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WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Sedgwick County commissioners are being warned by the state not to ask participants in the federal Women, Infants and Children program about their citizenship. The Wichita Eagle reports the Kansas Department of Health and Environment says asking about immigration status before the state changes eligibility requirements could result in termination of the county's contract to operate WIC.

Reform of Kansas gun laws are paying off.  In 2014, Kansas passed a law requiring government entities to sell or use firearms that came into their possession rather than to destroy these valuable assets in a modern version of the Medieval Deodand law. In Deodand law, items were tried and sentences passed.  They were destroyed or forfeited to the Church for Godly purposes.  The legal precedent is continued in modern forfeiture laws. Kansas stopped that superstitious practice with the reform of the gun law.  From the dailycaller.com: This bill will prohibit seized firearms not used in the commission of...

That's not what the crowd wanted. "I like the fact that he's not afraid to speak up," said Cheryl Surber, of Ft. Worth. "He's saying a lot of things that a lot of people want to have said that no Republican has had the male parts, so to speak, to say." "He has energy, he's exciting. I know he's got a big mouth, but people are willing to overlook that big mouth because we feel like he's going to get things done," said Mary Downing, of Dallas, who said she voted for Obama twice. All in all, it was a...

TOPEKA — The Kansas Federation of College Republicans recently voted unanimously to adopt a resolution calling for repeal of the state's death penalty law, a sign that capital punishment may be on its last legs in the state. “More young conservatives like myself recognize that our broken and fallible system of capital punishment in no way matches up with our conservative values,” Dalton Glasscock, a Wichita State University student and chairman of the federation, said in a news release Thursday. "By ending the death penalty, Kansas has an opportunity to promote a culture of life and fiscal responsibility. As Republicans...

Man who stole wedding ring off dying woman’s finger at Taco Bell sentenced to 11 years A Wichita man will spend more than 11 years in prison for stealing a wedding ring and other items from a woman who was dying from a brain aneurysm in a Taco Bell drive-through in December 2013. Sedgwick County District Judge Christopher Magana ordered Daquantrius Johnson to serve the 136-month term consecutive to other sentences he received for crimes committed while on felony probation in a 2013 burglary case. The sentences in those cases totaled 111 months, which means Johnson, 21, will be incarcerated...

The nation's highest military court has reversed the aggravated assault conviction of a Kansas airman accused of exposing multiple sex partners to HIV. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces unanimously ruled Monday that prosecutors failed to prove that any of (the) acts were likely to transmit HIV to his partners. The court upheld for "offensive touching to which his sexual partners did not provide meaningful informed consent". It also upheld his conviction for adultery, even though his wife participated.

WICHITA, Kan. – The leader of a Kansas commune that prosecutors say lived off of insurance payouts following the deaths of group members is set to stand trial for murder in the 2003 drowning of one of them — a young mother whose death he allegedly foretold weeks before it happened. Daniel U. Perez, a 55-year-old self-proclaimed seer, is charged with first-degree premeditated murder in the death of 26-year-old Patricia Hughes at the group's compound in the Wichita suburb of Valley Center. Jury selection begins Monday in Sedgwick County District Court. Authorities have investigated several deaths linked to the group,...

Tending to St. James Episcopal Church’s Facebook page typically isn’t a lot of work for the Rev. Dawn Frankfurt, the church’s rector since 2011. That changed last week. That’s when people started posting they were outraged that the church on East Douglas in College Hill was playing host to a “Chili for Choice” fundraiser Jan. 22 – the anniversary of the landmark Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that affirmed abortion as a constitutional right. The fundraiser for Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri will benefit Wichita’s clinic, which provides reproductive care such as well-woman exams and contraceptives but doesn’t...

Years ago, I encountered a piece in Feminism & Nonviolence Studies entitled “Feminist, Prolife, and Atheist,” by Kathryn Reed. At the time, I had no idea that atheism was in my future. What really stuck with me was not the title, or even the body of the article, but one of the subheadings: “Converting Abortion Clinics To Peacetime Use.” The idea of “peacetime use” has been on my mind a lot lately, as the pro-life movement has seen a record number of abortion businesses close in recent months. On a whim, I thought I’d put together a list showing how...

A woman who was sexually assaulted, struck on the head and set on fire at Fairmount Park suffered burns on 55 percent of her body and remains in critical condition, a Wichita police official said Monday. Police aren’t sure if it was a random or targeted crime, said police Capt. Troy Livingston. Later Monday, he said that hospital staff had told him that her condition had improved slightly. At a briefing for reporters Monday morning, Livingston called it “a disgusting crime,” pleaded for the public’s help in providing information and stressed that any tip could help. He asked people to...

Strong, pronounced shaking felt in Wichita. Likely felt in Tulsa, OKC, and probably as far away as Kansas City

Emergency crews are on scene of a plane crash at Mid-Continent Airport.

Police are looking for the suspect who raped an elderly woman during a home break-in earlier this week. It happened in the 800 block of South Crestway. The woman told police that her home was broken into while she was sleeping sometime between 9 p.m. Monday and 7 a.m. Tuesday. Police said the woman walked to a neighbor's home at 7:15 a.m. Tuesday, saying two people were inside her home. Officers responded, but no one else was inside....

The Kansas Supreme Court has overturned the death sentences of two brothers convicted of capital murder in the shooting deaths of four people whose bodies were found in a snow-covered Wichita soccer field in 2000. The state Supreme Court on Friday also struck down three of the four capital murder conviction each against Jonathan and Reginald Carr. But it upheld one capital murder conviction each. Their cases will return to Sedgwick County District Court for further hearings and a new sentencing. The court's majority overturned the death sentences because, it said, the presiding judge failed to have separate proceedings for...

WICHITA, KS, June 13, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Dr. Cheryl Chastine, the successor of George Tiller at a Wichita facility, says she became an abortionist out of “a moral obligation” and that if she stopped performing abortions, it would constitute “a victory for terrorism.” “When I was in medical school I got the message that there is a shortage of abortion providers and that, therefore, if more of us, including myself, did not become providers, that there would be women who [would] not be able to access abortion when they needed it. So, when I got the call to help open...

WICHITA, Kan. -- The man who police say shot and killed a home intruder early Monday morning has been arrested. Officers were called to the 2300 block of North Poplar shortly before 4 a.m. Monday. Officers say a 35-year-old woke up to a noise, then opened his bedroom door and saw a man inside his home. The men began fighting and shots were fired.

Wichita Police Lt. Doug Nolte said the man walked into the Jump Start store at 1535 E.Pawnee around 11:20 p.m. He pulled out a gun and demanded money, and the 23-year-old female clerk gave him cash from the drawer. When the man demanded money from the safe, the clerk took the gun away from the man and hit him with it. The robber jumped over the counter and the two fought for several minutes. The clerk dragged the robber out of the store and told him to leave. As police were investigating the robbery, there was a call to 911...

Wichita will open most of its public buildings – including libraries, recreational centers, CityArts and the Wichita Art Museum – to people carrying concealed guns under a new state law. Fearful of lawsuits, the City Council voted 4-2 to allow concealed-carry in all but 16 of 107 city-owned buildings effective Jan. 1. Guns will continue to be banned at City Hall, Mid-Continent Airport buildings, police buildings and city housing department facilities. In city buildings that are leased to third parties, such as the Wichita Boathouse, the operators retain the right to ban guns. The state law, Senate Substitute for House...

US authorities today announced the arrest of Terry Lee Loewen, 58, of Wichita, Kan. Loewen had attempted to detonate a car bomb at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport, authorities said. He was arrested at approximately 5:40 am today. Loewen "was arrested as part of an FBI undercover investigation, and the device used by the defendant was, in fact, inert and at no time posed a danger to the public," a Department of Justice press release stated. According to the DOJ, Loewen was arrested "without incident" after "he attempted to enter the airport tarmac and deliver a vehicle loaded with what he believed...

A 58-year-old airport worker was charged Friday with allegedly planning a suicide bombing at a passenger terminal at the Wichita Mid-Continent Airport in Kansas. The suspect, Terry Lee Loewen, an avionics technician who lives in Wichita, was arrested earlier in the day as he attempted to use his security pass to drive a vehicle that he thought contained explosives onto the tarmac at the airport, law enforcement officials said at a news conference in Wichita. In fact, the car contained only dummy explosives. U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said Loewen spent months developing a plan to drive a carload of explosives...