Free Republic

CV NEWS FEED // Pro-life leaders are warning that Planned Parenthood is attempting to evade pro-life laws in Missouri and Oklahoma by opening a new abortion mill in the Kansas border city of Pittsburg, according to a recent press release posted by Christian News Wire. Family Council Arkansas and Operation Rescue recently exposed Planned Parenthood Great Plains’ purchase of the building, which it attempted to hide through a string of property investment limited liability companies. Pittsburg is a small college town close to both Missouri and Oklahoma. David Cox of Family Council Arkansas condemned the move as an attempt to...

Brittany Mahomes, the wife of NFL superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes, fired off a message on social media after she was criticized for liking a post from former President Donald Trump Friday afternoon. The NFL wife apparently angered scores of liberals when her name showed up on an Instagram post from Trump that laid out 20 points from the 2024 Republican Party’s platform. Trump proposed sealing off the country’s southern border as well as carrying out “the largest deportation operation in American history.” Trump’s post also called on deporting “pro-Hamas radicals” from college campuses and keeping men “OUT of women’s sports.”...

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER This matter is before the court on Defendant’s motion to dismiss based on Second Amendment grounds. (Doc. 26.) A response and a reply have been filed (Docs. 28, 29), and the court held a hearing to establish additional facts about the weapons charged. The motion is thus ripe for review. The court finds that the Second Amendment applies to the weapons charged because they are “bearable arms” within the original meaning of the amendment. The court further finds that the government has failed to establish that this nation’s history of gun regulation justifies the application of 18...

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas will pay $50,000 to settle a federal anti-discrimination lawsuit filed by a former state Highway Patrol employee who claimed to have been fired for coming out as transgender. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly and eight leaders of the Republican-controlled Legislature unanimously approved the settlement during a brief online video conference Thursday. The state attorney general’s office pursued the settlement in defending the Highway Patrol, but any agreement it reaches also must be approved by the governor and top lawmakers. Kelly and the legislators didn’t publicly discuss the settlement, and the amount wasn’t disclosed until the state...

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We're getting oh so close to knowing who all the candidates on the November ballot will be, but even as the calendar has turned to August, about a third of all states still have yet to hold their primaries for non-presidential office. On Tuesday, four states — Kansas, Michigan, Missouri and Washington — will head to the polls (or mail in their ballots), and we're tracking over a dozen races between them. With luck, by Wednesday, we'll know whether the progressive "Squad" has lost another member; whether one of the two remaining Republican representatives who voted to impeach former President...

Kansas is no longer enforcing a 3-year-old law making it a felony to impersonate election officials in as it faces a legal challenge from critics who argue that the law has hindered efforts to register new voters. ... Attorneys for the state and groups suing over the law agreed on stopping its enforcement, and District Judge Teresa Watson in Shawnee County, home to the state capital of Topeka, issued an order earlier this week ratifying their agreement. Her order will remain in effect at least until another court hearing after the November election. The law made “falsely representing” an elections...

A federal appeals court on Thursday temporarily blocked a key Biden administration student loan forgiveness and repayment plan. The order could have significant ramifications for millions of borrowers.. Joe Biden’s Saving on a Valuable Education plan is a new income-driven repayment program designed to provide affordable payments and multiple pathways to loan forgiveness. The Education Department unveiled the SAVE plan last year, and began implementing the program in phases. But several groups of Republican-led states filed two separate legal challenges this spring, arguing that the Biden administration exceeded the authority Congress provided. Thursday’s appeals court ruling is just the latest...

The Kansas Supreme Court on Friday issued a ruling in several cases, striking down two laws designed to protect preborn children from abortion. The court ruled 5-1 in the overturn of both these laws, a decision that led its sole dissenting justice, Justice Caleb Stegall, to warn that the state is heading toward “a legal regime of unrestricted access to abortion.” The first law overturned was one enacted to prohibit dilation and evacuation (D&E) dismemberment abortions, and the second would have regulated abortion facilities by requiring them to meet special licensing requirements and safety standards. As the Associated Press noted,...

A Kansas judge has allowed pro-abortion groups to expand an existing lawsuit to include a challenge to a new pro-life law that took effect on Monday. According to Kansas Public Radio, a spokesperson for Planned Parenthood Great Plains said the Kansas health department “has stated that it will not enforce this intrusive law for now.” HB 2749 requires that medical facilities and doctors report to the Secretary of Health and Environment the reasons why each abortion is committed at their facility. Women would be given a survey list of 18 possible reasons for their abortion and the responses would be...

The ruling requires the administration to keep processing new applications to export LNG as the Texas-led lawsuit proceeds. Attorney General Ken Paxton obtained a temporary injunction in his lawsuit against the Biden administration over their decision to halt liquefied natural gas exports. Joined by 15 other state attorneys general, Paxton secured the win Monday after a federal district court judge in Western Louisiana ruled that the new administrative plan should be paused as the case proceeds. “This ruling means [President Joe] Biden’s illegal ban does not prevent Texas natural gas from reaching market while the lawsuit continues,” stated Paxton in...

A cyberattack on a major American hospital system has caused dangerous medication mix ups including patients administered narcotics by mistake, leading to an admission to intensive care for life-threatening breathing difficulties. In another case, a female patient suffered a cardiac arrest and died after data mishaps delayed test results that would determine her life-saving treatment. Elsewhere, a nurse working for the Kansas branch of the major medical group recalled a 'near miss,' which involved him almost administering a potentially life-threatening dose of narcotic to a baby — because of false paperwork. Employees at Ascension, a Catholic healthcare system with more...

PRAIRIE VILLAGE, Kan. (AP) — David Titterington had a sense of what his childhood friend would ask him when she led him into a photo booth at a mutual friend’s wedding roughly a decade ago. As the countdown for the second photo ticked, Jen Wilson popped the question: Will you be my sperm donor? “Of course I said yes,” Titterington said. “I mean, who would have guessed that, being a gay man, I would have this opportunity to have biological children and also be part of their lives?” On Father’s Day, Kansas residents Jen and Whitney Wilson will pack up...

CV NEWS FEED // Many residents of a southeast Kansas city have been left “shocked and saddened” after learning there is legally nothing they can do to stop a Planned Parenthood clinic from opening in their area. According to an email from the Kansas Conference of Catholic Bishops, over 350 residents of areas around Pittsburg, Kansas from different religious denominations recently met to discuss the abortion clinic, which is set to open this fall. Chuck Weber, executive director of the Kansas Catholic Conference, said that “legally speaking, there is not much that can be done” in terms of stopping the...

The Kansas Supreme Court has ruled that voting is not a fundamental right protected by the Kansas Constitution. The landmark decision on voting rights Friday is likely to weaken legal challenges to future voting restrictions in Kansas. The majority opinion reversed a 2023 appeals court decision that recognized any restrictions on the fundamental right to vote would be subject to the highest legal bar for evaluation, or strict scrutiny. Justice Caleb Stegall wrote for the majority, saying voting is instead a “political right” under the Kansas Constitution that has a lower bar for regulation than fundamental rights. [snip] Kansas Attorney...

Butker: 'Never be afraid to speak out for truth, even when it goes against the loudest voices'... Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker made his first public remarks on Friday night following his viral commencement speech at a Catholic university that caused a leftist meltdown, stating that the “shocking level of hate” will not deter him from being “unapologetic” about his faith. “If it wasn’t clear that the timeless Catholic values are hated by many, it is now,” Butker said at the Courage Under Fire gala in Nashville, in support of a Catholic charity. “Over the past few days, my...

UPDATE, May 24: This story has been updated to include more information and an interview with Trust Women’s board president. Abortion services have been halted for at least a week at the Trust Women clinic in Wichita, Kansas, after doctors began withholding their labor over an unexpected leadership shakeup and the appointment of a new medical director they believe is unqualified. Ten out of 16 physicians working at the clinic have resigned, a source said. “The clinic has been operating without medical oversight for the last month,” one source said. Rewire News Group confirmed the details of the situation with...

Doors of Late-Term Abortion Business Shuttered for Foreseeable Future Amid ‘Compliance Issues’ The infamous late-term abortion mill, Trust Women, in Wichita, Kansas, has halted abortions this week after a series of scandalous events. The high-volume abortion business is no stranger to sordid, illegal activity and the gruesome murder of late-term babies. Inside sources have reported that the co-executive directors and the medical director were all fired in April. The medical director was reportedly replaced with an unqualified candidate – an emergency medicine doctor of osteopathy who founded a wellness clinic specializing in erectile dysfunction treatment, weight loss, and services such...

Hell froze over when Bill Maher defended the likes of Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker on his show Friday. The NFL player recently delivered a controversial commencement address at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, which sent the Left into meltdown mode. On one hand, there were some parts that many could view as anachronistic about the speech. Then again, Butker is a devout Catholic who delivered an address that aligned with those values. You can disagree without going crazy. And if Maher, an outspoken atheist and critic of organized religion, can shrug this off, so can everyone else. The...

The city of Kansas City has apologized after posting a message on social media revealing the residence of Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker after the Super Bowl champion came under attack following his faith-based commencement speech at Benedictine College over the weekend. The official social media account of Kansas City issued a brief apology on X Wednesday after sparking major backlash on social media for sharing a post referencing the city where Butker resides.