Articles by John Hanna and Heather Hollingsworth

Kansas Court System Down in ‘Security Incident’ With Hallmarks of Ransomware

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 explanation as of Wednesday, experts say it …

Computer Systems for Almost All Kansas Courts Offline Due to Security Incident

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 and blocking public access to many of their …

Kansas Attorney General Sues to Prevent Transgender People From Changing Driver’s Licenses

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – The Republican attorney general of Kansas sued Friday to block transgender residents from changing their sex on their driver`s licenses and to rebuke the Democratic governor for defying his interpretation of a new law. Attorney General …

Kansas Passes Anti-ESG Bill

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – A proposal designed to thwart investing that considers environmental, social and governance factors has cleared the Kansas Legislature, but divisions within its GOP majorities kept the measure from being as strong as some conservatives wanted. Lawmakers …

Kansas Lawmakers Move to Help Survivors Pursue Child Sex Abuse Claims

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – Abuse survivors and advocates who’ve pushed for legislation making it easier in Kansas to prosecute abusers and file lawsuits decades later have achieved a breakthrough in the Legislature, where the proposal is advancing quickly. The bill …

Faulty Weld Led to Kansas Oil Spill; Cleanup Costs at $480M

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – A faulty weld at a bend in an oil pipeline contributed to a spill that dumped nearly 13,000 bathtubs’ worth of crude oil into a northeastern Kansas creek, the pipeline’s operator said last Thursday, estimating the …

Company Starting to Recover Oil From Kansas Pipeline Spill

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – The company operating a pipeline that spilled about 14,000 bathtubs’ worth of oil into a Kansas creek during a test for potential problems is recovering at least a small portion of the crude. The U.S. Environmental …

Kansas Oil Spill Biggest in Keystone History

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) _ A ruptured pipe dumped enough oil this week into a northeastern Kansas creek to nearly fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool, becoming the largest onshore crude pipeline spill in nine years and surpassing all the previous ones …

Captain, 2 Others Charged in Deadly 2018 Missouri Duck Boat Sinking

A local prosecutor on July 16 charged a boat captain and two other employees over 17 deaths in July 2018 when a tourist duck boat sank on a Missouri lake during a severe thunderstorm, reviving the threat of long prison …

Kansas Supreme Court Upholds Law Barring ‘Wrongful Birth’ Suits

Kansas’ highest court on April 30 upheld a law barring so-called wrongful birth lawsuits against doctors, in a case in which a couple sued because they weren’t told of serious fetal defects until after an abortion could have been obtained. …