Shuttered early voting sites. Financing college athletics. Dems' campaign priorities. A tale from the wheat fields.

By Anna Kaminski | reporter

OLATHE — Twenty-one Johnson County public officials signed a letter urging the Johnson County election commissioner to reopen the eight early voting locations she closed ahead of the August primary for November’s general election.

They say closing the early voting sites undermines democracy — especially when almost 19% of early votes for the 2024 general election came from the closed sites. The commissioner says her plan will even out access across the county.

Connie Schmidt, the election commissioner, shut down eight early voting sites that were open for the 2024 general election.

TOPEKA — Blake Flanders is preparing to retire after a decade as CEO and president of the Kansas Board of Regents, and he wants Kansans to recognize important achievements and daunting challenges in public higher education.

TOPEKA — Democratic gubernatorial candidate Curt Skoog promised voters six weeks before the August primary that if elected he would prioritize healthcare access and economic development in rural Kansas.

Skoog, the mayor of Overland Park, appealed to Democratic voters on Wednesday with his “THRIVE Kansas” plan represented by a “T” for thriving communities, “H” for health, “R” for rural roots, “I” for innovation, “V” for voting and “E” for everyone.

By Ben Palen

The canvas of Kansas is painted with fields of golden wheat, sometimes as far as the eyes can see.

Children who have chosen paths in life that have taken them away from their rural upbringings return to help with the harvest. While the pace is hectic, there is a peacefulness that prevails as we realize the fruits of our labors. From that peacefulness, perspectives often emerge, whether about one’s own life or the bigger picture of which each of us is just a speck.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court Thursday allowed the Trump administration to move forward with its plans to strip temporary legal status from 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians, a move that opens them up to deportation.

The 6-3 conservative court ruled that the Haitian and Syrian immigrants are not “entitled” to orders postponing an end to their temporary protections while litigation is pending, arguing those are non-constitutional claims.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court sided Thursday with the Trump administration’s request to turn away asylum seekers who present themselves at ports of entry at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The question the justices considered was whether migrants have to fully cross into the United States in order to have the right to apply for asylum and be processed, or if they can apply for asylum when they appear at a port of entry while on Mexico’s side of the border.

A federal judge on Thursday blocked major portions of President Donald Trump’s executive order restricting voting by mail, finding he had exceeded his constitutional authority.

The decision halts, at least until a nearly certain appeal is heard, efforts by the U.S. Postal Service to require states to submit the names of likely mail voters before it delivers ballots. It also stops the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from compiling lists of voting-age citizens in each state.

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