News & Commentary

The violence and neglect suffered by inmates at a pre-trial detention facility in Leavenworth has become so severe the facility should be shut down, a group of civil rights leaders and public defenders wrote in a letter to officials in Kansas and Washington, D.C.

Aileen Berquist, community engagement manager at the nonpartisan ACLU of Kansas, said legislators should avoid deliberately disenfranchising minorities and communities of color through gerrymandering by treating incarcerated people as if they lived outside a prison’s barbed fencing on Main Street.

TOPEKA — Kristi Gadino didn’t appear to be bothered by the “shockingly profane” language used by middle school students on her bus.

Wichita police wield the power to label anyone they deem suspicious as a gang member or associate. The Master Gang List, their confidential database, tracks the names of about 3,000 Wichita residents — even if they haven’t committed a crime. 

“Protesting is a bedrock of our constitutional democracy,” said Sharon Brett, Legal Director of the ACLU. “It’s the ability to have your voice heard and to make sure that government is working for you. Protesting has a deep, rich history."

Uber Eats has changed a policy that required drivers to display their legal name in its app, after being accused of forcing trans drivers to out themselves to customers.

Gov. Laura Kelly announced Thursday she would commute or pardon the sentences of McCloud and seven others based on an exhaustive review of more than 200 applicants for clemency.

The ACLU of Kansas warned Uber Eats that its app profiles place transgender drivers at risk of harassment and violence, prompting the company to apologize Tuesday to a Kansas man and to resolve issues within the app that outed him.

Chris McIntyre, who was freed from a Kansas prison two months ago in a rare medical release, died Friday. He was 48.