By Steve Bell
Kansas City, MO – The U.S. Supreme Court has announced it will hear arguments on the constitutionality of the Kansas capital punishment law again. The first hearing, with an even-numbered court one justice short, resulted in a tie vote. Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline is hoping new appointees to the court will swing the next decision to favor the state. The case centers about the law's provision that if evidence for and against the death penalty are equal a jury must vote for death.
The Kansas House endured a fillibuster and still passed a 3-year, $610 million school funding bill designed to meet court mandates. The bill also would no longer limit the amount local districts can raise for their own schools. Representative Pat Collaton says the local funding option may be difficult to preserve when the bill reaches the Senate.
The Board of Curators of the University of Missouri System has unanimously approved a tuition increse proposal. Tuition will increase by 5% starting this summer, and there will also be an increase in fees. Since 1993, in-state tuition has increased by an average of 8.3% annually.
President Bush has responded to Governor Blunt's request and approved 27 more Missouri counties for federal disaster relief in the wake of the deadly storms of March 12th. In the counties, widely scattered about the state, grants will be available for temporary housing, home repairs and other disaster-related expenses.
More than a thousand people rallied in Kansas City Kansas to prommote passage of the McCain-Kennedy bill. The law sould give undocumented immigrants the opportunity to work in the U.S. legally. The protest coincides with other rallies around the country.
New agreements between Jackson County and the Kansas City Chiefs allow an unnamed advertiser, not the Chiefs, to pay $32 million toward the construction of a rolling roof at the Truman Sports Complex and pay cost overruns. The deal would involve naming rights
As it will do nationwide, Radio Shack will close close to 10% of its stores on the Kansas City area - 3 out of 36. The locations are on North Oak Trafficway and North Antioch road in K.C. North and on Mur-len in Olathe.