courts

A huge selling point for those who voted for Amendment 3 in November was the automatic expungement provision — meaning people who have already served their sentences for past charges will have their records cleared. All marijuana-related misdemeanors must be expunged by June 8 and felonies by Dec. 8.

Most Midwest states, including Missouri and Kansas, have a cap on the amount that juries can award in non-economic damages for medical malpractice cases. But some question whether caps help — or hurt — those seeking justice for medical errors.

Three people were killed in December 2021 when Kansas City firefighter Dominic Biscari sped through a red light at Westport Road and Broadway and crashed into an SUV, two pedestrians and a building. Biscari will avoid prison as part of a plea deal, but the Kansas City Fire Department said it will seek his termination.

Thomas County, Kansas, has a donation clause in its diversion agreements, leading to concerns about access to justice for low-income Kansans

Missouri’s Amendment 3 laid out specific deadlines for expungement provisions, but courts and legal advocates say there are still unanswered questions about how exactly the process will work.

Multiple bills have tried to change the state’s laws on expungement, but none have passed. The bills do have bipartisan support and are expected to come back up next year.

Incarcerated individuals with mental illness spend an average of 21 days in jail and are at higher risk of physical illness and death. Johnson County plans to add another specialty court focused on treating these issues rather than punishing them.

This week, the U.S. Supreme Court heard two major cases: one that could alter who has the authority to regulate federal elections, and another that addresses whether applying public accommodation laws to artists violates the First Amendment. What kind of impact could these cases potentially have?

The court concluded that Missouri refused to allow paycheck deductions to starve the corrections workers’ union during negotiations — violating the “fundamental right” to collective bargaining guaranteed by the Missouri Constitution, and freedom of speech and association rights protected by the state and federal constitutions.

Kansas will soon have five of these specialty courts that are staffed with fellow service members

Brian Prince died in October 2017 after he was tackled by a Kansas City officer at a south Kansas City Walmart. Prince's family filed a civil lawsuit.

U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree denied a request by six Kansans to intervene in the upcoming election. Crabtree said the plaintiffs, who claimed the devices were vulnerable to Chinese communists, were “long on suspicion, contingency and hypothesis, but short on facts.”