Students at a UMKC protest join a national wave of demonstrations supporting Palestine. (Suzanne King/The Beacon) Protests, kindled by livestreamed images from Palestine and set ablaze by university crackdowns on demonstrators, rage at colleges and universities across the country. Students have pitched encampments and occupied campus buildings while calling for an end to violence in Gaza — and demanding their institutions divest of companies they believe support the war there. “We are standing with the people of Palestine,” Rashed Shawabkeh said this week, waving a large Palestinian flag at ..read more

Border Patrol vehicle patrolling along the fence of the international border between San Diego, California and Tijuana, Mexico. // Photo courtesy Adobe In the waning hours of its 2024 veto session, the Kansas Legislature stumbled to and fro like a drunken sailor, pushing some bills into law, scrapping others, and holding its mouth closed tight to prevent itself from becoming violently ill. Perhaps no single action from Thursday to Tuesday encapsulated members’ wayward legislating like the decision to earmark $15.7 million for Kansas National Guard troops to assist Texas law enforcement with ..read more

Sen. Mary Ware, seen during an April 6, 2023, hearing, says Senate Bill 233 tramples on the rights of transgender Kansans. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector) TOPEKA — As the Kansas Legislature renewed its yearslong assault on transgender children, Sen. Mary Ware told her Senate colleagues Monday she had a “simple” question for them. “What is the acceptable number of youth suicides?” Ware asked. The Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is a hotline for individuals in crisis or for those looking to help someone else. To speak with a certified listener, call 988. Crisis Text Line is a texting service fo ..read more

The Small Area Fair Market Rents program will give voucher holders more housing options in areas like Hyde Park. (Mili Mansaray/The Beacon) For generations, federal housing subsidies have provided a lifeline to families struggling to afford rent. But the maximum amount families got for rent stayed the same regardless of which neighborhood best suited their needs — effectively segregating them into low-income areas. Come this fall, the rent cap for a standard apartment will vary from one Kansas City ZIP code to the next. Experts see the new program — Small Area Fair Market Rents, or SAFMR ..read more

CAPTION: Dozens of anti-Trump protesters gathered outside the U.S. Supreme Court on April 25, 2024, while the justices heard arguments about whether former President Donald Trump has immunity from prosecution on criminal charges related to his actions while in office (Jane Norman/States Newsroom) WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court appeared skeptical Thursday of former President Donald Trump’s argument he is immune from criminal charges that he tried to overturn his loss in the 2020 election. But conservatives who dominate the court appeared open to returning key questions to a trial court ..read more

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas testifies in an April 10 hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. Missouri lawmakers are targeting Kansas City for sanctions over Lucas’s recent remarks welcoming immigrants able to work legally (Screenshot from U.S. Senate stream) Missouri Republican lawmakers are seeking to target Kansas City with heavy sanctions if it moves ahead with stated plans by Mayor Quinton Lucas to welcome immigrants with legal clearance to work while in the United States. The last item added to the state budget Wednesday during deliberations of t ..read more

From left, Lawrence High School senior journalism students Jack Tell, Natasha Torkzaban, Maya Smith and Morgan Salisbury present policy recommendations during an April 19, 2024, meeting with the district school board president. The students for five months have challenged the district’s use of Gaggle spyware. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector) LAWRENCE — When Lawrence Public Schools deployed spyware last fall, district officials said it would help them respond to a growing mental health crisis by monitoring students’ correspondence, photos, classwork and files. But student journalists were al ..read more

After two women went missing, law enforcement made four arrests in Oklahoma’s Cimarron and Texas counties (clockwise, from top left): Cole Twombly, Tifany Adams, Tad Cullum and Cora Twombly. (Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation) What should we make of “God’s Misfits?” That’s the name Oklahoma authorities say a small antigovernment group who held worship services in their homes called themselves. Four of these “misfits” have been charged with the kidnapping and murder of a pair of southwest Kansas women missing since March 30. To recap a sad story, the women — Veronica Butler and Jilian K ..read more

Attorney General Andrew Bailey speaks at a press conference in the Missouri House Lounge, flanked by House Speaker Dean Plocher, left, and state Rep. Justin Sparks (Tim Bommel/Missouri House Communications) Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey launched an investigation into four companies Wednesday as part of an effort to crack down on intoxicating hemp products. The problem, according to Bailey, is the products in question — such Delta-8 edibles and vape pens — are not clearly labeled to indicate that they’ll get you high. “When purchasing products, Missourians have a right to know if t ..read more

Missouri National Guard soldiers assist in processing migrants who have crossed the Texas border from Mexico. (Photo courtesy of Missouri Governor’s Office) A bill dedicating $2.2 million to support deployment of Missouri National Guard soldiers and State Highway Patrol troopers to Texas for border security on Wednesday became the first bill sent this year to Gov. MIke Parson. In February, Parson announced he would send 200 soldiers and 11 troopers to work with Texas law enforcement at the request of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. He asked for the money to avoid dipping into emergency funds alloca ..read more