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...Yesterday, the House Appropriations Committee, during a markup of the fiscal year 2019 DHS funding bill, voted to block the new USCIS guidance to properly interpret “credible fear” as fear of an individualized persecution by a government. As we noted before, this is the lynchpin of the entire border surge, and unless we properly interpret the law as written, the border surge, drugs, gangs, and all of the fiscal and social ills that come with them will never stop. Yet Rep. Kevin Yoder, R-Kan., — yes, that Kevin Yoder — gave his support to this Democrat amendment, and it passed...

When Democratic socialists Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders rallied for a left-wing congressional candidate Friday afternoon in Kansas, they insisted their agenda is "mainstream." Sanders, the Vermont senator and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate who spent the afternoon campaigning in Wichita for Democratic congressional candidate James Thompson, boasted that ideas “once considered to be radical” are now part “of the mainstream conversation.” “With allies like Alexandria and James in the Congress, we are going to pass a Medicare-for-all, single-payer program,” Sanders told the crowd. “And please understand that this idea of Medicare for all – this is not a radical idea.”...

The new face of an emerging democratic socialist movement joined its patriarch in the most unlikely place Friday, calling on Kansans unhappy with the direction of the country to get off the sidelines in a pivotal Republican-held congressional district. “We know that people in Kansas, just like everywhere else in this country, just like families in the Bronx, just want a fair shake,” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the surprise winner in a New York House primary last month, told a frenetic crowd of more than 3,000 in a Kansas suburb of Kansas City.[snip]The 28-year-old Latina from New York and the 76-year-old Jewish...

Congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will travel to Kansas together next week to campaign for a pair of candidates in the state, according to The Washington Post. The pair will start off in Wichita, Kansas on July 20 to campaign for James Thompson in the state’s 4th district. From there they’ll head to outside Kansas City to support former Sanders delegate Brent Welder, who is running for the Democratic nomination in the 3rd congressional district. Sanders told The Post that he and Ocasio-Cortez, a self-identified democratic socialist, organized the trip after realizing they both wanted...

Carol Fowler did not go quietly when deputies showed up at her door last week to arrest her on an outstanding warrant, authorities say. `````````````` Atchison County Sheriff Jack Laurie told the Globe that deputies took Fowler into custody at her home in Huron around 11:30 a.m. on Friday. They arrested her on a warrant for failure to show up in Atchison County District Court on December charges of being a pedestrian under the influence and interfering with law enforcement, according to the Globe. At her home, Fowler began kicking, hitting and scratching deputies, so they tased her to subdue...

<p>OPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Supreme Court Monday ruled for the third time in two years that the state's spending on public schools is inadequate despite an increase approved earlier this year, but gave the state another year to come up with more money.</p>

Political bickering has long been a roadblock to getting big things done in the US but a grassroots movement getting few headlines could yet herald a new American age of change. A green giant in a loin cloth would seem an unlikely indicator for what some describe as a revolution under way in the heart of America. But the Jolly Green Giant statue on Highway 169 in rural Minnesota wears a 48-inch (1.2m) smile for a reason. Accompanied by the slogan Dream Big, he typifies a sense of hope and renewal in the nearby city of Blue Earth that is...

Kansas officials are continuing to enforce a proof of citizenship law that a federal judge recently deemed unconstitutional. The Topeka Capital-Journal reported Wednesday that staff for Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach has directed county clerks to continue requiring voters to present documentary proof of citizenship. One county clerk said she was instructed to continue enforcing the policy "as we have been." Danedri Herbert, a spokeswoman for Kobach, told the news outlet that state officials still need time to fully understand the court’s ruling on the law. She argued that the judge did not provide a clear timeline for when...

U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson on Monday ruled a Kansas law that requires new voters to prove citizenship is unconstitutional and ordered Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach to return to school as punishment for repeated violations of court rules. Her 118-page ruling sides with the American Civil Liberties Union in a two-year legal battle over the law’s burden and effect on elections. She provided a damning assessment of Kobach’s witnesses, calling their evidence flawed, invalid, biased, irrelevant, unreliable and untrustworthy.

WICHITA, Kan. — A federal judge has ruled Kansas cannot require proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote, a setback for Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach in a case with national implications for voting rights. U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson sided with voters...

Two sheriff’s deputies in Kansas who were shot while transporting inmates from a jail to a court hearing on Friday died of their injuries, the police in Kansas City, Kan., said on Saturday. Officials said Friday that it appeared the deputies were shot with one of their own weapons. “When they pulled into the parking lot and readied to transport these inmates, they were overcome,” Maj. Kelli Bailiff, a spokeswoman for the Wyandotte County sheriff’s office, said at a news conference on Friday. “It is very possible that with their own firearm they were both shot.” A suspect was also...

The two Kansas sheriff's deputies who were fatally shot while transporting an inmate between jail and a court hearing both leave behind children. Deputy Theresa King, 44, died from her injuries Saturday after being shot in the line of duty in Kansas City on Friday. (Wyandotte County Sheriff's Office ) Deputy Theresa King had three children and Deputy Patrick Rohrer had two, Wyandotte County sheriff's Maj. Kelli Bailiff said on Saturday. King, 44, was a 13-year veteran of the Wyandotte County Sheriff's Office while Rohrer, 35, was with the department for seven years. Deputy Patrick Rohrer, 35, was killed in...

xactly what killed the computer hacker who gave up Army whistleblower Chelsea Manning to the FBI remains a mystery. Forensic pathologists who performed Adrian Lamo's autopsy were unable to determine how the 37-year-old died in March in Wichita. His autopsy report, released Wednesday afternoon, lists Lamo's cause and manner of death as "undetermined." ...

A woman who faked a pregnancy for several months was found guilty on Tuesday of killing her former co-worker and kidnapping the victim's newborn baby with the intent to raise the child as her own. Yesenia Sesmas, 36, an illegal immigrant who was living in Dallas at the time, drove to Wichita, Kan. to shoot 27-year-old Laura Abarca on Nov. 17, 2016, and kidnap 6-day-old Sophia Gonzales. The baby was found safe two days later in Sesmas' Dallas apartment and was returned to relatives. Jurors deliberated for less than three hours on Tuesday and found Sesmas guilty of first-degree premeditated...

The city of Shawnee, Kansas, apologized to onlookers after Kansas Secretary of State and GOP gubernatorial candidate Kris Kobach rode in a jeep beside a replica .50 caliber rifle. Kobach was taking part in a Johnston County parade on Saturday morning. The Kansas City Star reports that Kobach rode in a jeep on which a replica .50 caliber rifle was mounted.

For better or worse, through sickness and health, a Kansas gubernatorial candidate has picked his wife as his mate -- for life and for lieutenant governor. Republican Jim Barnett has selected his wife, Rosie Hansen, as his running mate as he runs for governor. The pair married in September, according to The Wichita Eagle. “I’ve met and talked with people from all walks of life, from all over the state,” Barnett, a former state senator, said in a statement. “Many were qualified in some areas. Only a few were qualified in all three areas. It became clear that the one...

U.S. Rep. Ron Estes has a Republican primary opponent. His name is Ron Estes. Ron Estes — not the congressman, the other one — said Thursday he plans to run against the better-known Estes. The nonelected Estes, who filed as Ron M. Estes, lives in Wichita and is a first-time candidate. He said in a statement he is running because “our status quo elected leaders” refuse to represent the congressional district by avoiding town halls and constituents. His campaign website calls him “The Real Ron Estes.”

A World War II-era plane crash-landed in Kansas after just completing flyovers for Memorial Day, officials said. The Kansas State Highway Patrol said in a crash report the pilot ran out of fuel while approaching the runway at Westport Airport in Wichita around 12:10 p.m. and attempted to restart the engine. The aircraft's engine failed to start, and the plane went down in a nearby neighborhood, police said. The 1943 Fairchild PT-23 was part of the Commemorative Air Force-Jayhawk Wing doing flyovers across the state, according to KWCH. The PT-23 was a trainer plane for the U.S. Army Air Force.

A new city has emerged as a possible site for NBA expansion. One league executive told SEC Network's Jarrett Sutton that Kansas City will inevitably be awarded a franchise, as it's viewed as the NBA's most valuable market for league expansion, alongside Seattle. The Kings called Kansas City home from 1972 to 1985 before moving on to Sacramento. The state of Kansas is well-represented on the college circuit, boasting the powerhouse University of Kansas, but the addition of an NBA franchise would come as a surprise with other notable options being discussed far more. The city has an arena which...

VINITA — Eighteen years after two teenagers from Welch disappeared, police have arrested one of three men they say tortured and held the girls for days before strangling them to death. The killers bragged that the bodies of Ashley Freeman and Lauria Bible, both 16, are “in a pit in Picher,” according to an affidavit released at a news conference Monday. Ronnie Dean Busick, 66, of Wichita, Kansas, faces a host of charges in the 1999 deaths of the girls and Freeman’s parents, Kathy and Danny Freeman. He is in custody at the Harvey County, Kansas, jail. Two other suspects...