Topeka

NPR fans will recognize Bill Kurtis from the weekend game show “Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me!” But his nearly six-decade career in journalism launched in Topeka, Kansas, when he warned viewers about an incoming tornado.

Dozens of rare and historic Civil War battle flags stored at the Kansas Museum of History in Topeka are falling apart and in desperate need of restoration. Learn more about the museum’s preservation efforts. Plus: The Kansas Jayhawks and Missouri Tigers will face off on the football field this weekend for the first time since 2011.

Dozens of rare and historic Civil War battle flags stored at the Kansas Museum of History in Topeka are falling apart and in desperate need of restoration. But repairing just a single flag can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

Shawnee Mission, Olathe, Topeka and Kansas City, Kansas, public school districts allegedly allowed students to participate in sports and use restrooms that align with their gender identity. The districts also permitted teachers to maintain confidentiality with transgender students.

A local weather phenomenon holds that the 6,100-person town of Tonganoxie, Kansas, can weaken and divide thunderstorms and tornadoes. Experts are mixed on its existence — and what causes it — but locals say otherwise.

Pay raises approved unanimously by the Kansas Board of Regents range from 4% to 12% and come as most Kansas colleges have cut budgets and raised tuition to address projected enrollment declines.

Missouri Republicans are enthusiastic about President Donald Trump’s second term. But they acknowledge that his first months in office haven’t been without hiccups. Plus: A Kansas bill would eliminate state income taxes on tips for workers like food servers.

Pharmacists in Kansas say pharmacy benefit managers, a group that helps determine what medications insurance covers and how much they cost, are choking them out of business.

State lawmakers want to cut property taxes after doing so last year. The governor worries about the cost of another cut.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment is moving to take away Immanuel Birth Co.’s license because they allegedly violated state health regulations. That would eliminate one of the few non-hospital birthing facilities in eastern Kansas.

While thousands of patients cross the border with medical cards in hand, countless more are buying recreational cannabis without a prescription. That’s unlikely to change as some Kansas lawmakers signal resistance to medical legalization in 2025.

Abolitionist John Brown wasn't born in Kansas, but made his mark during the Bleeding Kansas era before the Civil War. Today, 165 years after his execution, Brown's violent acts and influence are commemorated across the state of Kansas — including the site of the Pottawatomie massacre.