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WASHINGTON — Andrea Ramsey, a Democratic candidate for Congress, will drop out of the race after the Kansas City Star asked her about accusations in a 2005 lawsuit that she sexually harassed and retaliated against a male subordinate who said he had rejected her advances. Multiple sources with knowledge of the case told The Star that the man reached a settlement with LabOne, the company where Ramsey was executive vice president of human resources. Court documents show that the man, Gary Funkhouser, and LabOne agreed to dismiss the case permanently after mediation in 2006. Ramsey, a 56-year-old retired business executive...

WASHINGTON Andrea Ramsey, a Democratic candidate for Congress, will drop out of the race after the Kansas City Star asked her about accusations in a 2005 lawsuit that she sexually harassed and retaliated against a male subordinate who said he had rejected her advances. Multiple sources with knowledge of the case told The Star that the man reached a settlement with LabOne, the company where Ramsey was executive vice president of human resources. Court documents show that the man, Gary Funkhouser, and LabOne agreed to dismiss the case permanently after mediation in 2006. Ramsey, a 56-year-old retired business executive from...

Congressional Republicans say they reached agreement on a final tax bill that will provide a new 20-percent deduction for pass-through income from farms and small businesses. The agreement, which the House and Senate are expected to take up early next week, also calls for doubling the estate tax exemption and will include key expensing provisions that farm groups sought to preserve and expand, lawmakers said. They said the agreement also would allow deduction of state and local taxes, including income and property taxes, up to $10,000, a concession to lawmakers in high-tax states that could also benefit farmers. Senate Agriculture...

A Missouri high school that suspended a student for making critical comments about Islamic extremism says he’s not allowed to appeal the finding of wrongdoing. Senior Alex Lonsdale, a member of Liberty High’s nationally ranked debate club, says he was just trying to have a friendly debate. During his free period Oct. 17 at the public school near Kansas City, Lonsdale joined a spontaneous conversation among acquaintances about the nature of Islam.

Olathe businessman Greg Orman returns to Kansas’ political forefront Wednesday by formally launching an exploratory committee for an independent campaign for governor in a move certain to jolt the congested field of Republican and Democratic hopefuls. On Tuesday, The Topeka Capital-Journal confirmed Orman’s plan to submit required documents to the Secretary of State’s office and begin accepting campaign contributions for what is expected to be a compelling and expensive showdown for governor. “I would be shocked if he didn’t run. If Greg runs, I’m confident he’ll win,” said Jim Jonas, who managed Orman’s campaign for the U.S. Senate in 2014....

The GOP tax plan was passed through the Senate Friday night in a 51-49 vote. There are a number of things included in the last-minute text, including a provision by Sen. Gardner of Colorado that exempts Kombucha, a fermented tea drink, from alcoholic taxes and regulations. Why it matters: These are small examples of what got slipped in the bill last-minute as the Senate vote neared, and reveals some of the senators' pet projects back in their home states. Odd amendments included in the tax plan: Sen. Orrin Hatch Prohibit things like cash and gift cards to be given as...

Kansas case arguing for the religious right to boycott Israeli Jews may have far-reaching ramifications. Ellen Koontz, a Kansas contract schoolteacher, is asking a federal judge to re-affirm the anti-Jewish boycott campaign begun by Adolf Hitler on April 1, 1933, openly adopted shortly thereafter by the Mufti of Jerusalem as part of the Arab-Nazi alliance during the Holocaust, internationalized against the Jewish State after WWII by the Arab League in December 1945, made illegal in America by a 1976 amendment to the Tax Reform Act and a 1977 amendment to the US Export Administration Act, which governs commercial activity impacting...

Dr. Seuss’ colorful characters and rhyming whimsy have made the late writer’s books a staple in libraries both personal and public. But Seuss was not without his shortcomings, says Philip Nel, an English professor at Kansas State University. According to Nel, Seuss’ “The Cat in the Hat” is rife with racial caricature and “the influence of blackface minstrelsy lingers.”

Sebelius: The Clinton White House doubled down on 'abusive behavior' and it's fair to criticize Hillary Clinton By Pete Jones, The Axe Files Updated 2:01 PM ET, Wed November 22, 2017 (CNN)As a wave of stories unfold about sexual harassment and assault by men in power, a senior Democratic leader says her party should reflect on how it handled such charges when they were leveled against former President Bill Clinton. "Not only did people look the other way, but they went after the women who came forward and accused him," says Kathleen Sebelius, the former secretary of Health and Human...

If you thought Kansas emerged from its long budget crisis to reject deep-red politics and move back toward the center, think again. A year ago, many voters concluded that Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s experiment in cutting income taxes had ended in failure, opening the door to a more moderate agenda. But now an even more aggressively conservative figure could win next year’s race for governor. Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a Harvard-, Yale- and Oxford-educated lawyer, leads a large field of likely candidates after building a national reputation as hardline provocateur on immigration and voter ID laws. His visibility rose...

Raiders running back Marshawn Lynch sat during most of U.S. anthem and stood for the Mexican anthem before their game against the Patriots at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City. Lynch has not stood for the national anthem since returning from retirement this season. There did not appear to be any other protests during the anthem as the afternoon games kicked off. Five NFL players protested during the national anthems before early games. The Dolphins’ Kenny Stills, Julius Thomas and Michael Thomas took a knee before their game against Tampa Bay. Giants defensive lineman Olivier Vernon took a knee, as he...

When House Republicans unveiled their plan for tax reform this month, Democrats offered a curious response. Rather than give their own proposal, they held a mock hearing—a show trial, really—on Kansas’ 2012 tax cuts. Democrats see my state as proof that supply-side economics doesn’t work and that the GOP’s national tax reform will lead to budget cuts and enormous deficits. But the comparison is less a cautionary tale than a tall tale. I was Kansas’ state treasurer from 2011-17, and no one watched the dollars flowing in and out more closely than I did. Consider a few facts: First, the...

With winter fast approaching, one of the deadliest Kansas City road construction seasons in recent memory is coming to a close. Crews last week removed the concrete safety barriers along the Interstate 435 pavement reconstruction project in Overland Park. ItÂ’s one of several road projects that have caused major crashes, inspiring the department of transportation in Kansas to add rumble strips to the I-435 project. The first season of the two-year project is complete, and crews re-striped the highway over the weekend. The 140,000 vehicles that travel that road every day now can move along the original lanes. The $16.34...

A black Kansas man has admitted he put racist graffiti on his own car as a Halloween prank that got out of hand, police said Monday. Photographs posted on social media Wednesday showed the car covered with racial slurs against blacks and messages that included “Go Home,” ”Date your own kind,” and “Die.” The vehicle, covered in graffiti scrawled with washable paint, was parked Wednesday at an apartment complex near Kansas State University and the incident fueled racial tensions at the university and in the community.

An incident in which racist slurs were painted on a car near the Kansas State University campus last week was a hoax, and the man who painted the slurs has apologized. Riley County Police reported Monday afternoon that the owner of the car, Dauntarius Williams...

Thomas Frank, the author best-known for "What's the Matter with Kansas?" who's also a Washington political journalist, places the blame for the election of President Donald Trump squarely on the back of the Democratic Party and its abandonment of working-class Americans. "They love it when unions work hard for them and give them campaign funds," Frank said in a telephone interview. "But they aren't deeply concerned with the problems faced by working-class people," he said. "They need to stop taking those people for granted." What they got in exchange for that neglect was Trump, he said. Frank will be in...

Rep. Kevin Yoder (R-KS) used an October 5 press release to announce his support for gun control for bump stocks. His announcement was tweeted by KCTV’s Emily Sinovic with the hashtag #GunControl

A 16-year-old boy has become the second teenager to announce his campaign for governor of the US state of Kansas. Tyler Ruzich, who identities as a moderate Republican, said he was inspired by another teenager who has already filed to run as a Democrat. Jack Bergeson, also 16, whose campaign launch last month received national attention, persuaded him to try. If both teenagers win their party nominations they will face off in the 2018 general election. But they join a crowded field of 16 candidates, including Lieutenant Governor Jeff Colyer and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach. Tyler says he...

About 100 young people gathered on the lawn of East High School in Wichita on Friday for a student-led rally in support of a program that protects children who were brought to the United States illegally from being deported. Carrying signs and shouting “Build more bridges, not more walls,” the high-schoolers said they wanted to show support for the legal shield known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. Earlier this month, the Trump administration announced it would end the program, leaving Congress a six-month window of time to try to save it. “We are here because we have...

A suspect was arrested and charged Tuesday in the Sunday attack at a Shawnee Wal-Mart in which two Good Samaritans intervened. Shawnee police said 27-year-old Arthur Fred Wyatt III of Overland Park was charged in Johnson County District Court with attempted first-degree murder, attempted aggravated kidnapping and attempted aggravated robbery. A 39-year-old Kansas City, Kan., woman who had been shopping at the Wal-Mart at Shawnee Mission Parkway and Maurer Road was attacked in the parking lot about 1:30 p.m. Sunday. Two men approached her while she was putting her child in a safety seat, police said. She was struck in...