Free Republic

The Agriculture Department is embarking on a multi-part plan to relocate employees across its component agencies outside of the Washington, D.C. area. USDA is moving many more jobs across the country than it did under the first Trump administration, but expects fewer employees will turn down relocation offers this time around. However, two unions representing impacted USDA employees say the relocations will cause more disruption than department leaders anticipate. For the second time in seven years, USDA is looking to move D.C.-based employees at the Economic Research Service (ERS) and National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) to Kansas City.

Liberal columnist rushed to blame free speech law, Trump A guy holding a provocative sign with the n-word on Kansas State University’s campus is actually black, not a white guy blackface, according to the student newspaper. Last week someone showed up at the public university campus holding a sign that read “Say [n-word] win candy.” The incident understandably upset a liberal columnist, but he also rushed to blame a recently passed free speech law as well as Donald Trump supporters. He later had to amend the article after it came to light the sign holder was not a white person...

Mexican-Born Kansas Mayor Pleads Guilty to Illegally Voting in U.S. Elections Department of Homeland SecurityDHS John Binder24 Apr 2026143 2:15 Coldwater, Kansas, Mayor Jose Ceballos, a green card-holder from Mexico, has pleaded guilty to illegally voting in United States elections and falsely claiming to be an American citizen. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials credited the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program, which allows states to enter Social Security Numbers (SSNs) to verify a voter registrant’s American citizenship and thus eligibility to vote, and urged passage of the SAVE Act. […] This week, Ceballos pled guilty to three counts...

Approximately 1,700 Kansans who claim to be another sex than they actually are have had their driver’s licenses revoked after a state law banning ID changes based on “gender identity” went into effect last month. “Kansas is one of five states to prohibit trans people from changing the gender marker on their licenses, but it is the first to pass a law that retroactively cancels licenses that were already changed,” NBC News reported. “The law also invalidated birth certificates for those who updated their gender markers.” Hundreds of people who claim to be transgender have already received letters from the...

Two transgender men are suing Kansas over a new law that invalidated their driver’s licenses and those of about 1,700 others for reflecting people’s gender identities and not their sex assigned at birth, arguing that the measure is “dehumanizing”.

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) - A Kansas law now in effect requires residents to use bathrooms corresponding with their sex assigned at birth and invalidates driver’s licenses and birth certificates that were altered to reflect a gender identity different from that assigned at birth. There is no grace period in the bill. Trans residents are required to obtain new driver’s licenses immediately. Amended birth certificates must be requested through the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. Kansas is the first state to include driver’s licenses and birth certificates under this type of law. Other states, including Texas, have passed similar bathroom...

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas is set to invalidate about 1,700 driver’s licenses held by transgender residents and roughly as many birth certificates under a new law that goes beyond Republican-imposed restrictions in other states on listing gender identities in government documents. The bill prohibits documents from listing any sex other than the one assigned birth and invalidates any that reflect a conflicting gender identity. Florida, Tennessee and Texas also don’t allow driver’s licenses to reflect a trans person’s gender identity, and at least eight states besides Kansas have policies that bar trans residents from changing their birth certificates. But...

Last week, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed a bill that would limit the use of public bathrooms by birth sex rather than by gender identity. Republican supermajorities in the House and Senate adopted the measure late last month after employing a series of legislative maneuvers to expedite its passage without providing an opportunity for public feedback on key provisions, including the requirement that people use public restrooms and other private spaces in accordance with their sex assigned at birth.It’s the latest in a series of bills the Kansas Legislature has passed in recent years limiting the rights of transgender residents....

Kansas Republicans voted to override Democrat Gov. Laura Kelly's veto of a bill that requires transgender people to use restrooms and changing facilities based on biological sex rather than gender identity. The Kansas Senate voted to override the veto Tuesday, 31-9, and the Kansas House followed Wednesday with an 87-37 vote, The Topeka Capital-Journal reported. The override means Senate Bill 244 is the second new law of the 2026 legislative session and the first to take effect, according to the report. Senate President Ty Masterson, a Republican, praised the outcome, saying the override "restored sanity." He said Kelly's veto "would...

WICHITA, Kan. — The Wichita Police Department is investigating a shooting that occurred Thursday night in east Wichita during a reported home invasion robbery. On Jan. 15, 2026, at about 7:30 p.m., officers assigned to Patrol East heard several gunshots and then received a Gunshot Detection System (GSD) alert in the 5300 block of E. Funston. Officers arrived before 911 calls came in. When officers arrived, they found a 22-year-old man with multiple gunshot wounds. Officers began life-saving measures until Sedgwick County EMS arrived. EMS transported the man to a local hospital, where he remains in serious but stable condition....

"Hansen-Mueller Co., a major Nebraska grain dealer operating nine elevators and four port terminals across the Midwest, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on November 17, 2025, leaving farmers, cooperatives, and agribusinesses across 34 states facing unpaid claims totaling millions of dollars. CEO Josh Hansen stated the court-supervised process would facilitate "an orderly sale of our assets for the benefit of our creditors, employees, and all stakeholders." The filing exposed vulnerabilities in rural supply chains and raised urgent questions about recovery prospects for thousands of Creditors." (Full story at link)

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — Coldwater Mayor Jose “Joe” Ceballos, who was reelected on Tuesday, was charged by Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach the next day. In a news conference Wednesday, Kobach said Ceballos was facing criminal charges for three counts of voting without being qualified and three counts of election perjury. Both are non-person felonies. “He is not a United States citizen,” Kobach said. “He is a legal permanent resident of the United States and a citizen of Mexico.” Kobach said if Ceballos is convicted, the crimes can carry a maximum of 68 months in prison and a fine of...

As Republicans across the country pursue new congressional maps to boost their party ahead of next year's midterm elections, Democrats are ramping up pressure on states where they can respond. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., has held discussions with members of the Maryland delegation and Democratic Gov. Wes Moore in recent weeks about possible mid-decade redistricting efforts, according to a source with knowledge of the conversations. The source also said Jeffries spoke with members of the Illinois delegation about drawing new district lines, as Politico first reported. Maryland has just one Republican, Rep. Andy Harris, in its eight-member House...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - Missouri and Kansas are warning SNAP recipients about potential benefit losses if the government shutdown continues. On Monday, the Missouri Department of Social Services sent out a warning saying it will not be able to fund November SNAP benefits if the government doesn’t reopen. The department said it “encourages” people to stretch their October balance into the next month, “if possible.” Throughout the metro, thousands are preparing for the potential impact. Adolph Pratt, a Kansas City, Kansas resident who relies on SNAP benefits, said the potential loss would force difficult choices. “It’s going to make...

Two 17-year-old suspects have been arrested in connection with the murder of congressional intern Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, federal prosecutors announced Friday. Authorities say a third juvenile suspect remains at large. U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said the two teens, identified as Jalen Lucas and Kelvin Thomas Jr., will be charged as adults with first-degree murder in the June 30 slaying. Prosecutors indicated that additional charges could follow once the case is presented to a grand jury. Tarpinian-Jachym, 21, was gunned down late at night in Washington when stray bullets struck him multiple times, according to investigators. He...

Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley announced Thursday that the Department of Energy (DOE) is canceling its Grain Belt Express project. Hawley’s X post announcing the DOE’s decision to cancel the project followed a conversation with President Donald Trump and Energy Secretary Chris Wright. The post also called the Grain Belt Express a “green scam” that is “costing taxpayers BILLIONS.” ... The Grain Belt Express was a $11 billion transmission line project designed to carry electricity from wind farms in Kansas across Missouri and Illinois to Indiana. “Energy demand is growing – our grid needs an upgrade,” the project’s website states,...

Nothing will ever be easy with congressional Republicans. The reconciliation package aged all of us 35 years, as Sen. John Thune (R-SD) and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) had to whip votes, hold the line, and make some phone calls. President Trump was also working the phones heavily when final passage was at stake in the House. Republican leadership held the line, but with Rep. Mark Green (R-TN) retiring after the reconciliation vote, delivering what’s left of the Trump agenda before the 2026 midterms is about to get even tougher. The House did its job and passed the rescission package, but...

Senator Chuck Grassley on Wednesday released a newly declassified document proving Fusion GPS contractor Nellie Ohr lied to Congress about her involvement in Russiagate. Last month Grassley asked FBI Director Kash Patel to declassify the FBI’s analysis of Nellie Ohr’s criminal referral after she lied to Congress. Recall that Nellie Ohr played a key role in the genesis of the FBI’s 2016 “Crossfire Hurricane” investigation into President Trump. Nellie Ohr, wife of fired DOJ official Bruce Ohr was criminally referred to the Justice Department in 2019 by House Republicans after hundreds of new emails surfaced, contradicting her previous statements to...

Washington — The Trump administration on Monday urged a federal district court to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the Food and Drug Administration's actions expanding access to the widely used abortion pill mifepristone. Justice Department lawyers wrote in a filing with the U.S. district court in Amarillo, Texas, that the three states pursuing the lawsuit — Missouri, Idaho and Kansas — should not be able to do so in that court. The administration is pursuing a request initially made by the Biden administration last year in the closely watched challenge to mifepristone, a drug used to terminate an early pregnancy, that...

The Kansas Supreme Court has ruled that a former college football player who was shot by his teammate cannot sue gunmaker Beretta over his injuries. a victory not only for the firearms company, but for common sense as well. In 2018, about four months after Andre Lewis purchased a Beretta APX 9mm handgun, Lewis decided to show it off to his Emporia State University teammate Marquise Johnson while the pair were idling at a stoplight in the town of Emporia. According to the complaint, Lewis wanted to show Johnson that he knew how to properly disassemble the pistol, and apparently...