Latest Kansas Headlines
All the headlines from our Kansas Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Ice Storms and Blizzards Pummel the Central US
Dec 28 2023 // MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – From an ice storm in North Dakota that sealed windows shut to blizzard conditions in Colorado causing hundreds of airport delays and cancellations, a winter storm pummeled much of the central United...
Kansas Courts’ Computer Systems Coming Back Online Following Cyberattack
Dec 19 2023 // TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – The court system in Kansas has started bringing its computer system for managing cases back online, two months after a foreign cyberattack forced officials to shut it down along with public access to...
Relation Insurance Acquires Kansas-Based Kane Insurance Agency
Dec 15 2023 // Relation Insurance Services acquired the assets of Kane Insurance Agency. The transaction went into effect on December 1, 2023 and terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Serving Illinois individuals and businesses...
People Moves: XPT Specialty Adds Swift to Brokerage Team; Alliant Names Davis Employee Benefits VP in Kansas City
Dec 14 2023 // Swift Joins XPT Specialty Brokerage Team XPT Specialty, headquartered in New York, N.Y., hired Ben Swift as an underwriter/broker specializing in commercial binding accounts for Midwest retailers. Before joining XPT, Swift...
Kansas Insurance Companies to See Reduced Surplus Lines Tax Rate in 2024
Dec 8 2023 // Insurance companies in Kansas will pay a reduced surplus lines tax rate beginning next year after the legislature passed a law lowering the surplus tax rate from 6% to 3% for tax years 2024 and after. Kansas insurance...
Family of Kansas Woman Killed in Apartment Fire Blames 911 Dispatch Center for ‘Systemic Issues’
Dec 5 2023 // WICHITA, Kan. (AP) – The family of a 22-year-old woman who died in an apartment fire in Kansas’ largest city after mistakes by the 911 dispatch center believes the center has “systemic issues,” and the...
EWG Report Finds Rapidly Rising Crop Payouts As Climate Change Hits U.S. Agriculture
Dec 4 2023 // Drought, heat, hail, rain and freezing temperatures – the five horsemen of crop insurance. A new report from EWG found that crop insurance payouts for the top five weather-related losses totaled over $118.7 billion...
Ransomware Prompts Multistate Hospital Chain to Divert Some ER Patients
Nov 30 2023 // A ransomware attack has prompted a healthcare chain that operates 30 hospitals in six states to divert patients from at least some of its emergency rooms to other hospitals, while putting certain elective procedures on...
Kansas Refinery to Pay $23 Million for Clean Air Act Violations and Previous Pollution Problems
Nov 22 2023 // OFFEYVILLE, Kan. (AP) – A Kansas refinery has agreed to pay more than $23 million for violating the federal Clean Air Act and breaching a 2012 settlement for earlier pollution problems, the U.S. Justice Department and...
EWG Report Finds Rapidly Rising Crop Payouts As Climate Change Hits U.S. Agriculture
Nov 15 2023 // Drought, heat, hail, rain and freezing temperatures – the five horsemen of crop insurance. A new report from EWG found that crop insurance payouts for the top five weather-related losses totaled over $118.7 billion...
Kansas Judicial Branch Slowly Restoring Court Information Amid Ongoing Ransomware Investigation
Nov 13 2023 // TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – Nearly a month after a “security incident” with all the hallmarks of a ransomware attack, Kansas judicial officials are slowly renewing public access to court information. But for now,...
People Moves: DiPasquale Joins Alliant Insurance Services in Kansas City
Nov 8 2023 // Ann DiPasquale has joined Alliant Insurance Services, headquartered in Irvine, Calif., as senior vice president within its employee benefits group. DiPasquale is based in Kansas City, Mo. DiPasquale has more than 15 years...
People Moves: Spears Joins Alliant Insurance Services in Kansas City
Nov 7 2023 // Alliant Insurance Services, headquartered in Irvine, Calif., has named James Spears senior vice president within its Alliant Americas division. He is based in Kansas City, Mo. Spears has over 15 years of experience in...
People Moves: Worden Joins Leif Assurance; Kahle Joins Alliant in Kansas City
Nov 2 2023 // Worden Joins Leif Assurance Leif Assurance, headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, hired Robert Worden as a construction insurance specialist. Worden has nearly 15 years of insurance industry experience. Before joining Leif...
Kansas Court System Down in ‘Security Incident’ With Hallmarks of Ransomware
Oct 30 2023 // TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – Kansas officials are calling a massive computer outage that’s kept most of the state’s courts offline for two weeks a “security incident” and, while they had not provided an...
Computer Systems for Almost All Kansas Courts Offline Due to Security Incident
Oct 20 2023 // TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – Computer systems for almost all of Kansas` courts have been offline for five days because of what officials call a “security incident,” preventing them from accepting electronic filings...
Kansas Producer License Fees to be Reduced by $1.2 Million in 2024
Oct 19 2023 // Kansas producer licensing fees will be reduced by $1.2 million beginning in January, 2024, Insurance Commissioner Vicki Schmidt announced. Resident producer application fees will be reduced from $30 to $15, and...
Oklahoma McDonald’s Sued for Sexual Harassment
Oct 10 2023 // A McDonald’s restaurant in Checotah, Oklahoma, operated by franchisee Arch Fellow North LLC, violated federal law when a manager sexually harassed a 17 year-old worker, and she was forced to resign, the U.S. Equal...
Chipotle Sued After Manager Allegedly Ripped off an Employee`s Hijab at Kansas Location
Oct 2 2023 // A federal agency has sued the restaurant chain Chipotle, accusing it of religious harassment and retaliation after a manager at a Kansas location forcibly removed an employee`s hijab, a headscarf worn by some Muslim...
Declarations
Oct 2 2023 // Third-Party Litigation Funding Ban “Settlements of this size and nature have often attracted the attention of third-party litigation funding entities intending to prey on litigants, including settlement participants...
