11 years ago
A bill to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline cleared a key Senate committee Thursday, setting up a floor debate next week as Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called on President Barack Obama to rescind his veto threat. The Energy and Natural Resources committee moved the bill closer to the floor by a 13-9 vote. Sen. Joe ...

11 years ago
A Wichita Democrat is sponsoring a bill that would raise the state's minimum wage by $3 dollars by 2017. Rep. Jim Ward's proposal would raise the wage by $1 - to $8.25 an hour- on July 1. The wage would then go up to $1 a year during the next two years. Ward says a full-time worker ...

11 years ago
Eleven Kansas hospitals are among hundreds nationwide that have been penalized for having high rates of infections or patient injuries. Medicare reimbursements at the hospitals will be reduced by 1 percent during the fiscal year that began Oct.1, 2014. The Hutchinson News reports Medicare evaluated 51 Kansas hospitals and 40, or 78.4 percent, were not penalized. Kansas hospitals ...

11 years ago
A subpoena obtained by The Associated Press shows a federal grand jury is looking into loans made to Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback's re-election campaign. The subpoena orders the executive director of the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission to appear Wednesday in Topeka and to provide documents pertaining to loans Brownback's campaign received in 2013 and 2014. The Dec. ...

11 years ago
Sedgwick County authorities say a homeowner shot and killed a man who was trying to break into his home in Haysville. Sheriff's Capt. Greg Pollock said Wednesday the homeowner shot 27-year-old Cody Don Reid on Dec. 29. Pollock says authorities have no current plans to arrest the 57-year-old homeowner. Prosecutors will decide whether charges will be ...

11 years ago
Kansas' Big First District Representative Tim Huelskamp did not vote for the re-election of House Speaker John Boehner on Tuesday, a move he says has raised the ire of the Ohio Republican. "It's payback, it's retribution, it's revenge," Huelskamp said during the KSAL Morning News Thursday. Huelskamp was part of a group of 25 House Republicans who ...

11 years ago
Salina Police are looking for a known suspect after a woman calls for help. Captain Mike Sweeney tells KSAL News that officers were sent to a home in west Salina around 5am Wednesday morning after an argument turned violent between two acquaintances. A female in her 20's told police the suspect had threatened her with a gun ...

11 years ago
Police say a man was wearing a Joker mask and black spandex when he robbed a pizza restaurant in Wichita this week. Police are asking anyone with information about the robbery of Picasso's Pizzeria in Wichita to call Crime Stoppers. Authorities said Wednesday that the armed man, wearing the mask from the well-known Batman TV series, ...

11 years ago
Three convicted killers who have spent a total of more than 90 years in prison are among 29 Kansas inmates eligible for parole. The Kansas Prisoner Review board will hear public comments regarding the inmates on Jan. 16 in the Topeka Municipal Court chambers. 59-year-old Albert D. Williams, 73-year-old Marvin "Butch" Thornton and 47-year-old Clyde Sullivan are ...

11 years ago
A meeting that aims to increase crop production in northwest Kansas and the central High Plains is planned for later this month in Kansas. Dubbed the "Cover Your Acres" conference, the event is hosted by Kansas State Research and Extension and the Northwest Kansas Crop Residue Alliance. It is set for Jan. 20 and 21 at ...

11 years ago
A state panel consisting of the Kansas governor and legislative leaders has authorized an additional $231 million in bonds to help pay for the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility under construction near Manhattan. The State Finance Council's authorization Tuesday is contingent on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security agreeing that Kansas won't be asked to pay ...