Lawmakers rushed to approve the final pieces of a two-year budget and leave Salem after 155 days — five shy of the constitutional deadline to finish their work. One of their final acts was passing an $800 million bonding package to fund construction projects around the state, including a 174-bed psychiatric hospital in Junction City. Some Republican legislators criticized the project because of the high costs associated with staffing and operating the facility after it’s built. The package, however, passed each chamber with a large majority Monday. Full Article
Read MoreDay: July 10, 2013
KS: Sex offender who didn’t register gets 22-plus years
Defense attorney David McDonald had no problem with his client being required to register every three months with the sheriff’s office as a violent offender. However, the recent sentence that client ___ ____ ____, 33, received — 22 years and eight months tied to two Shawnee County cases for failing to register as an offender — is excessive, McDonald said. No one objects to keeping track of violent offenders, McDonald said, but the sentences “have just gone way too far. It’s gone incredibly too far.” Full Article
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