Courts and Crime

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

GOP senators walk out of vote on subpoenas in U.S. Supreme Court ethics inquiry

BY: - November 30, 2023

WASHINGTON — South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham and Republican colleagues stormed out of a Democratic-led U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee vote on Thursday to authorize subpoenas for two high-profile GOP operatives as part of an ethics probe into undisclosed financial ties to U.S. Supreme Court justices. The panel voted 11-0 to subpoena billionaire Republican donor Harlan Crow […]

T Ortiz, a trafficking survivor who is now an advocate and policy consultant, speaks at an event raising awareness of child sex trafficking victims.

When foster care kids are sex trafficked, some states fail to figure it out

BY: - November 30, 2023

When she was a 10-year-old foster child, T Ortiz often rode a public bus around the San Francisco Bay area, alone. She’d frequent a bus stop by a barber shop. Little by little, the barber, who was 15 years older, befriended her, she said — buying her snacks and meals, giving her attention, gaining her […]

Kansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Marla Luckert, delivering a speech to the Legislature in January, says information systems compromised in an October cyberattack would start to be restored in December. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)

Kansas judiciary plans to begin restoration in December of IT systems hit by cyberattack

BY: - November 28, 2023

The Kansas Supreme Court's chief justice said portions of information systems subject to cyberattack in October would be restored by the end of December.

Voters fill out ballots

ACLU launches effort to inform Kansans with felony records of their voting rights

BY: - November 27, 2023

TOPEKA — A leading Kansas civil rights organization says an estimated 30,000 people living in the state should be informed they have the right to vote. The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas launched a campaign to reach out to Kansans with felony records and encourage them to register to vote and to participate in […]

Oscar-winning screenwriter Kevin Willmott, center, discusses the film "No Place Like Home" with author C.J. Janovy and Kansas Public Radio producer Kaye McIntyre. Willmott directed "The 24th," which chronicled the role of Black soldiers in the U.S. Army who were courts-martialed for taking part in Houston race riots. The U.S. Army reversed the convictions in mid-November. (Jill Hummels/For the Kansas Reflector)

Oscar-winning screenwriter salutes Army’s reckoning of injustice faced by WWI-era Black soldiers

BY: - November 26, 2023

Oscar winner and KU professor Kevin Willmott welcomed the Army's reversal of courts martial of 110 Black soldiers involved in Houston race riots in 1917.

Kansas court officials confirm details of ‘evil, criminal’ international cyberattack

BY: - November 21, 2023

Kansas Supreme Court offers detail of "evil" cybersecurity attack on judicial branch by foreign operatives who threatened to post information to dark web.

KBI revises Kansas crime report for 2022, adding more than 4K new offenses

BY: - November 21, 2023

TOPEKA — The Kansas Bureau of Investigation released amended crime statistics after discovering its original report wasn’t accurate. The agency said a system error caused thousands of offenses to go uncounted. “When we recognized how many offenses weren’t represented in the annual crime report, we knew we had a responsibility to let the public, the […]

ACLU of Kansas argues against Kobach request for temporary injunction in driver’s license case

BY: - November 20, 2023

ACLU of Kansas wants a judge to reject Attorney General Kris Kobach's request for temporary injunction in the gender-and-sex lawsuit over driver's licenses.

OPINION
Officials won't explain why the Kansas courts have been offline for more than a month, requiring paper filing and limiting public access to court records for 104 counties to this singular space at the Judicial Center in Topeka

To keep our trust, officials must be forthcoming about ‘incident’ that paralyzed Kansas courts

BY: - November 19, 2023

Something happened Oct. 12 that sent the Kansas courts system scrambling back to the pre-digital age of filings done on paper. Exactly what happened is a mystery. Officials are being so tight-lipped about the exact nature of the “security incident” that, five weeks later, it all seems so secret that if they told you what […]

Judge Sarah B. Wallace presides over an Oct. 31, 2023, hearing for a lawsuit to keep former President Donald Trump off the Colorado ballot.

Colorado judge rejects attempt to bar Trump from 2024 ballot under ‘insurrection’ clause

BY: - November 17, 2023

A Colorado judge has ordered the state’s top elections official to place former President Donald Trump on the 2024 primary ballot, rejecting a lawsuit from a group of voters who argued the Republican frontrunner is constitutionally ineligible to hold office under a Civil War-era insurrection clause. “The Court orders the Secretary of State to place Donald J. […]

Kansas Supreme Court clarifies timing of valid request for an attorney amid DUI testing

BY: - November 17, 2023

Kansas Supreme Court rejects lower appellate court's perspective in dispute about when a motorist could consult an attorney in DUI cases.

‘Suspicious letter’ prompted evacuation of Kansas Secretary of State’s Office

BY: - November 15, 2023

TOPEKA — A “suspicious letter” was delivered to the state’s top election official’s office Tuesday, and the building was evacuated as a precaution. Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab’s office was shut down for the rest of the day. “With recent events, we take such things as a suspicious substance very serious,” Schwab said. “Our […]