Tag Archives: Kansas

Topeka’s ABC News affiliate reports: Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly announced Thursday she has vetoed a proposed ban on transgender athletes from playing on school sports teams for girls and women. The bill was originally approved by the Republican-controlled House and Senate in early April. “This legislation sends a devastating message that Kansas is not welcoming to all children and their …

The Wichita Eagle reports: Kansas Senate Republicans ousted Sen. Gene Suellentrop as majority leader Friday — the first major political penalty paid by the Wichita Republican after he was charged with leading police on a drunken wrong-way chase down Interstate 70. The extraordinary vote by the GOP caucus marked an all-out attempt by senators to separate themselves from Suellentrop, who …

Topeka’s ABC News reports: After his arrest at 12:49 a.m. on March 16, the officer’s report reveals that the Senate Majority Leader commented “All for going the wrong way” and referred to him as “donut boy” while in the intoxilyzer room. Suellentrop, 69, refused a breathalyzer test, however, Judge Penny Moylan signed a search warrant for a blood sample. At …

ABC News reports: One of the Kansas Legislature’s most powerful lawmakers was charged Friday with driving under the influence and a felony offense for trying to elude law enforcement while speeding the wrong way on highways in Topeka. Senate Majority Leader Gene Suellentrop faces five criminal charges, including the felony count, the misdemeanor DUI count and a misdemeanor count of …

From the editorial board of the Kansas City Star: It was bad enough that Kansas Senate Majority Leader Gene Suellentrop was arrested just before 4 a.m. on Tuesday, after police stopped an SUV that they said had been speeding the wrong way on Interstate 70. But now, The Star has reported that the Kansas Highway Patrol had to attempt a …

The Kansas City Star reports: Senate Majority Leader Gene Suellentrop was booked into the Shawnee County Jail early Tuesday, accused of driving under the influence, attempting to flee or evade a law enforcement officer, speeding and improperly crossing a divided highway. The Wichita Republican was booked at 3:55 a.m., according to online jail records. A bond amount of $1,000 is …

NBC News reports: A Republican mayor in western Kansas announced in a letter to city officials and on social media Tuesday that she is resigning, effective immediately, because of threats she has received after she publicly supported a mask mandate. Mayor Joyce Warshaw of Dodge City said she was concerned about her safety after being met with aggression, including threats …

The New York Times reports: President Trump, who won Kansas by more than 20 percentage points four years ago, maintains only a single-digit lead in the state, according to a New York Times/Siena College poll released Thursday, an erosion of support that typifies his struggles in nearly every corner of the country as he fights for a second term. With …

Politico reports: Kansas Senate candidate Barbara Bollier was a life-long Republican, but in 2018 she decided she’d had enough: Fed up by the party’s lurch to the right in Washington and Topeka, the 62-year-old state legislator divorced the GOP and became a Democrat. Two years later, she’s asking Kansans to join her and do something they haven’t since Franklin Roosevelt …

The Wichita Eagle reports: A Wichita man has been arrested on suspicion of threatening to kidnap and kill Wichita Mayor Brandon Whipple over frustrations with the city’s mask ordinance, the mayor and police said Friday afternoon. Meredith Dowty, 59, was booked into Sedgwick County Jail at 6:05 p.m., Friday, booking reports show. Police confirmed he is the suspect and said …

Kansas City’s ABC News affiliate reports: Freshman Kansas Rep. Steve Watkins lost his Republican primary Tuesday after being charged with felony election fraud and other crimes. State Treasurer Jake LaTurner unseated Watkins after arguing that the criminal charges against Watkins made an already vulnerable incumbent an even worse bet with Democrats sensing an opportunity to pick up the 2nd District …

NPR reports: Kansas Rep. Roger Marshall [photo] has defeated former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach in the Republican Senate primary, according to The Associated Press, calming Republicans’ worst fears about putting a seat in a deep red state in play this fall with the Senate majority contested. Marshall was the favored candidate of many party leaders to take on …

Politico reports: President Donald Trump indicated to associates during a flight on Air Force One on Wednesday that he would not intervene in the US Senate Republican primary in Kansas despite the fears among top Republicans that the state could elect a nominee who will lose the seat and thus the Senate. While the GOP establishment has long been alarmed …

Vox reports: At his Park Avenue penthouse — 62 floors high and with a sparkling nighttime view of the Manhattan skyline — billionaire Peter Thiel last fall introduced to his friends an immigration hardliner who he would back with over $1 million to try and transform the Republican Party. The guest of honor was not President Donald Trump. It was …

The Kansas City Star reports: Arlo Kinsey was working behind the carryout counter at RJ’s Bob-Be-Que Shack in Mission last week when a middle-aged man dressed in a red Make America Great Again hat — and no mask — walked through the door. “I asked him if he could wear a mask, since it’s what Gov. Kelly told us to …

The Washington Post reports: On Friday, the Anderson County Review, a Kansas newspaper, posted a cartoon to Facebook in response to a new statewide mask order from Gov. Laura Kelly (D). The image showed Kelly [photo] in a face covering emblazoned with the Star of David over a photo of Jews in Nazi Germany, with the caption: “Lockdown Laura says: …

The Associated Press reports: A Kansas newspaper whose publisher is a county Republican Party chairman posted a cartoon on its Facebook page likening the Democratic governor’s order requiring people to wear masks in public to the roundup and murder of millions of Jews during the Holocaust. The cartoon on the Anderson County Review’s Facebook page depicts Gov. Laura Kelly wearing …

The Wichita Eagle reports: Gov. Laura Kelly said late Monday she is ordering Kansans to wear face masks in public spaces beginning July 3, as coronavirus cases surge upwards across the state and nation. The order, effective Friday, is almost certain to spark a backlash in the conservative state. Local leaders will confront a tough choice over whether they will …

The Hill reports: The filing deadline for primary candidates competing to run in the U.S. Senate race in Kansas passed Monday without notice from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who was earlier tapped as a promising choice for the GOP. The Kansas race is viewed as a key seat for Republicans to win in an effort to keep control of …

Topeka’s CBS News affiliate reports: Former Secretary of State Kris Kobach filed his paperwork for candidacy in the Senate primary this afternoon at the Secretary of State’s Office. Kobach said he believes a “proven conservative voice” is needed in Kansas, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Kobach also said the U.S. should lessen their dependency on China and reassess their relationship …