Paper trail in Florida. Masterson in 'hiding.' Rural health grants. Data centers.

By Sherman Smith | editor-in-chief

TOPEKA — U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall established deeper roots than previously disclosed in Sarasota, Florida, where he had a vacation home that he traveled to on official business and said he used for visiting family.

Marshall and his wife put down roots in Sarasota, hosting fundraising events, obtaining real estate and fishing licenses and filing paperwork from the coastal Florida town while the senator worked in Washington, D.C., and claimed Kansas as home.

The Republican senator’s residence has been fodder for campaign attacks as he faces a midterm election against the Rev. Adam Hamilton, a Kansas City-area United Methodist pastor, who Marshall has pointed out owns four homes.

Marshall has faced persistent scrutiny throughout his time in the Congress for his transience in Kansas. Public records show his wife has held a Florida real estate license for half of her husband’s Senate term and has another license application pending. Records also show Roger Marshall has held fishing licenses in Florida since 2019 and used a P.O. Box in Kansas as his primary personal mailing address.

TOPEKA — Voters in Kansas won’t have the benefit of two scheduled debates between Republican Ty Masterson and Democrat Cindy Holscher in the competitive race for governor.

Holscher and Masterson took part in a 90-minute debate Sept. 12 at the Kansas State Fair in Hutchinson, which was the first head-to-head showdown between the two major party nominees in the general election campaign. Masterson and Holscher were invited to televised debates planned by Gray Media on Sept. 24 and Nexstar on Oct. 1.

TOPEKA — Rural healthcare in Kansas will benefit from nearly $17 million in federal dollars to expand technology such as telehealth, artificial intelligence and diagnostic tools, and expedite transportation to specialty healthcare.

The funds are a chunk of the $80 million in rural grants that have been announced for Kansas. Most of the $17 million will go toward technology modernizations, and $780,000 will fund regional transportation coordination efforts to help rural patients receive care quicker.

WASHINGTON — The rare 2026 issue that draws huge support from Republicans and Democrats in Congress is the same one that’s mobilized many Americans: restrictions on giant data centers.

WASHINGTON — A coalition of civil rights groups and union organizations Friday sued the Trump administration to prevent the deployment of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to polling locations during November’s midterm elections.

By Leo S. Lo

Debate about AI answers has focused on accuracy: Did the system get the answer right? That matters, but accuracy is only one test. Each kind of answer requires a user to judge something different.

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