Matthew Kelly

3 weeks ago | kansas.com | Matthew Kelly

A Leavenworth District Court judge has granted a temporary restraining order against CoreCivic blocking the for-profit prison from re-opening its shuttered facility on the outskirts of town as an immigrant detention center. Judge John J. Bryant ruled at a hearing Wednesday that CoreCivic may not begin accepting detainees under its contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, without first requesting and receiving permission from city of Leavenworth officials.

3 weeks ago | kansas.com | Matthew Kelly

When he began experiencing warmth and pain in the area of his kidneys, one immigrant detainee at the federal prison in Leavenworth tried to get medical help. Unable to communicate in English and without access to a translator in the prison or a Spanish-language request form, he filled out several request forms in Spanish. They all went unanswered.

4 weeks ago | kansas.com | Matthew Kelly

Kansas House Speaker Dan Hawkins says if the Chiefs or Royals are interested in jumping the border to build new stadiums in Kansas, they should act on the state’s offer soon. On Wednesday, Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, said he doesn’t want to extend the supercharged stadium-funding incentive proposal beyond its June 30 expiration date. “I think if they want to get it done, they’ve still got time to get it done,” Hawkins told The Star.

1 month ago | kansas.com | Matthew Kelly

Wichita lawmaker Patrick Penn is trading in Topeka for Washington D.C. as a Trump administration appointee. He says he’s ready to “make a couple people cry” in his new job overseeing nutritional benefits programs. On Wednesday, Penn promised to help weed out fraud in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, and the 15 other federal nutrition programs managed by the Department of Agriculture. School breakfasts and lunches are also among the programs he will help administer.

1 month ago | yahoo.com | Matthew Kelly

Wichita lawmaker Patrick Penn is trading in Topeka for Washington D.C. as a Trump administration appointee. He says he’s ready to “make a couple people cry” in his new job overseeing nutritional benefits programs. On Wednesday, Penn promised to help weed out fraud in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, and the 15 other federal nutrition programs managed by the Department of Agriculture. School breakfasts and lunches are also among the programs he will help administer.