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IZIUM, Ukraine (AP) ” Hand on heart, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy watched his country™s flag rise Wednesday above the recaptured city of Izium, making a rare foray outside the capital that highlights Moscow™s embarrassing retreat from a Ukrainian counteroffensive.Russian forces left the war-scarred city last week as Kyiv's soldiers pressed a stunning advance that has reclaimed large swaths of territory in Ukraine™s northeastern Kharkiv region. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A federal judge ruled Thursday that Kansas officials are no longer required to change transgender people’s birth certificates so the documents reflect their gender identities, a loss for those who fought for that ability and leaves questions on how the state will respond.Since 2019, a federal consent agreement required Kansas officials to change a person's gender identity on their birth certificate when asked. But Republican Attorney General Kris Kobach asked the court to stop enforcing that agreement because of a new state law that defines male and female as the sex assigned at birth. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

MISSION, Kan. (AP) ” U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids on Tuesday sought a third term representing her Kansas City-area swing district as Republicans hoped midterm momentum would oust the lone Democrat in Kansas' congressional delegation.Davids faced a rematch with Amanda Adkins, her Republican challenger from 2020, after GOP-led redistricting made the 3rd District tougher for Davids. Like other GOP congressional candidates, Adkins focused on crime, high inflation and other pocketbook issues and tried to link the Democratic incumbent to President Joe Biden. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas police chief who led an August raid on a small weekly newspaper seemed to have the support of most city leaders in the weeks since the search, despite public outcry and calls for his resignation. But that changed quickly once details began emerging about Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody's conduct. Cody was suspended Thursday, the same day a television station reported that he asked a local restaurant owner to delete text messages. Then body camera video of the Aug. 11 search of the Marion County Record was released — and it appeared to show Cody looking at a reporter's investigative file about him. Emails about the raid also emerged. By Monday, he resigned. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This image provided by the Federal Public Defender Office shows death row inmate Amber McLaughlin. McLaughlin, the first openly transgender woman set to be executed in the U.S., asked Missouri's Republican Gov. Mike Parson to spare her, on Monday, Dec. 12, 2022.(Jeremy S. Weis/Federal Public Defender Office via AP) This image provided by the Missouri Department of Corrections shows Amber McLaughlin. McLaughlin, the first openly transgender woman set to be executed in the U.S., is asked Missouri's Republican Gov. Mike Parson to spare her, on Monday, Dec. 12, 2022. (Missouri Department of Corrections via AP, File) [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) ” A man on trial for threatening to kill U.S. Rep. Jake LaTurner cross-examined the Kansas Republican on Wednesday in federal court, with the congressman rejecting the defendant's suggestions that he was conveying a message from God.LaTurner was the last prosecution witness in the trial of Chase Neill, 32, from the northeastern Kansas city of Lawrence. Prosecutors contend that Neill, who is representing himself in court, became fixated on LaTurner and then made his threat in a June 5 phone message left after hours at LaTurner™s office in Topeka. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) ” The U.S. Supreme Court refused Monday to hear the appeals of two brothers who were sentenced to death for four fatal shootings on a Kansas soccer field in December 2000 known as œthe Wichita massacre.Former Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt said the high court's decision means Jonathan and Reginald Carr no longer have any direct appeals of their death sentences. However, he said they can still file lawsuits in state and federal courts to try to prevent their executions by lethal injection. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) ” Kansas' Republican elections chief on Thursday decried a œhorrible environment for local officials overseeing voting and counting ballots this year as top state officials certified November's results.Secretary of State Scott Schwab aggressively defends the integrity of Kansas elections despite the wide circulation of baseless claims of problems among fellow Republicans. He told reporters, "The chaos is in the rhetoric and people demanding recounts. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) ” Kansas' anti-abortion Republican attorney general is asking the state's highest court to reconsider a landmark decision protecting access to abortion months after a decisive statewide vote affirming abortion rights.Attorney General Kris Kobach said Wednesday that one reason for the Kansas Supreme Court to reconsider its 2019 ruling is the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in June overturning Roe v. Wade and declaring that the U.S. Constitution doesn't grant a right to abortion access. The Kansas court is set to consider that issue and others in two abortion cases on Jan. 30, though Kobach said he is likely to ask for a few weeks' delay because he took office only Monday. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

VINNYTSIA, Ukraine (AP) ” Russian missiles struck a city in central Ukraine on Thursday, killing at least 23 people and wounding more than 100 others far from the front lines, Ukrainian authorities said. Ukraine's president accused Russia of deliberately targeting civilians in locations without military value.Officials said Kalibr cruise missiles fired from a Russian submarine in the Black Sea damaged a medical clinic, offices, stores and residential buildings in Vinnytsia, a city 268 kilometers (167 miles) southwest of the capital, Kyiv. Vinnytsia region Gov. Serhiy Borzov said Ukrainian air defenses downed two of the four incoming Russian missiles. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) ” Adam Kellogg was a self-described nerdy 16-year-old preparing to board a flight from Kansas City to Florida for a space and science camp trip to Cape Canaveral when security held him up for 30 minutes because his driver's license identified him as female.Three years later, the University of Kansas student's driver's license identifies him as male, but legislative proposals in at least eight states could prevent transgender people like him from changing their driver's licenses and birth certificates. The Republican-controlled Kansas Legislature is considering a bill that would define male and female in state law and base people's legal gender identities on their anatomy at birth. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) ” Kansas™ elections director says the state will go along with a request for a hand recount of votes from every county after last week™s decisive statewide vote affirming abortion rights, even though there was a 165,000-vote difference and a recount won™t change the result.Melissa Leavitt, of Colby in far western Kansas, requested the recount and declined to comment to reporters Friday evening, citing work obligations. But she said on an online site raising funds for a recount that she had œseen data about the election. Her post was not more specific, and there no evidence of significant problems with the election. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

OLATHE, Kan. (AP) ” A decisive statewide vote in favor of abortion rights in traditionally conservative Kansas was confirmed with a partial hand recount, with fewer than 100 votes changing after the last county reported results Sunday. Nine of the state™s 105 counties recounted their votes at the request of Melissa Leavitt, who has pushed for tighter election laws. A longtime anti-abortion activist, Mark Gietzen, is covering most of the costs. Gietzen acknowledged in an interview that it was unlikely to change the outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Viktor Anastasiev's wife cries near her wounded husband after a Russian strike in Kherson, southern Ukraine, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue) People wait in line to collect water, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2022. Residents of Ukraine's bombed but undaunted capital clutched empty bottles in search of water and crowded into caf©s for power and warmth Thursday, switching defiantly into survival mode after new Russian missile strikes a day earlier plunged the city and much of the country into the dark. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Pipeline design issues, lapses by its operators and problems caused during its construction led to a massive oil spill on the Keystone pipeline system in northeastern Kansas, according to a report for U.S. government regulators.An engineering consulting firm said in the report that the bend in the Keystone system where the December 2022 spill occurred had been “overstressed” since its installation in December 2010 — likely because construction activity itself altered the land around the pipe. The U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration posted a redacted copy of the report online Monday, about three weeks after it was completed by RSI Pipeline Solutions, based in the Columbus, Ohio, area. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A Ukrainian soldier fires on the front line in the Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Sat. Sept. 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Kostiantyn Liberov) A Ukrainian soldier takes a selfie as an artillery system fires in the front line in Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Saturday, Sept. 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Kostiantyn Liberov) [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Gov. Laura Kelly gives remarks after taking the Oath of Office during the inauguration Monday afternoon, Jan. 9, 2023, at the Statehouse, in Topeka, Kan. (Evert Nelson/The Topeka Capital-Journal via AP) Gov. Laura Kelly gives remarks after taking the Oath of Office during the inauguration Monday afternoon, Jan. 9, 2023, at the Statehouse, in Topeka, Kan. (Evert Nelson/The Topeka Capital-Journal via AP) [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Paramedics treat a Ukrainian injured serviceman in the Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Tuesday, June 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue) A woman looks at a destroyed Russian tanks installed as a symbol of war in central Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, June 7, 2022. St Michael cathedral is in the background. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky) [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) ” Banning TikTok from government devices enjoys bipartsan support across the U.S., but a few Democratic legislators in Kansas object to expanding one imposed by their party's governor because they don't want a state law to target a company by name.The Republican-controlled Kansas House voted 109-12 on Thursday to pass a bill to prohibit any electronic device owned or issued to a state employee from accessing TikTok. The measure appears to have bipartisan support in the GOP-dominated state Senate. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) ” A man charged with threatening to kill a Kansas congressman is harmless, believing he has a special relationship with God and his weapons are œmeteors and plagues, not œknives and guns, a defense attorney argued Tuesday during a federal criminal trial.The trial for Chase Neill, 32, began amid what authorities says is a sharp rise in threats to the nation's lawmakers and their families. Prosecutors say Neill became fixated on U.S. Rep. Jake LaTurner and threatened to kill him in a June 5 voicemail left with the Republican congressman's Topeka office. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

People protest about abortion, Friday, June 24, 2022, outside the Supreme Court in Washington. The Supreme Court has ended constitutional protections for abortion that had been in place nearly 50 years ” a decision by its conservative majority to overturn the court's landmark abortion cases. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) Abortion-rights protesters regroup and protest following Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, federally protected right to abortion, outside the Supreme Court in Washington, Friday, June 24, 2022. The Supreme Court has ended constitutional protections for abortion that had been in place nearly 50 years, a decision by its conservative majority to overturn the court's landmark abortion cases. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe) [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Washington County Road Department constructs an emergency dam to intercept an oil spill after a Keystone pipeline ruptured at Mill Creek in Washington County, Kanas, on Thursday, Dec 8, 2022. Vacuum trucks, booms and an emergency dam were constructed on the creek to intercept the spill. (Kyle Bauer/KCLY/KFRM Radio via AP) A remediation company deploys a boom on the surface of an oil spill after a Keystone pipeline ruptured at Mill Creek in Washington County, Kansas, on Thursday, Dec. 8, 2022. Vacuum trucks, booms and an emergency dam were constructed on the creek to intercept the spill. (Kyle Bauer/KCLY/KFRM Radio via AP) [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Jessica Porter, communications chair for the Shawnee County, Kansas, Democratic Party, discusses a sign in Spanish urging voters to oppose a proposed amendment to the Kansas Constitution to allow legislators to further restrict or ban abortion, Friday, July 15, 2022, in Topeka, Kansas. The proposed amendment is a response to a 2019 Kansas Supreme Court decision protecting abortion rights. (AP Photo/John Hanna) Ben Kennedy, left, and Alyssa Winters, left, wait at a door to speak with prospective voters about a proposed amendment to the Kansas Constitution that would allow legislators to further restrict or ban abortion, Friday, July 8, 2022, in Olathe, Kan. They are among about 300 college students brought into Kansas by the Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America group, which backs the measure. (AP Photo/John Hanna) [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Melania rests as she works clearing the rubble of a temple that was destroyed during attacks in Gorenka, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, June 6, 2022. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko) Nastasia Vladimirovna poses for a picture at her home destroyed by attacks in Mostyshche, on the outskirts Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, June 6, 2022. Vladimirovna lived there with 18 members of her family but now she is staying with her husband on her neighbor's home. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko) [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) ” Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly and the Republican-controlled Kansas Legislature are headed toward big fights over spending on special education programs, pay raises for government workers and how much the cash-flush state should sock away for worse economic times.Kelly released budget proposals Thursday that include depositing $500 million into the state's rainy day fund, giving state workers a 5% pay increase across the board and phasing in a 61% increase in spending on programs in K-12 public schools for children with special needs. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

TOPEKA, Kan., (AP) ” Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly hoped to win a second term Tuesday in Republican-leaning Kansas, with her close race turning on how many independent and moderate GOP voters stayed with her after lifting her to victory four years ago.Kelly was the only Democratic governor running for reelection this year in a state carried by former President Donald Trump in 2020. Republican challenger Derek Schmidt, the state's three-term attorney general, tied Kelly to President Joe Biden and blamed the two Democrats for high inflation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) ” Relatives of prisoners of war captured by the Russians following the fall of Mariupol gathered in central Kyiv Thursday demanding information about their husbands, fathers and sons following a strike on a prison housing POWs in a separatist region of eastern Ukraine last week that reportedly killed and wounded dozens. One of those gathered was Eugenia Vasylieva who last saw her husband Valeriy Vasyliev in Mariupol on the night of Feb. 24, the day of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. That night he went to defend his city. Her 7-year-old daughter Zlata Vasylieva, holding a placard calling for her father's return, said: œI want my dad to be alive and that he never die." [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) ” The U.S. Supreme Court refused Monday to hear the appeals of two brothers who were sentenced to death for four fatal shootings on a Kansas soccer field in December 2000 known as œthe Wichita massacre.Former Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt said the high court's decision means Jonathan and Reginald Carr no longer have any direct appeals of their death sentences. However, he said they can still file lawsuits in state and federal courts to try to prevent their executions by lethal injection. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

People receive medical treatment at the scene of Russian shelling, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 10, 2022. The Russian missiles that rained down Monday on cities across Ukraine, bringing fear and destruction to areas that had seen months of relative calm, are an escalation in Moscow's war against its neighbor. But military analysts say it™s far from clear whether the strikes mark a turning point in a war that has killed thousands of Ukrainians and sent millions fleeing from their homes. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky) A firefighter helps his colleague to escape from a crater as they extinguish smoke from a burned car after a Russian attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 10, 2022. Russia unleashed a lethal barrage of strikes against multiple Ukrainian cities Monday, smashing civilian targets including downtown Kyiv where at least six people were killed amid burnt-out cars and shattered buildings. The onslaught brought back into focus the grim reality of war after months of easing tensions in the capital. (AP Photo/Roman Hrytsyna) [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

FILE - Kansas Supreme Court Justice Caleb Stegall is seen on Dec. 5, 2014, in Topeka, Kan. Stegall has resigned in protest from a part-time teaching job at a state law school following what he says was an unsuccessful attempt by the university to pressure students into canceling an event featuring a leader of a group that opposes LGBTQ rights, according to his letter on Nov. 25, 2022. (Thad Allton/The Topeka Capital-Journal via AP, File) TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) ” A member of Kansas' highest court has resigned in protest from a part-time teaching job at a state law school following what he says was an unsuccessful attempt by the university to pressure students into canceling an event featuring a leader of a group that opposes LGBTQ rights. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A Ukrainian soldier smiles from a military vehicle on the road in the freed territory in the Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Monday, Sept. 12, 2022. Ukrainian troops retook a wide swath of territory from Russia on Monday, pushing all the way back to the northeastern border in some places, and claimed to have captured many Russian soldiers as part of a lightning advance that forced Moscow to make a hasty retreat. (AP Photo/Kostiantyn Liberov) A Ukrainian soldier helps his wounded fellow soldier while military vehicles move on the road in the freed territory in the Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Monday, Sept. 12, 2022. Ukrainian troops retook a wide swath of territory from Russia on Monday, pushing all the way back to the northeastern border in some places, and claimed to have captured many Russian soldiers as part of a lightning advance that forced Moscow to make a hasty retreat. (AP Photo/Kostiantyn Liberov) [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) ” A push by top Republicans in Kansas to punish party officials who backed an independent candidate for governor is shining a spotlight on an internal rift that could hinder GOP leaders' efforts to steer the state to the right over Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly's objections.Many Republicans blame independent state Sen. Dennis Pyle's campaign for Kelly's narrow reelection victory Nov. 8 over three-term Republican state Attorney General Derek Schmidt. But five hard-right lawmakers said in a Facebook statement this week that GOP œestablishment manipulations were the culprit and denounced the state party's chair. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Catherine, 70, looks out the window while holding a candle for light inside her house during a power outage, in Borodyanka, Kyiv region, Ukraine, Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022. Airstrikes cut power and water supplies to hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians on Tuesday, part of what the country's president called an expanding Russian campaign to drive the nation into the cold and dark and make peace talks impossible. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) A man pushing a stroller walks past a building damaged by fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces in Borodyanka, Kyiv region, Ukraine, Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022. Airstrikes cut power and water supplies to hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians on Tuesday, part of what the country's president called an expanding Russian campaign to drive the nation into the cold and dark and make peace talks impossible. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

FILE - Wichita City Council candidate Mark Gietzen, right, visits with Sedgwick County Commissioner Richard Ranzau during an election watch party in Wichita, Kan. on Tuesday, April 5, 2011. Gietzen, a hard-right anti-abortion activist from Wichita who also promotes election conspiracies, has helped raise money to pay for a recount vote on an abortion amendment in 2022. (Mike Hutmacher/The Wichita Eagle via AP) Hannah Joerger, left, Amanda Grosserode, center, and Mara Loughman hug after a Value Them Both watch party after a question involving a constitutional amendment removing abortion protections from the Kansas constitution failed, Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2022, in Overland Park, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel) [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

FILE - This undated photo provided by the Edwardsville Police Department shows Roger Golubski, a former Kansas City, Kansas Police detective. Golubski, who has long been accused of preying on Black women during criminal investigations was indicted Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022, on charges that he sexually abused two women, the FBI said. (Edwardsville Police Department via AP, File) TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) ” A former Kansas police detective accused of preying on Black women and girls for decades will be released from jail pending his trial on charges involving two accusers who say he repeatedly sexually abused them, a federal judge ruled Monday. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A Ukrainian soldier shows a V-sign atop a vehicle in Izium, Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022. Ukrainian troops piled pressure on retreating Russian forces Tuesday, pressing deeper into occupied territory and sending more Kremlin troops fleeing ahead of the counteroffensive that has inflicted a stunning blow on Moscow's military prestige. (AP Photo/Kostiantyn Liberov) A Ukrainian soldier holds up the Russian flag to demonstrate in Izium, Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022. Ukrainian troops piled pressure on retreating Russian forces Tuesday, pressing deeper into occupied territory and sending more Kremlin troops fleeing ahead of the counteroffensive that has inflicted a stunning blow on Moscow's military prestige. (AP Photo/Kostiantyn Liberov) [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

People protest about abortion, Friday, June 24, 2022, outside the Supreme Court in Washington. The Supreme Court has ended constitutional protections for abortion that had been in place nearly 50 years ” a decision by its conservative majority to overturn the court's landmark abortion cases. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) Abortion-rights protesters regroup and protest following Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, federally protected right to abortion, outside the Supreme Court in Washington, Friday, June 24, 2022. The Supreme Court has ended constitutional protections for abortion that had been in place nearly 50 years, a decision by its conservative majority to overturn the court's landmark abortion cases. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe) [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) ” Kansas' Democratic governor is trying to reclaim control over the education debate in a tough reelection race, hoping to return to her preferred focus on public school spending hikes during her term after Republican attacks over transgender athletes and what is taught in the classrooms.Gov. Laura Kelly sought Wednesday to portray Republican challenger Derek Schmidt, the state's three-term attorney general, as a threat to adequate funding for public schools in their second and final debate. Kelly has branded herself as œthe education governor over her support for greater education spending. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Rescue workers transfer the body of a man killed in a Russian missile strike on an apartment building, into a plastic bag in the southeastern city of Dnipro, Ukraine, Monday, Jan. 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Nadiia Yaroshenko, 38, desperately trying to locate her cat with a torch, that remains trapped in the damaged building on the edge to collapse in Dnipro, Ukraine, Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023. The white cat with blue and yellow eyes refused to go with the emergency service workers who tried to rescue him. He remains on his favourite place on the window that is blown out. The final death toll from a weekend Russian missile strike on an apartment building in southeastern Ukraine reached 45, officials said Tuesday, as the body of another child was pulled from the wreckage. The strike in the city of Dnipro was the war's deadliest attack since the spring on civilians at one location. (AP/Roman Hrytsyna) [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Ukrainian servicemen lay flowers at the site of a Russian shelling on Thursday, in Vinnytsia, Ukraine, Friday, July 15, 2022. Russian missiles struck the city of Vinnytsia in central Ukraine on Thursday, killing at least 23 people and injuring more than 100 others, Ukrainian officials said. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky) People sort out objects and belongings at the site of a Russian shelling on Thursday, in Vinnytsia, Ukraine, Friday, July 15, 2022. Russian missiles struck the city of Vinnytsia in central Ukraine on Thursday, killing at least 23 people and injuring more than 100 others, Ukrainian officials said. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky) [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) ” The Kansas Republican Party has ended efforts to punish party officials who backed non-GOP candidates in last year's elections and reversed any sanctions already imposed, its new leader announced Friday.State Chair Mike Brown said in a statement that he and members of the Kansas party's Loyalty Committee agreed on the actions, dropping or reversing about 40 cases initiated under Brown's predecessor, Mike Kuckelman. The party's state committee on Saturday narrowly elected Brown to lead the Kansas GOP through the 2024 elections, replacing Kuckelman, who retired. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) ” Banning TikTok from government devices enjoys bipartsan support across the U.S., but a few Democratic legislators in Kansas object to expanding one imposed by their party's governor because they don't want a state law to target a company by name.The Republican-controlled Kansas House voted 109-12 on Thursday to pass a bill to prohibit any electronic device owned or issued to a state employee from accessing TikTok. The measure appears to have bipartisan support in the GOP-dominated state Senate. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A Ukrainian soldier smiles from a military vehicle on the road in the freed territory in the Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Monday, Sept. 12, 2022. Ukrainian troops retook a wide swath of territory from Russia on Monday, pushing all the way back to the northeastern border in some places, and claimed to have captured many Russian soldiers as part of a lightning advance that forced Moscow to make a hasty retreat. (AP Photo/Kostiantyn Liberov) A Ukrainian soldier helps his wounded fellow soldier while military vehicles move on the road in the freed territory in the Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Monday, Sept. 12, 2022. Ukrainian troops retook a wide swath of territory from Russia on Monday, pushing all the way back to the northeastern border in some places, and claimed to have captured many Russian soldiers as part of a lightning advance that forced Moscow to make a hasty retreat. (AP Photo/Kostiantyn Liberov) [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) ” Kansas on Tuesday began a partial hand recount of this month™s decisive statewide vote in favor of abortion rights, a move forced by two Republican activists even though the margin was so large that the recount won™t change the outcome.Nine of the state™s 105 counties are doing the recount at the request of Melissa Leavitt, of Colby, in far northwestern Kansas, who has pushed for tighter election laws. A longtime anti-abortion activist, Mark Gietzen, of Wichita, is covering most of the costs. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Kansas' Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly makes a point during a debate with GOP challenger Derek Schmidt on Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022 in Overland Park, Kan. Kelly formed a racial justice commission in 2020 to examine policing and is now facing attacks from Schmidt for saying systemic racism in law enforcement needs to end. (AP Photo/John Hanna) Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt, the Republican nominee for governor, answers questions from reporters during a news conference, Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2022, in Topeka, Kan. Schmidt says that when he told a racial justice commission in 2020 that racial bias "obviously" exists in policing, he wasn't saying there was systemic racism and he's standing by his attacks on Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly for using that phrase. (AP Photo/John Hanna) [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A crater in the aftermath of a Russian missile strike, in front of the city council hall building, in Kramatorsk city hall, eastern Ukraine, Saturday, July 16, 2022. Ukrainians living in the path of Russia's invasion in the besieged eastern Donetsk region are bracing themselves for the possibility that they will have to evacuate. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty) FILE A grave digger uses his shovel to throw dirt on the coffin of 40-year-old Volodymyr Miroshnychenko who was killed on the frontlines of Marinka, during his funeral procession at a cemetery in Pokrovsk, eastern Ukraine, Friday, July 15, 2022. Ukrainians living in the path of Russia's invasion in the besieged eastern Donetsk region are bracing themselves for the possibility that they will have to evacuate. The mayor of Pokrovsk is mentally preparing for a military-ordered evacuation in which he would be among the last to leave. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty, File) [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) ” Kansas' decisive statewide vote in favor of abortion rights has been affirmed through a partial hand recount, a move forced by two Republican activists.Nine of the state™s 105 counties conducted the recount at the request of Melissa Leavitt, of Colby, in far northwestern Kansas, who has pushed for tighter election laws. A longtime anti-abortion activist, Mark Gietzen, of Wichita, covered most of the costs. He is vowing to sue for a full statewide recount. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) ” The Republican candidate for Kansas governor is pivoting from education to crime as a focus in the final weeks of the campaign, portraying the Democratic incumbent as anti-police because she created a commission on policing and racial justice in response to the state's protests following the death of George Floyd in 2020.GOP challenger Derek Schmidt, the state's three-term attorney general, launched a new television ad Thursday against Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly after suggesting during a debate Wednesday that she has largely ignored crime as an issue. In what is expected to be a close race, Schmidt is adopting a tactic used by Republicans across the U.S., and his new ad features video of violence during protests in New York City that followed the police killing of Floyd in Minneapolis. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

TOPEKA, Kan., (AP) ” Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly narrowly won reelection in Republican-leaning Kansas by racking up big leads in the Kansas City area and other places where abortion rights are popular, while her party helped an independent candidate deny the GOP nominee a few crucial votes.Kelly argued Wednesday that her victory over Republican challenger, three-term Attorney General Derek Schmidt, showed that voters wanted œno turning backward after the state's finances greatly improved on her watch. She also attributed part of her victory to Kansans' support for abortion rights, which they affirmed in August by decisively rejecting a proposed anti-abortion amendment to the state constitution. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Ben Kennedy, left, and Alyssa Winters, left, wait at a door to speak with prospective voters about a proposed amendment to the Kansas Constitution that would allow legislators to further restrict or ban abortion, Friday, July 8, 2022, in Olathe, Kan. They are among about 300 college students brought into Kansas by the Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America group, which backs the measure. (AP Photo/John Hanna) Jessica Porter, communications chair for the Shawnee County, Kansas, Democratic Party, discusses a sign in Spanish urging voters to oppose a proposed amendment to the Kansas Constitution to allow legislators to further restrict or ban abortion, Friday, July 15, 2022, in Topeka, Kansas. The proposed amendment is a response to a 2019 Kansas Supreme Court decision protecting abortion rights. (AP Photo/John Hanna) [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]