EDWARD M. EVELD / The Kansas City Star / GRAND CANYON, Ariz. - Ann Harvey is here from Dublin, Ireland. She has dreamed about seeing the Grand Canyon for exactly 17 years, ever since she watched a movie about its splendor. Now, standing at the…

By EDWARD M. EVELD / The Kansas City Star / SLEEPING BEAR DUNES NATIONAL LAKESHORE, Mich. - You can talk your head off about this park's scenic drive, its hiking trails and its islands in Lake Michigan, but inevitably visitors gather here at the big…

By EDWARD M. EVELD / MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS Birthdays are motivators. Last March, Tere Gathright was staring at 32. She had an unkind thought about herself. Birthdays are motivators. Last March, Tere Gathright was staring at 32. She had an unkind…

By EDWARD M. EVELD / MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS It happened at a music festival, as you probably could have guessed. “There was a girl who let me borrow her hoop, and I haven’t put it down since,” Sarah Noelle Dettmer said. She doesn’t mean that literally,…

The plot is thin. The pace is slow. The music is decidedly not rock ‘n’ roll. “A Charlie Brown Christmas” is a beloved piece of Americana, despite its flaws and idiosyncrasies, or maybe because of them. There’s reason to consider this cultural icon…

By EDWARD M. EVELD / MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS With their local opportunities exhausted, some job seekers are finding work far from home - so far away, in fact, that they can return to their families only on weekends. With their local opportunities…

By EDWARD M. EVELD, The Kansas City Star Planned Parenthood filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday challenging…

Kansas tax collections narrowly beat revenue projections in April, good news for lawmakers who passed a budget plan Monday morning to address a big budget shortfall. Tax receipts were $2.6 million above estimates, according to the state Revenue…

One way to look at the Kansas Legislature’s budget decision in the early morning hours on Monday: It lets the governor do most of the dirty work. The Legislature narrowly approved a budget bill Monday and adjourned its sometimes-contentious but short…

Kansas lawmakers Sunday approved a measure to increase car registration fees, voted to sell the assets of the Kansas Bioscience Authority and even debated the naming of a bison herd. Those items and more were on the Legislature’s clogged calendar,…

Lawmakers hope to pass a budget bill and adjourn the 2016 legislative session on Sunday. A plan to address the state’s $290 million budget gap is ready for debate. There will be plenty to debate. The bill delays a $99 million payment to the state’s…

House and Senate negotiators struck a deal Saturday to address the state’s $290 million budget shortfall, but the plan would hand off additional budget-cutting work to Gov. Sam Brownback. The bill would delay a $99 million payment to the state’s…

A bill to repeal an income tax exemption for 330,000 Kansas business owners went down to a fairly quick defeat Friday in the Kansas House. After a 20-minute debate, 45 representatives voted “yes” to repeal the exemption while 74 voted “no.” The tax…

Transgender protest at Kansas Capitol Up Next × Play VideoLoaded: 0%PlaySkip BackSkip ForwardMuteCaptions captions off, selected Current Time 0:00/Duration -:-FullscreenTransgender protest at Kansas Capitol SHARE COPY LINK Seventeen-year-old Tavarus…

The Kansas House is planning to take up a bill that would repeal the state’s business income tax exemption on more than 330,000 business owners. “We need to have a vote on the House floor,” said Rep. Marvin Kleeb, an Overland Park Republican. The…

A group that backs bringing liquor sales to Kansas grocery and convenience stores is offering lawmakers a plan to raise $40 million at a time when the state needs to close a $290 million budget shortfall. Uncork Kansas says the stores would be…

Kansas Senate committee hears income tax exemption testimony Up Next × Play VideoLoaded: 0%PlaySkip BackSkip ForwardMuteCaptions captions off, selected Current Time 0:00/Duration -:-FullscreenKansas Senate committee hears income tax exemption…

They’re dubbing it “Option 4.” Several advocacy groups held a joint news conference at the Kansas Statehouse on Wednesday to reject Gov. Sam Brownback’s three options to fill a big budget hole. They called instead for an end to the governor’s “failed…

Gov. Sam Brownback said Tuesday he is withdrawing Kansas from the federal government’s refugee relocation program because of security concerns. Despite the state’s withdrawal, refugees will continue to be resettled in Kansas, federal officials…

Standard & Poor’s Rating Services said Monday it had placed Kansas on a “credit watch” with “at least a one-in-two possibility” of lowering the state’s AA credit rating. S&P cited the current budget shortfall and concerns about Gov. Sam Brownback’s…