Kansas lawmakers decades ago made it illegal to rape a spouse, but a statute still on the books enables a person to engage in sexual battery against a husband or wife without threat of arrest.

Former Topeka Police Chief Ed Klumpp said Kansas law should no longer ignore the reality of burglary or theft victims being compelled to pay pawn brokers or scrap dealers to return stolen property.

Overland Park Rep. Stephanie Clayton is betting Kansas lawmakers can fashion a superior mechanism of regulating legal sports gambling than a neighboring state to the east.

A bipartisan group of senators shared enthusiasm last week for continuing state investment in a $1.5 million pilot program to develop a sophisticated system for tracking animal disease in beef cattle from birth until slaughter.

A divided Kansas Senate completed swift approval last week of a bill clearing a path for corporations and individuals to avoid about $190 million in state income taxes.

Master Deputy Brandon Collins was conducting a traffic stop Sept. 11, 2016, when a truck slammed into his Johnson County Sheriff's Department patrol car and engulfed it in flames.

The Kansas Board of Regents' top executive said last week the state could benefit from exploration of opportunities for providing a university education to residents of southwest Kansas.

The House advanced a bill last week to authorize four counties to hold votes on raising sales taxes to cover local projects. Also included in House Bill 2033 is legislative blessing of an unauthorized tax increase already adopted in Finney County.

Gov. Laura Kelly last week appointed former Rep. Melissa Rooker to be executive director of the Kansas Children's Cabinet.

A Schools for Fair Funding official said last week the group is prepared to drop its litigation over public school finance if lawmakers pass Gov. Laura Kelly's education plan without amendments.

Kansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Lawton Nuss reflected last week during his State of the Judiciary speech on the impact a specialty court had on a particular Kansas combat veteran.

The Kansas House voted to advance bills last week altering spousal inheritance rights upon a divorce, modifying fees charged agriculture chemical and fertilizer handlers to support environmental remediation, and recognizing trial court judgments across the state.

Seaman High School students in the school's Civic Engagement Club got an in-person lesson in state government last week as they testified before the House Transportation Committee at the Capitol to support a bill they wrote.

Lawmakers last week announced legislation in both the House and Senate that would legalize the use of marijuana for medical purposes.

Native American men and women spoke last week in support of a Kansas House bill abolishing Columbus Day and replacing the holiday with statewide recognition of Indigenous People's Day.