Free Republic

Reporters are still contacting Kansans for Life to ask what we think is the real reason the Aid for Women clinic closed abruptly last Saturday.Our executive director, Mary Kay Culp, responded“It’s hard to know for sure why the clinic closed, but if it’s as we suspect– that women are better informed and more protected from clinic exploitation due to new state laws–clinic owners and operators would be the last to admit it.”Culp is referencing the state of Kansas-provided “Woman’s Right to Know” information.Aid for Women so hated having to post the statement“The abortion will terminate the life of a whole,...

WICHITA, Kan. — The Sedgwick County District Attorney is alleging that a foster father was high while a baby was left in a hot car last week. She later died. Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett read the allegations during a bond reduction hearing for Seth Jackson on Friday afternoon. Bennett said that Jackson had run out of marijuana on the morning of July 24. That afternoon, he reportedly took two children to meet with his drug dealer where he bought more. When he got home, Bennett said he left the 10-month-old girl in the car, went inside and smoked...

Twelve states filed a lawsuit against the Obama administration on Friday seeking to block an Environmental Protection Agency proposal to regulate coal-fired power plants in an effort to stem climate change. The plaintiffs are led by West Virginia and include states that are home to some of the largest producers of coal and consumers of coal-fired electricity. The suit was filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. The other plaintiffs are Alabama, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota and Wyoming. The E.P.A. rule, announced by President Obama on June...

A Kansas foster father who mistakenly left a 10-month-old baby girl to die in his hot car has been charged with first-degree murder. Seth Jackson's lawyer said that the felony charge was far too strict for his client, who only remembered the baby was inside the car two hours later when something on TV jogged his memory. 'Rather high for a mistake,' attorney John Stang told NBC of the murder charge, which carries a life sentence with a minimum of 20 years in prison. 'I'm not trying to say it's not a horrible loss. The death of a child is...

Less than a week before primary day, Kansas Republican Sen. Pat Roberts is still ahead, but he has a real race on his hands against a tea party challenger the establishment had largely written off months ago. The three-term incumbent is losing ground in polls, as he spends big on the airwaves to fight off the image of a Washington insider who lives in suburban Virginia and stays with campaign donors during his infrequent visits back home. Meanwhile, Milton Wolf, a radiologist who had never run for office, is inching closer, despite being wrapped up in a scandal after posting...

The Kansas Supreme Court on Friday overturned death sentences for Jonathan and Reginald Carr, brothers convicted of murdering five people in one of Wichita’s most notorious crime sprees. The state’s high court in separate rulings issued Friday unanimously struck down three of each man’s four capital murder convictions in the Dec. 15, 2000, execution-style killings of four people in a snow-covered soccer field. A remaining capital murder conviction for each man was upheld by the court, but the death sentence connected to it was vacated after a 6-1 majority said the district court judge who presided over the brothers’ trial...

Wichita police say a 10-month-old baby was left alone in a hot car for two to two and a half hours Thursday afternoon. The girl was found dead at around 6:40 pm in the 1500 block of S. Topeka. Police say the girl's 29-year-old foster father picked her up from a babysitter at around 4:00 in the afternoon. They returned to the home along with a five-year-old child. Police say, somehow, the child was left behind in the car as the 29-year-old and the 5-year-old went inside. The foster father's partner, a 26-year-old man who is also a foster parent,...

The Kansas Supreme Court has overturned the death sentences of two brothers convicted of capital murder in the shooting deaths of four people whose bodies were found in a snow-covered Wichita soccer field in 2000. The state Supreme Court on Friday also struck down three of the four capital murder conviction each against Jonathan and Reginald Carr. But it upheld one capital murder conviction each. Their cases will return to Sedgwick County District Court for further hearings and a new sentencing. The court's majority overturned the death sentences because, it said, the presiding judge failed to have separate proceedings for...

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) - A new poll released by KSN-TV in Wichita shows the U.S. Senate race in Kansas could be close. The poll, conducted by Survey USA shows Democrat Chad Taylor within 5% points of three-term Republican incumbent Pat Roberts. The poll shows Roberts leading at 38%. Taylor has 33%. “This poll simply confirms what we’re hearing as we visit with real Kansans throughout the state -- they are ready for new blood,” said Taylor. “Our message isn’t being heard by raising million dollar war chests or polluting the TV with insulting campaign ads. I’ve abandoned the political playbook...

TOPEKA, Kan. -- U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts is touting his expertise in agriculture policy as he runs for re-election in the nation's leading wheat-producing state, and tea party challenger Milton Wolf's campaign accused him Thursday of trying to exploit geographical tensions with a new radio ad in western Kansas. The 60-second spot, which began this week and will run until the Aug. 5 Republican primary, says Wolf doesn't understand agriculture and can't be counted upon to defend federal subsidies for crop insurance. The ad describes Wolf, a Leawood radiologist, as living "right next to Missouri" and says he "just doesn't...

Here’s why incumbent politicians hate competitive primaries: They only hurt poll numbers. A new poll from SurveyUSA for KSN-TV in Wichita showed Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts leading Democrat Chad Taylor in a November general-election matchup by 38-33 percent. Check that out again: 38-33 percent. Here’s a question: When’s the last time a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate has been within the margin of error in any race going back decades? Remember that no Democrat has won a Kansas Senate race since 1932. That’s the longest such streak in the nation. Independent candidate Greg Orman took 14 percent — that’s...

<p>TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has endorsed Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts as he battles an aggressive GOP primary challenge from tea party candidate Milton Wolf.</p> <p>Huckabee announced his endorsement Thursday. He described Roberts as a conservative warrior and said he's fought tirelessly for lower taxes and federal government spending.</p>

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s push to get tough on illegal immigration has apparently cost him the support of ranchers. The Kansas Livestock Association has come out in support of Kobach’s Republican challenger Scott Morgan in the Aug. 5 primary. The group says Kobach strays beyond the traditional roles of secretary of state by taking up issues such as immigration and blocking federal environmental protections of the lesser prairie chicken.

I believe government at the national level is not going to get any better until the congressional good old boys’ club is shut down and closed for good. The antique fossils in both chambers are not the solution to today’s problems. They are a big part of the problem. I ask you to vote for anyone running for the U.S. Senate other than Sen. Pat Roberts. Forty-seven years in office have kept him overpaid and underworked. DALE CRAFTS, Topeka

A new poll shows conservative Dr. Milton Wolf (R-KS) surging in the Republican primary against incumbent Senator Pat Roberts. The survey shows Roberts with only a 42-30 lead over Wolf, which is a stunning 21-point drop since the last poll taken three weeks ago! Dr. Milton Wolf's message of limited government, personal freedom, economic liberty, and respect for the Constitution is resonating with voters.

OSAGE CITY, Kan. — Milton Wolf reminds voters, without fail, that he’s new to politics. Yet he performs as if born to the trade. Ready with a smile. Just-right firmness on the handshake teamed always with just-folks patter. Good looks eclipsed only by those of the wife and kids. And above all, the Senate hopeful remains ever eager to share his conviction that the nation’s founders got it right and those guys in Washington today consistently get things wrong. He thinks they’ve been getting it wrong for about a century. As for long-serving fellow Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts, well,...

LAWRENCE, Kan. — Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts won't debate tea party challenger Milton Wolf ahead of the state's Aug. 5 Republican primary. The Lawrence Journal-World reports that Roberts executive campaign manager Leroy Towns said Friday that Wolf has failed to outline positions beyond what Towns called vague rhetoric and false attacks on the senator. Wolf campaign spokesman Ben Hartman said it's unbecoming for Roberts to duck debates and noted that Roberts previously had promised publicly to have them. The 78-year-old Roberts is seeking his fourth, six-year term in the Senate. Wolf is a 43-year-old radiologist making his first run for...

A new poll shows conservative Dr. Milton Wolf (R-KS) surging in the Republican primary against incumbent Senator Pat Roberts. The survey shows Roberts with only a 42-30 lead over Wolf, which is a stunning 21-point drop since the last poll taken three weeks ago! Dr. Milton Wolf's message of limited government, personal freedom, economic liberty, and respect for the Constitution is resonating with voters. He can win this race if the grassroots rise up and work together to inform Kansas Republicans of the choice they have on August 5th. SCA TV Ad - "Rarely"That's why we launched a massive TV...

There were about 6 or so at the protest in Lawrence, Kansas. People honked their horns and waved (often with just one finger). The police got a few complaints that we were hanging over the side. He didn't want to make us leave and said we could stay until 12:30. Most of the responses were positive and I think it was encouraging. I met some great people. I was amazed at how many people are so disrespectful. This is a small city and I'm sure I'll interact with those people again. Am I supposed to be respectful to them? I...

Jason Perkey cut his teeth in politics working campaigns in the Bluegrass and now the Louisville, Kentucky native is applying the lessons he learned from his time in the state to the Kansas governor’s race. Perkey, who is the executive director for the Kansas Democratic Party, is applying a strategy first implemented in the 2011 re-election campaign of Governor Steve Beshear in Kentucky. Democrats in Kansas launched a secretive mass endorsement of high profile former and elected Republican officials which has the GOP in the state off message and striking out at one another. More than 100 Republican officials endorsed...