Arizona’s Republican governor launched a renewed effort Thursday to break up the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, citing reasons outside longstanding GOP complaints that the court covering nine Western states is too liberal. Gov. Doug Ducey said Arizona should move ...
Read More »Senate could debate bill to end death penalty in Missouri
For the first time in decades, the Missouri Senate will debate a bill that would repeal the state’s death penalty. The bill received bipartisan support Tuesday in 4-3 vote of the Senate General Laws and Pensions Committee. The Columbia Daily ...
Read More »Kansas lawmakers approve bill to keep state’s courts open
A bill ending the threat of the state’s courts shutting down over a dispute over the power of the Kansas Supreme Court won final approval Thursday from the Legislature. The measure repeals a 2015 law that could have nullified the court ...
Read More »University of Missouri suspends professor in assault case
The University of Missouri on Wednesday suspended an assistant professor who is charged with assault in a campus run-in with student journalists during protests in November. The university system’s governing board of curators announced the move in a statement after ...
Read More »Missouri Senate passes limits on municipal fines
Minor traffic tickets and ordinance fines would be capped at $200 under a bill that has passed the Missouri Senate. Senators voted 25-6 on Thursday to send the bill to the House. Four Republicans and two Democrats voted against it. ...
Read More »Missouri lawmakers consider concealed weapons in colleges
Missouri lawmakers have begun discussing whether colleges and universities must allow people to carry concealed weapons on campus. A Senate committee heard testimony Wednesday on two bills that would expand gun access on campuses. One bill would permit a school ...
Read More »Missouri business groups divided on LGBT-discrimination ban
Missouri businesses are divided over a proposed ban on discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, with some companies during a Wednesday hearing backing the measure as needed to recruit top candidates and some powerful business groups countering it ...
Read More »Ferguson police agree to overhaul policies, training
The Ferguson Police Department has agreed to overhaul its policies, training and practices as part of a sweeping deal with the Justice Department following the 2014 fatal police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown. The recommendations, detailed in a 131-page proposed ...
Read More »Nebraska’s moot gay marriage ban could go to voters again
Nebraska’s defunct same-sex marriage ban could once again go before voters under a measure in the Legislature that seeks to remove it from the state constitution. The proposal triggered several heated exchanges Wednesday during a legislative hearing, with one senator ...
Read More »Breckenridge says judges will get anti-bias training
Chief Justice Patricia Breckenridge used her first state of the judiciary address to acknowledge problems with the state’s municipal courts while praising collaborative efforts between the courts and the legislature. Noting recent critical reports from the U.S. Department of Justice ...
Read More »Women’s wear ‘distracts’ state lawmakers
Republican Sen. Mitch Holmes clearly recalls when women have worn “over the top” attire during his decade in the Kansas Statehouse. “A blouse that came way past the rib cage was one of the most outlandish ones,” he told The ...
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