Kansas pastor’s Senate buzz sparks GOP pushback!

 https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Pd1qvDgWYCk

Two transgender men sue Kansas over ‘dehumanizing’ driver’s license law

Law demanding IDs must match 'sex at birth' invalidated the driver's licenses of about 1,700 trans people in the state…

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/27/transgender-men-kansas-drivers-license-lawsuit

 

Kansas revokes driver’s licenses from trans residents in latest assault on rights

"Pursuant to the new law, if the gender/sex indication on the face of your current credential does not match your sex assigned at birth, you are directed to surrender your current credential to the Kansas Division of Vehicles," the letter states. 

The notification, sent by the Kansas department of revenue, under which the division of motor vehicles operates, also notes that the state legislature "did not include a grace period for updating credentials", and anyone operating a vehicle without a valid credential "may be subject to additional penalties"...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/26/kansas-trans-drivers-license-law-assault-on-rights

 

A private prison firm wants to detain immigrants in this Kansas town. Its residents are pushing back

Local organizer (and cookie baker) Rick Hammett suggested to the crowd that political and corporate interests had stirred fears of immigrants ahead of the 2024 election cycle to benefit private prisons. 

"To be profitable, private prison firms must ensure that prisons are not only built but also filled," Hammett said. "Which is how you end up with a scare tactic over migrants to drum up a reason to put people in jail."… 

"Scandals plagued the facility during its final years of operation – beatings, stabbings, suicides and alleged sexual assaults, according to court records. Leavenworth police said they were blocked at the gate from investigating crimes inside. The facility finally closed in 2021 as the Biden administration shifted away from private prison contracts…"

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/01/kansas-leavenworth-corecivic-prison-immigrants

 

This Kansas senator exalts Trump’s first 100 days. Please don’t ask any follow-up questions.

In an alternate universe, an unnamed news weekly runs the following, laudatory op-ed from a Kansas politician.

 https://kansasreflector.com/2025/05/05/this-kansas-senator-exalts-trumps-first-100-days-please-dont-ask-any-follow-up-questions/

 

Lawmakers & Catholic leaders flip out over Satanic "Black Mass" at Kansas Capital

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDKd0zrsmRA

Black Mass Backlash in Kansas (Hemant Mehta and Jessica Bluemke, The Friendly Atheist podast #575)

— Lawmakers & Catholic leaders flip out over Satanic “Black Mass” at Kansas Capitol. (1:20)

— Quincy’s $850,000 statue scandal: Mayor pushes Catholic icons at public safety HQ. (38:39)

— Megachurch founder Robert Morris indicted on charges of “lewd acts” with a child. (49:25)

— Peter Popoff’s “Miracle Spring Water” scam costs religious TV network £150,000. (1:08:48)
Interview: 

https://friendlyatheistpodcast.com/2025/03/20/black-mass-backlash-in-kansas/

State supreme court rules state's constitution does not provide the right to vote

Narrow decision says lower court failed to identify 'fundamental right to vote', drawing fiery dissent from three of seven justices…

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jun/01/kansas-supreme-court-right-to-vote

Kansas physicians challenge law requiring public release of patients' reasons for abortions - ABC News

A lawsuit claims the law "directly interferes with Kansans' bodily autonomy and their fundamental right to make their own decisions about health care," according the Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing the physicians...

https://abcnews.go.com/US/kansas-physicians-challenge-law-requiring-public-release-patients/story

Rep. Jake LaTurner joins House GOP retirement wave

LaTurner makes nearly 20 House Republican who have left or are planning to leave Congress without immediate plans to run for another office. Another five are seeking higher office…

https://www.axios.com/2024/04/18/jake-laturner-retire-house-gop-kansas

Biden effigy beaten, kicked at Kansas Republican event, drawing outrage - The Washington Post

A Republican fundraiser in the Kansas City suburbs on Friday night at which attendees beat and kicked an effigy of President Biden has sparked bipartisan outrage and calls for the GOP leaders responsible for the event to resign...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/03/11/biden-effigy-kansas-republican-event/

Kansans Voted to Protect Abortion Rights. Republicans Are Still Trying to Ban Them. – Mother Jones

The legislation seems to be in direct conflict with rulings by the state supreme court, which held in 2019 that access to abortion is a "fundamental" right in the state. Kansas Republicans have repeatedly tried to override the 2022 vote that affirmed the state supreme court's finding, with Solicitor General Tony Powell telling the court's justices in March 2023 that the August vote "doesn't matter." A majority of the justices expressed skepticism of that position…

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/01/kansans-voted-to-protect-abortion-rights-republicans-are-still-trying-to-ban-them/

Kansas School Demands Native American Student Cut His Hair to Attend - The New York Times

Refusing to accommodate the student's religious and cultural beliefs violates state and federal law, the A.C.L.U said...

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/20/us/native-american-kansas-student-haircut.html

Kansas cannot enforce abortion pill law or impose 24-hour wait, judge rules | Kansas | The Guardian

"The Court has great respect for the deeply held beliefs on either side of this contentious issue," Jayaram wrote in a 92-page order. "Nevertheless, the State's capacity to legislate pursuant to its own moral scruples is necessarily curbed by the Kansas Constitution and its Bill of Rights. The State may pick a side and viewpoint, but in doing so, it may not trespass upon the natural inalienable rights of the people."

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/31/kansas-abortion-pill-restrictions-ban-blocked

Keystone pipeline shut after 14,000-barrel oil spill in Kansas | Reuters

Canada's TC Energy shut its Keystone pipeline in the United States after more than 14,000 barrels of crude oil spilled into a creek in Kansas, making it one of the largest crude spills in the United States in nearly a decade...

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/keystone-pipeline-shut-after-oil-spill-into-kansas-creek-2022-12-08/

Kansas town weighs racial justice after cop accused of decades-old abuses - The Washington Post

"That's where he raped me," said Williams, who has four children and nine grandchildren. 

She recounted the night in August 1999 when police arrested her twin sons, then 14, on charges that they had stolen a gun and fatally shot an elderly couple while stealing items from their house. At that moment, Williams didn't yet know the name of the White detective who complimented her legs and her nightgown. 

The detective, who she eventually found out was Golubski, returned a few days later, offering to help her sons avoid punishment. When she let him in, she says, he assaulted her…

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/11/25/kansas-city-cop-golubski/

Kansas conservatives lose — again — after abortion rights recount

When they don't win races and votes they think they should — no matter how lopsided the result — they'll stop at nothing to discredit the process...

https://www.msnbc.com/the-reidout/reidout-blog/kansas-abortion-recount-rcna44201

After the fall of Roe, Republican pursuit of abortion bans appears to falter

The stunning defeat of the Kansas referendum and internal divisions have undercut an all-out assault on reproductive rights…

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/11/republicans-anti-abortion-policies-roe-v-wade-kansas

See how big the Kansas abortion referendum failed in 4 charts - Vox

More people turned out than in any primary in Kansas history — and that could happen elsewhere, too...

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23290714/kansas-abortion-referendum-primary-turnout-charts

Kansas votes to protect abortion rights in state constitution | US news | The Guardian

…That means millions of dollars lost for the Catholic church who contributed more than $3m trying to eradicate abortion rights in Kansas, according to campaign finance records...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/03/kansas-abortion-vote-state-constitution