Kansas
Osage Nation member earns national award for dedication to improving Indigenous education
TOPEKA — An assistant professor of education leadership at Kansas State University and a citizen of the Osage Nation in Oklahoma earned a national human rights education award for work to improve Indigenous education. Alex Red Corn, executive director of the Kansas Association for Native American Education, was chosen by Human Rights Educators USA to […]
ACLU launches effort to inform Kansans with felony records of their voting rights
TOPEKA — A leading Kansas civil rights organization says an estimated 30,000 people living in the state should be informed they have the right to vote. The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas launched a campaign to reach out to Kansans with felony records and encourage them to register to vote and to participate in […]
Kansas adopting new vehicle license plate design, jettisoning eroded embossed tags
TOPEKA — A Kansas license plate with dark text on a blazing yellow background will replace in 2024 the peeling raised-letter tags that years ago became an impediment to law enforcement officers trying to quickly identify vehicles. “Many of the embossed plates out on the road have become difficult to read due to significant deterioration,” […]
‘I’m not real proud’: Kansas public library gets new lease by removing LGBTQ books for kids
ST. MARYS, Kansas — The public library in St. Marys has managed to hang onto its lease for one more year by removing all of the youth-oriented LGBTQ books from library shelves. Library director Judith Cremer said the decision was the result of her efforts to work with the city commission, which has been threatening […]
VA veterans crisis line to face new investigation by congressional watchdog agency
WASHINGTON — The Government Accountability Office plans to investigate multiple whistleblower allegations of “gross mismanagement” at the Department of Veterans Affairs veterans crisis line, following a request from Kansas Republican Sen. Jerry Moran, States Newsroom has learned. Moran, ranking member on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, sent a letter to the VA secretary this week […]
Opinion: My great grandpa faced off against the Ku Klux Klan in Lincoln, Kansas, and prevailed
While the Ku Klux Klan in Kansas, like elsewhere across the country, purported to support decency, the family and white supremacy, it was also a vehicle for attacking business rivals and members of the Catholic Church. I know this as fact because my great grandfather, Ira Armsbury, had a run-in with the Klan in Lincoln […]
Kansas officials downplayed involvement in Marion raid. Here’s what they knew.
MARION — Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody enlisted the support of local and state law enforcement officials in the days before he led raids on the local newspaper office, the publisher’s home and the home of a city councilwoman. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation, Kansas Department of Revenue, Marion County Sheriff’s Office and the Office […]
Southeast Kansas town is almost out of water, and signs of crisis are everywhere
CANEY — It’s hardly a question of whether the water will run out for one town on the Kansas-Oklahoma border. It’s a matter of when. The stubborn drought that has hung over southeast Kansas for close to two years has brought Caney, a town of less than 2,000 people, within weeks of reaching the end of […]
How a fake Keanu Reeves convinced a Kansas woman to abandon her dream of being president
LAWRENCE — Joan Farr knew she had been conned before Keanu Reeves brushed her off after his concert last week in Lawrence. After months of online correspondence, $9,000 in Bitcoin transfers and a confrontation with her family, she understood the individual who promised to endorse her presidential campaign and even be her date for her […]
Biden vetoes bill that would remove lesser prairie chicken protections
U.S. President Joe Biden vetoed legislation meant to undermine federal protections for the lesser prairie chicken, a previously ubiquitous bird that is now endangered in several states. The legislation, introduced by U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, and co-sponsored by fellow Kansas Republican Sen. Jerry Moran and four other senators, sought to undo a listing by […]
‘It’s an emergency.’ Midwest towns scramble as drought threatens drinking water.
SEDAN, Kan. — James Rainbolt typically can tackle most problems at his rural water plant with some extra time or money. But he can’t fix this. “I just can’t make it rain,” he said. Like others across Southeast Kansas, Rainbolt remains helpless as he watches a persistent drought dry up the local water supply. He […]