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Kansas news outlets ask judge to allow cameras in court for former Marion police chief

TOPEKA — Kansas Reflector and other news outlets have asked a district judge to reject former Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody’s attempt to banish cameras from court proceedings in his criminal case.Cody, who led the raid on the Marion County Record last year, faces a low-level felony charge for telling a woman after the raid to delete text messages the two had exchanged.

Read MoreKansas news outlets ask judge to allow cameras in court for former Marion police chief

Kansas GOP leaders drafting new roadmap for Legislature’s annual budgeting process

TOPEKA — Kansas Republicans pressing to reform the Legislature’s annual budget-writing process want to displace governors from the lead role in proposing state spending changes, alter a Statehouse culture that embraced the three-day workweek, and make it difficult for lobbyists to slip special-interest earmarks into bills.House Speaker Dan Hawkins and Senate President Ty Masterson, the Republicans who formed an interim legislative committee to work on the budgeting overhaul, said the plan involved formation of a powerful permanent committee of a dozen or so legislators who would start work on a version of the state budget as much as three months before the legislative session began in January.

Read MoreKansas GOP leaders drafting new roadmap for Legislature’s annual budgeting process