By Gene Meyer | Kansas Reporter

TOPEKA — Kansas is in the midst of a constitutional crisis, Secretary of State Kris Kobach, the state’s chief election officer, said Wednesday.

Candidates must decide by June 11 whether to run, or not to run. But they don’t yet know who their opponents might be, or which doors to knock on.

Voters [...]

TOPEKA — The Kansas House on Friday approved a controversial resolution to condemn Agenda 21, a 20-year-old United Nations statement with implications for state, county and local planning.
House Resolution 6032 calls the UN initiative “radical” and requires state lawmakers to expose “its destructiveness to the principles of the founding documents of the United States of America.”
Opponents say the House resolution is a [...]

TOPEKA —It sounds like the theme of a sci-fi terror flick, or an action film involving computers and a secret government plot to enslave the world.
And, sure, said state Rep. Greg Smith, R-Overland Park, some people hear him discuss Agenda 21, and the theme music from “Twilight Zone” starts playing in their head.
But there’s nothing [...]

By Gene Meyer | Kansas Reporter
Missouri lawmakers may relax their state’s monitoring of radioactive-waste haulers, a move that worries some Kansans.
“The implications for both states are significant,” said Lisa Janario, a senior policy analyst with the Council of State Governments, a nonpartisan think tank. “(Interstate) 70 goes completely across both states, and Kansas City is a major [...]

On a vote of 62-49, the bill was re-referred to the joint Health committee. With just over one week left in the 2012 session, House Bill 2690 will die, having literally met its makers.

Rep. Bill Otto, R-LeRoy, told KansasWatchdog he decided to shut down the bill after a threat by Rep. David Crum, R-Augusta, during Friday [...]

By Paul Soutar | KansasWatchdog
If you oppose smoking bans for any reason — property rights, individual liberty, you like smokers — you’re now apparently part of Big Tobacco.
That’s how the American Cancer Society sees it, anyhow.
With the Kansas House poised to vote Friday on a bill to allow smoking in bars again, the local ACS [...]

By Gene Meyer | Kansas Reporter
TOPEKA — Kansas is moving closer to converting its $3 billion Medicaid program to a privately run managed-care plan.
Medicaid is a state and federal program that pays for about 380,000 Kansans who otherwise could not afford medical care. Kansas’ share is about $1.1 billion annually.
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback formally submitted [...]