, 2024, at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan. An audit released Tuesday, April 2, by Kansas' attorney general concluded that the state is losing more than $20 million a year because its Insurance Department is lax in overseeing one of its programs. The department said the audit is flawed and should be “discounted nearly in its entirety.” (AP Photo/John Hanna, File)

A claim that lax regulation costs Kansas millions has top GOP officials scrapping

A new audit from the Kansas attorney general has concluded that the state is losing more than $20 million a year because the Insurance Department is not properly overseeing one of its programs.
 
Kansas state Sen. Rick Kloos, R-Topeka, confers with Mike Heim, a member of the Legislature's legal staff, during negotiations between the House and the Senate over elections legislation, Monday, April 1, 2024, at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan. Republicans are pushing to end the extra three days given to voters to return mail ballots, calling it a move that will increase confidence in election results. (AP Photo/John Hanna)

Kansas GOP lawmakers revive a plan to stop giving voters 3 extra days to return mail ballots

The Republican-controlled Kansas Legislature has revived a proposal to stop giving voters three extra days after polls close to return mail ballots.
 
FILE - The offices of the Marion County Record weekly newspaper are seen in Marion, Kan., on Aug. 21, 2023. The weekly newspaper and its publisher filed a federal lawsuit Monday, April 1, 2024 over police raids last summer of its offices and the publisher's home and notified local officials that the paper and its publisher believe they are due more than $10 million in damages. (AP Photo/John Hanna, File)

A Kansas paper and its publisher are suing over police raids. They say damages exceed $10M

A weekly central Kansas newspaper and its publisher have filed a federal lawsuit over police raids last summer of its offices and the publisher’s home.
 
Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson, right, R-Andover, briefly discusses tax issues with fellow Republican senators as Majority Leader Larry Alley, left, R-Winfield, watches, Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan. Legislators expect to pass a plan for cutting taxes, but Republicans have to decide whether they will drop a proposal to move Kansas to personal income tax rate from the current three. (AP Photo/John Hanna)

Kansas lawmakers race to solve big fiscal issues before their spring break

Kansas lawmakers are approaching a deadline to pass pending legislation or let it die. The Republican-controlled Legislature is heading into its annual spring break and most bills that don’t pass Friday will simply fade away when politicians return for a short wrap-up session.
 
FILE - The offices of the Marion County Record weekly newspaper are seen in Marion, Kan., on Aug. 21, 2023. On Friday, March 29, 2024, an office manager at the paper filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging she was unlawfully detained and interrogated, and had her cellphone seized during a 2023 police raid that sparked a firestorm. (AP Photo/John Hanna, File)

Third employee of weekly newspaper in Kansas sues over police raid that sparked a firestorm

An office manager at a weekly newspaper in Kansas is the latest employee to sue over a police raid last year that sparked a firestorm.
 
Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach announces during a news conference that he and the attorneys general of 10 other states are suing the Biden administration over its new student loan repayment plan, Thursday, March 28, 2024, at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan. The lawsuit to block a new student loan repayment plan that provides a faster path to cancellation and lower monthly payments for millions of borrowers. (AP Photo/John Hanna)

Republican states file lawsuit challenging Biden’s student loan repayment plan

A group of Republican-led states is suing the Biden administration to block a new student loan repayment plan that provides a faster path to cancellation and lower monthly payments for millions of borrowers.
 
University of Kansas students, Chris Raithel, from left, Jenna Bellemere and Raine Flores-Peña, share a light moment outside the university's Memorial Union after an interview, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2024, in Lawrence, Kan. The students are part of a push to get administrators to add transgender rights language to university policies. (AP Photo/John Hanna)

As Kansas nears gender care ban, students push university to advocate for trans youth

As Kansas prepares to ban gender-affirming care for minors, students at the state’s largest university taking action.
 
Kansas state Reps. Gary White, left, R-Ashland, confers with Rep. Shannon Francis, R-Liberal, confer as the House votes on legislation, Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan. The two lawmakers support a measure approved by the House to limit ownership of land by people and companies from China and other U.S. adversaries. (AP Photo/John Hanna)

Kansas considers limits on economic activity with China and other ‘countries of concern’

Republican legislators in Kansas have advanced proposals to limit the state’s involvement with individuals and companies from China and other U.S. adversaries.
 

Kansas legislators pass a bill to require providers to ask patients why they want abortions

Republican legislators have approved a bill that would require Kansas abortion providers to ask their patients why they want to terminate their pregnancies and then report the answers to the state.
 
Kansas House Judiciary Committee Chair Susan Humphries, R-Wichita, watches an electronic tally vote as the House approves a bill requiring pornography websites to verify the ages of their Kansas visitors, Tuesday, March 26, 2024, at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan. The measure is likely to be come law and have Kansas joining at least eight other states in requiring age verification. (AP Photo/John Hanna)

Kansas moves to join Texas and other states in requiring porn sites to verify people’s ages

Kansas is poised to require internet pornography sites to verify that visitors are adults. It would join Texas and a handful of other states despite concerns about privacy and how broadly the law could be applied.
 
Southern California guard JuJu Watkins reacts after a shot during a second-round college basketball game against Kansas in the women's NCAA Tournament in Los Angeles, Monday, March 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

JuJu Watkins’ double-double leads top-seeded USC over Kansas 73-55 for trip to women’s Sweet 16

JuJu Watkins had 28 points, 11 rebounds and five assists and top-seeded Southern California beat Kansas 73-55 to reach the Sweet 16 of the women’s NCAA Tournament.
 
Two of the dozens of Kansas House bills that now list the names of groups and lobbyists who asked lawmakers or committees to introduce them, are seen Monday, March 25, 2024, at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan. The House started adding the information to bills this year as a way to make it easier for people to find out who was behind what proposals. (AP Photo/John Hanna)

In the Kansas House, when lobbyists ask for new laws, their names go on the bills

The Kansas House has taken an unusual step this year to add transparency to its legislating and make it easier for the general public to know who’s pushing what.
 
Kansas guard Nicolas Timberlake (25) shoots as Gonzaga guard Nolan Hickman (11) defends during the first half of a second-round college basketball game in the NCAA Tournament in Salt Lake City, Saturday, March 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

In March Madness, Gonzaga plays near-perfect 2nd half to dispatch Kansas 89-68

Gonzaga played a nearly perfect second half, busting open a back-and-forth game with a 15-0 run to pull away from Kansas for an 89-68 win and extend its nation-best streak of trips to the Sweet 16 to nine.
 
Gonzaga head coach Mark Few directs his team during the first half of a first-round college basketball game against McNeese State in the NCAA Tournament in Salt Lake City, Thursday, March 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

March Madness brings an early showdown of power programs: Gonzaga vs Kansas

Gonzaga is fresh. The Bulldogs cruised to a stress-free victory in the first round of the NCAA Tournament that ended with the starters watching garbage time from the bench.
 
Kansas state Rep. Nikki McDonald, D-Olathe, shows off a stack of printed testimony in favor of expanding the Medicaid program in Kansas during a House Health and Human Services Committee discussion, Thursday, March 21, 2024, at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan. The committee has blocked Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly's expansion plan. (AP Photo/John Hanna)

Republican majorities block efforts to expand Medicaid in Georgia and Kansas

Republican lawmakers in Georgia and Kansas have shot down attempts by Democrats to expand Medicaid in their states. The two states’ legislative committee voted Thursday.
 
Kansas state Rep. Steve Howe, left, R-Salina, answers questions from Rep. Ford Carr, right, D-Wichita, during a House debate on a bill designed to restrict diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives on university campuses, Wednesday, March 20, 2024, at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan. Howe backs the bill, which would bar universities from requiring prospective students, job applicants or employees to make statement for or against any "ideology or movement," including DEI. (AP Photo/John Hanna)

They don’t define DEI, but Kansas lawmakers are attacking it like GOP colleagues elsewhere

Kansas lawmakers have joined fellow Republicans in other states in trying to restrict diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives on university campuses.
 

The Associated Press 2023-24 men’s college basketball All-America teams

Purdue big man Zach Edey headlined the 2023-24 men’s college basketball teams for The Associated Press on Tuesday.
 
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