10 years ago
Gov. Sam Brownback has said he wants to tie school funding to student performance. Brownback discussed the concept Friday while speaking to the Agri-Business Council of Wichita. Brownback said earlier this month that he wanted to ditch the current school-finance formula and fund the state's districts with interim block grants for the next two years. In his ...

10 years ago
Make it 5,000 pizzas to go please. And so it will be that the roughly 11,000 U.S. troops left in Afghanistan will get a slice of home for Super Bowl Sunday. Pizzas4Patriots.com is teaming with Rich Foods and DHL to send 5,000 pies to American service members across Afghanistan. Retired Air Force Master Sergeant Mark Evans says the ...

10 years ago
Gov. Sam Brownback's office is refusing to disclose the names of potential candidates who were passed over by him for a seat on the Kansas Court of Appeals. Brownback's office Friday rejected an open records request from The Associated Press for each application, letter or email to the governor's office from any person applying to be ...

10 years ago
State lawmakers from Missouri and Kansas are pitching similar legislation to restrict firearms for persons with domestic violence or stalking restraining orders or convictions. Republican Kansas Rep. Barbara Bollier of Mission Hills and Democratic Missouri Rep. Stacey Newman recently introduced the bills in Topeka and Jefferson City, but Missouri lawmakers say there's little chance of either ...

10 years ago
The fatal shooting of three people last year outside a Jewish community center and retirement complex in Overland Park is renewing calls for tougher hate crime legislation. A bill currently being discussed in the Kansas legislature would double the sentences for those convicted of a hate crime. Sen. David Haley, a Kansas City Democrat, said the ...

10 years ago
New structures to attract fish are being installed at lakes around Kansas. According to the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism, fisheries staff will be launching a new program to increase the amount of fish-attracting structures in Kansas lakes. Traditionally, biologists have used cut trees to create brush piles to attract and hold fish, providing angling ...

10 years ago
The Volunteer Connection in Salina is offering free income tax return preparation from IRS-certified volunteers through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program. According to the organization, returns will be prepared and e-filed for taxpayers with incomes generally under $53,000, including basic forms 1040 and 1040EZ, State of Kansas returns (in conjunction with filing of a Federal ...

10 years ago
The American Civil Liberties Union is calling on the Lawrence school district to suspend a mentoring program for male students. The group objects to an initiative at Free State High School known as the "LEAP Ambassador Program." After it kicked off Thursday, the ACLU's Kansas chapter sent a letter saying the program does "significant harm" to ...

10 years ago
A Wichita man has been sentenced to nearly three years in state prison after his 10-month-old foster daughter died after he left her in a hot car while he and his partner smoked marijuana. Seth Jackson pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in November. The 29-year-old Jackson was sentenced Friday to 32 months in prison. Prosecutors say Kadillak ...

10 years ago
Kansas says its tax collections fell $47 million short of expectations this month. The worse-than-anticipated collections are likely to complicate efforts by Gov. Sam Brownback and legislators to eliminate projected budget shortfalls. The state Department of Revenue reported Friday that the state collected $513 million in taxes in January when it had anticipated taking in $560 million. ...

10 years ago
Salina Regional Health Center is scammed out of $1,500. Police say that an employee at the hospital's financial office received a call this week from someone claiming to be from Westar Energy. The hospital, which has multiple Westar accounts for its multiple locations, was told that two of the accounts were past due, and service was ...