Dylan Lysen
Social Services and Criminal Justice Reporter, Kansas News ServiceAs the Kansas social services and criminal justice reporter, I want to inform our audience about how the state government wants to help its residents and keep their communities safe. Sometimes that means I follow developments in the Legislature and explain how lawmakers alter laws and services of the state government. Other times, it means questioning the effectiveness of state programs and law enforcement methods. And most importantly, it includes making sure the voices of everyday Kansans are heard. You can reach me at dlysen@kcur.org, 816-235-8027 or on Threads, @DylanLysen.
-
A bill in the Kansas Legislature would have provided millions of dollars to build homeless shelters across the state. But lawmakers let the bill stall in committee and left Topeka for the year without taking any meaningful action to address the growing problem.
-
Kansas Turnpike Authority officials say the updated tollway will be more convenient for drivers because they don’t need to stop at a tollbooth when exiting the turnpike.
-
The Kansas Department of Corrections is using opioid settlement funds to pay for a program aimed at reducing opioid overdose deaths. Opioids like fentanyl are a major driver of rapidly rising overdose deaths in Kansas.
-
Kansas will be the first state to let foster teens pick a family without losing foster care benefitsOlder foster children in Kansas who face aging out of care will soon be able to choose their own families. In the past, they had to sometimes choose between being adopted or keeping important foster care benefits like free college tuition.
-
Traffic tickets for low-income drivers can snowball into thousands of dollars of debt and revoked licenses. A new law aims to reduce fines and fees to help get them reinstated.
-
Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly signed the Kansas law that denies civil asset forfeiture in cases of lower level crimes like simple possession of drugs. It also forces police to return seized property faster.
-
LaTurner cited spending more time with family and young children as the reason for his decision.
-
Families have been blocked from visiting inmates since March 1. A union president for prison staff believes an investigation justifying the tightened rules is dragging on as a way to circumvent the union’s contract.
-
Prison officials say the facility is in modified operations and has beefed up security to investigate a report of a firearm entering the facility. In letters, inmates say it’s more like a lockdown. They are stressed and rarely leave their cells.
-
The Douglas County Sheriff's Office is working with local mental health providers to cut down the state’s notoriously long wait times to provide services to inmates declared incompetent to stand trial.