Free Republic

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) -- A slight majority of Kansans believe the state Supreme Court's demand for more funding of public schools overstepped its authority, but reaction is mixed over whether lawmakers should defy justices, a new poll shows. The survey conducted this week for The Kansas City Star and The Wichita Eagle did find one point of agreement: Nearly two-thirds of respondents said schools need more money. On Wednesday, legislators will return to the Kansas Statehouse to begin discussions on how to cope with the high court's order to provide another $143 million in school funding by July 1. Lawmakers...

The Kansas Supreme Court stays its decision tossing out the law to allow time for an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court TOPEKA - The Kansas Supreme Court agreed Monday to stay its ruling that the state's death penalty law is unconstitutional. The decision means the law will remain in effect -- and six men will remain under sentence of death -- while Attorney General Phill Kline pursues an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. On Friday, the Kansas court threw out the state's death penalty statute based on what it said were flaws in how juries weighed evidence for...