Latest Topeka News
Editorial Roundup: Kansas
Kansas City Star. June 24, 2022. Editorial: After abortion ban, do you think Missouri and Kansas right-wingers will stop there? The U.S. Supreme Court — untethered to facts, precedent, the law or the Constitution — has declared all American women second-class...
With Roe over, some fear rollback of LGBTQ and other rights
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court's decision allowing states to ban abortion stirred alarm Friday among LGBTQ advocates, who feared that the ruling could someday allow a rollback of legal protections for gay relationships, including the right for same-sex couples to marry. ...
Topeka police say officers fatally shot knife-wielding man
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Three officers have been placed on paid leave after fatally shooting a knife-wielding man at an Amtrak station in Topeka, police there said. The shooting happened around 10 a.m. Friday after police were called to the station for reports of a man armed with a...
Editorial Roundup: Kansas
Kansas City Star. June 17, 2022. Editorial: Did climate change kill 2,000 Kansas cows? Farmers can’t afford to ignore science Extreme weather conditions that caused thousands of cattle to perish in Kansas feedlots this past weekend may or may not have been caused by...
Top court: Kansas Constitution allows partisan redistricting
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas' top court declared Tuesday that the state constitution doesn't prohibit partisan gerrymandering, prompting one dissenting justice to accuse the majority of ignoring a “full-scale assault on democracy" from a Republican congressional redistricting law. ...
Kansas' first transgender lawmaker not seeking reelection
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas' first transgender state legislator is not seeking reelection, saying Friday that she is moving to Texas so that she can help care for her wife's aging parents. Democratic state Rep. Stephanie Byers, of Wichita, was elected in 2020 and quickly became a...
Kansas Appeals Court Judge Anthony Powell to retire
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Judge Anthony Powell plans to retire from the Kansas Court of Appeals on June 30, the court announced Monday. Powell has served on the state appeals court since January 2013. Prior to his appointment, he was a district judge in Sedgwick County for 11 years. He...
Jury sides with Topeka officer in lawsuit over 2018 arrest
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Topeka police officer did not use excessive force while arresting a man during a traffic stop four years ago, a federal grand jury ruled Thursday. Timothy Harris, who is Black, had alleged in the lawsuit that Officer Christopher, who is white, violated his...
Schmidt picks US senator's aide for Kansas governor ticket
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Presumed Republican nominee Derek Schmidt on Wednesday announced that he's chosen a staffer for one of Kansas' two U.S. senators as his running mate in his bid to unseat Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly. Schmidt filed the necessary paperwork to get him and Katie...
Advocates seek new policies after Topeka homeless camp razed
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The recent bulldozing of a camp for homeless people has advocates arguing that Topeka should adopt more liberal policies modeled after ones in Kansas City, Missouri. Social worker Russell Burton and other advocates hope to raise the issue at the Topeka City...
