St. Marys renews Kansas library lease after LGBT book 'Melissa' debate

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas executive director Micah Kubic said the [St. Mary's city] commission had "toed the line of authoritarian censorship."

St. Marys City Commission, shown at a November meeting, renewed its lease for one year with Pottawatomie Wabaunsee Regional Library after a controversy over "Melissa" by Alex Gino. Evert Nelson/The Capital-Journal

Explaining Moore v. Harper, the Supreme Court Case That Could Upend Democracy | News & Commentary | American Civil Liberties Union

This week, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Moore v. Harper, a North Carolina congressional gerrymandering case. The Moore case hinges on a fringe, extreme legal proposition known as the “independent state legislature theory.”

Person holding and reading district map

'Troubling and authoritarian': Kansas ACLU issues warning ahead of St. Marys library vote - Kansas Reflector

The ACLU urged the [St. Marys city] commissioners to drop their attempts at censoring the library in a letter sent to the commissioners Thursday, saying banning the proposed materials violated freedom of expression rights.

A Christmas village display is set up inside the Pottawatomie Wabaunsee Regional Library. (Rachel Mipro/Kansas Reflector)

ACLU and Princeton hold forum highlighting role of clemency in reducing mass incarceration

The forum, Correcting Injustice: How Clemency Serves Justice and Strengthens Communities, evaluates ongoing work to reduce mass incarceration, how clemency has been used in the past by governors and presidents, what the impact of re-entry has been on people and communities, and how it should be used

Clemency Could Correct Injustice

‘Troubling and authoritarian’: Kansas ACLU issues warning ahead of St. Marys library vote

TOPEKA — The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas has advised St. Marys city commissioners to renew the imperiled lease of their local public library, saying the officials are violating the Constitution in a “dangerous exercise of power.”

zoomed in photo on christmas display of a miniature village with quaint buildings and snow

Wichita has spent $150,000 on legal fees in defense of police gang list

The City of Wichita has paid a private law firm more than $150,000 in legal fees to defend itself from litigation over the police department’s use of a gang list.

gavel on top of money

ACLU urges St. Marys City Commission to drop censorship fight, fund library

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas says it has called on the St. Marys City Commission to continue to fund the Pottawatomie-Wabaunsee Regional Library headquarters and abandon a proposed ban on certain materials.

St. Marys library may be in jeopardy, lease set to end in December

KS police say MO rec marijuana vote won’t change approach | The Kansas City Star

“As you see Kansas become one of the last remaining states in the region where no marijuana, medical or recreational, there’s a significant concern that the Kansas Highway Patrol will continue to focus its traffic enforcement efforts on out-of-state vehicles," Sharon Brett says.

Missouri voters approved Amendment 3, which will make it legal for those 21 and over to buy and use marijuana, and will create a state program regulating who can get licenses to grow and sell recreational marijuana. RICH SUGG rsugg@kcstar.com  Read more a

Alex Gino, author of book that sparked effort to close Kansas town's library, speaks out - Kansas Reflector

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas issued a statement in support of the library Wednesday, urging that the library continue to be funded and that the commission abandon the ban of these materials. The ACLU condemned the actions of the commission and said it will monitor the situation.

St. Marys residents line the walls to listen to the discussion of the library’s lease renewal during a Nov. 15, 2022, city commission meeting. (Rachel Mipro/Kansas Reflector)