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Concealed-carry holders commit few gun crimes
WICHITA (AP) — Few Kansans who hold a concealed-carry gun permit have been charged with a firearm-related crime, statistics show. Of the 51,078 permits issued in Kansas since the law took effect in 2007, just 44 permit holders were charged with a crime committed while using a firearm, according to records from the Kansas attorney general’s office. The Wichita Eagle reported that works out to one charge for every 1,161 permit holders, or 0.09 p...
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Vote bodes well for wind energy
WICHITA (AP) — The re-election of President Barack Obama has rekindled hopes by wind energy supporters for the extension of the production tax credit. Not only was Obama, who strongly backs alternative energy re-elected, but Democrats gained seats in the Senate and House. The Wichita Eagle reported that the American Wind Energy Association has warned that the loss of the tax credit, which expires Jan. 1, will lead to 37,000 layoffs as demand f...
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Customers balk at bankruptcy sale
WICHITA (AP) — A bankruptcy judge sided Monday with a group of current Hawker Beechcraft customers who balked at a move by the Kansas plane maker to immediately sell off its inventory of discontinued Hawker 4000 jet aircraft at substantial discounts as part of the company’s bankruptcy proceedings. Hawker Beechcraft wants to sell the remaining inventory on “an expedited basis,” without bankruptcy court approval of each sale, because it believes...
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Kline argues ethics case to court
TOPEKA (AP) — Former Attorney General Phill Kline told the Kansas Supreme Court on Thursday that he never lied or intentionally misled authorities as he conducted an extensive investigation of abortion providers during his term in office. The seven-member court heard 90 minutes of arguments from Kline and from attorneys representing the Board of Discipline of Attorneys who recommend that Kline’s license to practice law be suspended indefinitel...
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Panel’s choices will spur debate on judges
TOPEKA (AP) — A commission bypassed Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s top attorney and a prominent conservative judge in naming finalists for a Kansas Court of Appeals seat on Thursday, an announcement certain to inspire a legislative debate about the selection process. The statewide judicial nominating commission nominated a veteran western Kansas trial court judge, a Kansas City-area prosecutor and a Topeka attorney for the vacancy on the stat...
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Lawmaker alleges attempt to shield law
TOPEKA (AP) — A Democratic legislator in a close re-election fight alleged Thursday that Republican Secretary of State Kris Kobach was trying to deflect scrutiny of a voter ID law he championed when he filed an unsuccessful lawsuit aimed at preventing her from contacting constituents who cast provisional ballots. But Kobach rejected the criticism from state Rep. Ann Mah of Topeka, saying he has repeatedly given her and other legislators detail...
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Study finds science has been reduced
TOPEKA (AP) — Elementary schools in Kansas and four surrounding states have drastically reduced or even eliminated instruction in science because teachers feel pressured to improve performance in math and reading, according to a survey conducted by a Kansas school superintendent. George Griffith, superintendent of the Trego school district and a member of a Kansas committee drawing up new national science standards, told the Kansas Board of Ed...
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KDOT announces transportation work
TOPEKA (AP) — Kansas transportation officials released a list Wednesday of more than 430 construction projects totaling $1.1 billion to be carried out in the next two budget years, including several that are already under way. The list released Wednesday includes some major projects that were previously announced by the Kansas Department of Transportation. They include completion of the South Lawrence Trafficway in Douglas County; expansion of...
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Kobach loses round in battle over voter names
TOPEKA (AP) — Kansas Secretary of Kris Kobach lost a legal battle Wednesday to block one of his most persistent critics from contacting voters who cast uncounted provisional ballots in her close legislative race, and some county officials suggested his stance represented an attempt to change office policy. U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten ruled against the Republican secretary of state in a federal lawsuit Kobach filed last week to prevent...
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Coalition of advocates calls for Medicaid expansion in Kansas
TOPEKA (AP) — Health care advocates in Kansas on Friday called on Gov. Sam Brownback to accept a federal expansion of Medicaid coverage for some low-income residents. More than 75 people attended a rally at the Statehouse, arguing the expansion would help about 130,000 Kansas residents who lack health insurance. Approximately 393,000 residents now receive health coverage through Medicaid, the government health care program for the poor. Anna L...
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Mother in forgery case had her own conviction
OVERLAND PARK (AP) — The mother of a Kansas City lawyer facing charges of “death by forgery” for allegedly falsifying her father’s signature to have him removed from life support had her own run-in with the law over an alleged forgery years earlier. Susan Elizabeth Van Note, 44, is charged with killing her father, William Van Note, in October 2010. He died after he and his live-in girlfriend, Sharon Dickson, were shot at their Lake of the Ozar...
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Federal government will run state health exchange
TOPEKA (AP) — Gov. Sam Brownback said Thursday that Kansas will have a federally run health insurance exchange, after he declined to support the state insurance commissioner’s application for a state-federal partnership. Brownback had said months ago he would wait until after Tuesday’s election before moving forward on any provisions of the new federal health care law. He announced his decision about the required exchange — an online health in...
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Kobach tells election officials they can’t release voters’ names
TOPEKA (AP) — Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s office told county election officials Thursday that they shouldn’t release the names of Kansas voters who cast provisional ballots, a directive that came a day after one of Kobach’s critics began pursuing such a list in hopes of averting a narrow election loss. The Republican’s office sent two memos to county officials. One, from its elections chief, said the information “is not public record” and...
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Voters give Obama four more years
Obama powers to re-election despite weak economy 
 WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama rolled to re-election Tuesday night, vanquishing former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and winning four more years in office despite a weak economy that plagued his first term and put a crimp in the middle class dreams of millions. "This happened because of you. Thank you" Obama tweeted to supporters as he celebrated four more years in the White House. ...
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GOP sweeps Kansas U.S. House seats
TOPEKA (AP) — Kansas Republicans repeated their sweep on Tuesday of the state’s four congressional districts, keeping the U.S. House seats in the party’s hands for the second straight election cycle. Rep. Lynn Jenkins, a Topeka Republican, earned a third term in Congress in the 2nd District, while three freshmen easily won re-election to their seats. The races follow a trend in Kansas politics in recent years that has seen Republicans and the ...
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Romney, Obama sharpen closing lines
PATASKALA, Ohio (AP) — Down to a fierce finish, President Barack Obama accused Mitt Romney of scaring voters with lies on Friday, while the Republican challenger warned grimly of political paralysis and another recession if Obama reclaims the White House. Heading into the final weekend, the race’s last big report on the economy showed hiring picking up but millions still out of work. “Four more days!” Romney supporters bellowed at his rally in...
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Groups pour cash into state races
TOPEKA (AP) — Seven groups spent nearly $167,000 over seven days to boost Democratic candidates heading into the final days of campaigns for the Kansas Legislature, but the state’s largest business group also was active in helping conservative Republicans aligned with Gov. Sam Brownback. Finance reports filed through Friday showed political party groups and political action committees pouring money into mailings, phone banks and get-out-the-vo...
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Kobach predicts 68 percent turnout
TOPEKA (AP) — Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach predicted Thursday that the state would see a 68 percent voter turnout in Tuesday’s elections. Kobach said during a news conference that if the prediction held true that it would be the smallest percentage of Kansas voters casting ballots in a general election since 2000, when turnout was 67 percent. Both 2000 and 2012 are oddities in Kansas elections in that they are points in the election c...
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GOP suggests it may lose seats
TOPEKA (AP) — Prominent Republicans are suggesting that Tuesday’s elections could cost them a few seats in the Kansas House and reduce the influence of its conservatives just as the GOP right takes control of the Senate. House Majority Leader Arlen Siegfried, a conservative Olathe Republican, said Thursday that he’s predicting that Republicans — who hold a 92-33 majority in his chamber — could lose up to four seats. Gov. Sam Brownback said he ...
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Challenger spends nothing
TOPEKA (AP) — A Republican who wants to oust a Democratic incumbent from the Kansas State Board of Education has raised almost nothing and said Wednesday that he plans to spend no money. GOP challenger Jack Wu’s contest against Democrat Carolyn Campbell previously garnered attention because of Wu’s ties to an anti-gay Topeka church known for picketing military funerals. Wu said he’s always planned to spend nothing campaigning in the 4th board ...
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