The Kansas Supreme Court rules the state isn't spending enough money to guarantee every student gets a quality education. The ruling is a win for four school districts who first sued over the issue in 2010. They argued the nearly $4.1 billion a year the state provides to school districts is about $800 million a year short of what's necessary. The court is giving the state until June 30 to address ...
Kansas' tax collections beat projections for the fourth straight month in February, easing pressure on legislators to cut spending immediately while they consider increasing income taxes as a long-term fix for the state's budget trouble. The state Department of Revenue reports tax collections last month were $37 million more than anticipated. That's a surplus of 12.5%. A convenience store clerk f...
The Department of Revenue says the average value of dry land statewide is up $31 to $184 an acre. Doniphan County saw the biggest increase, climbing $128 to $1018, while Grant County's average fell $2 to $57 an acre. The valuations are set based on an eight-year rolling average of commodity prices, and these valuations are based on the higher prices from 2008 to 2015. Court documents claim a woma...
There's an arrest in a weekend stabbing in western Kansas. The Edwards County attorney is staying tight-lipped, only that it happened in Kinsley early Saturday afternoon. No word what led up to it. The man in jail after a racially motivated shooting at a bar in Olathe makes his first court appearance. He had on a safety smock meant to keep him from harming himself. He faces murder and attempted m...
A man from Oklahoma is in the hospital after rolling his Jeep on I-70. It happened just west of Grinnell in Gove County. Accident investigators believe he drifted into the median, over-corrected, hit a fence and rolled several times. Investigators haven't spoken publicly about what started a fire that killed a man from Arizona as he was in an apartment in Hutchinson. He was alone at the time of t...
Governor Sam Brownback says he will veto a bipartisan bill to roll back personal income tax cuts he's championed in a bid to balance the state budget. The governor announced his intention yesterday _ four days after the Republican-controlled Legislature approved the bill. The tax increases in the proposal were expected to raise more than $1 billion over two years starting in July. The KHP is out ...
The Colby school district has a confirmed case of Mumps. A statement from the district doesn't go into specifics. It comes just two days after health officials in Barton County reported a possible case of mumps at the high school in Great Bend, and five more were identified earlier this month in Crawford County. This year marks 50 years since the first vaccine against mumps debuted. Kansas lawmak...
Investigators still aren't sure what caused a man from Goodland to run off I-70 near Edson Friday afternoon, through the median, crossing the eastbound lanes and hitting a fence and a tree. Records show the vehicle rolled twice and rested on its roof. The driver was taken to the hospital in Colby. Douglas County Sheriff Ken McGovern is being investigated for helping his mother get a ballot to vot...
Republicans in the Kansas House are split over a bill passed by the chamber to increase income taxes. Forty of the chamber's 85 Republicans voted for the proposal when it passed on a 76-48 vote. Thirty-six of the chamber's 40 Democrats supported the bill. The House Speaker opposed the bill but Majority Leader Don Hineman of Dighton supported it. A Chinese national living in Manhattan - convicted ...
Governor Brownback says he won't sign a bill advanced by the Kansas House that would increase personal income taxes to help balance the state budget. While the governor stopped short of saying he would veto the bill, he strongly criticized the measure during a speech to members of the National Federation of Independent Business. The governor has also confirmed that he and two of his top aides got...
