The Kansas Court of Appeals says marijuana that someone obtained legally in another state is still illegal in Kansas.

The ruling comes in the case of a Colorado man who was stopped in Kansas with medical marijuana he was legally prescribed in his home state.

A Kansas judge acquitted the man of a misdemeanor charge of illegally possessing marijuana.

The state appealed the acquittal, leading to Friday’s ruling that Kansas has the right to enforce its own drug laws even when marijuana was obtained legally elsewhere.

Attorney General Derek Schmidt says the decision doesn’t change the outcome of the Colorado man’s case, and he won’t be tried again. But Schmidt says the ruling will provide guidance to Kansas trial courts in similar cases.

Army Vice Chief of Staff John Campbell is traveling to Kansas this week to meet with officers and senior enlisted soldiers going through a pre-command course at Fort Leavenworth.

Campbell, who took his position as the number two general in the Army on March 8, is also expected today to outline efforts by the Army to build readiness and resiliency among a force that has spent more than a decade at war.

The discussion comes as the military absorbs a large proportion of the $85 billion in automatic federal budget cuts that took effect March 1. The reductions are anticipated to result in changes in military training and potential furlough of civilian employees starting in April through September, unless Congress takes other action to blunt the cuts.

The Supreme Court will struggle this week with the validity of an Arizona law that tries to keep illegal immigrants from voting by demanding all state residents show documents proving their U.S. citizenship before registering to vote in national elections.

The high court will hear arguments Monday over the legality of Arizona’s voter-approved requirement that prospective voters document their U.S. citizenship in order to use a registration form produced under the federal “Motor Voter” voter registration law that doesn’t require such documentation.

This case focuses on voter registration in Arizona, which has tangled frequently with the federal government over immigration issues involving the Mexican border. But it has broader implications because four other states — Alabama, Georgia, Kansas and Tennessee — have similar requirements, and 12 other states are contemplating similar legislation, officials say.

The Obama administration is supporting challengers to the law.

If Arizona can add citizenship requirements, then “each state could impose all manner of its own supplemental requirements beyond the federal form,” Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr. said in court papers. “Those requirements could encompass voluminous documentary or informational demands, and could extend to any eligibility criteria beyond citizenship, such as age, residency, mental competence, or felony history.”

TOPEKA, Kansas (AP) — Republican legislative leaders are expressing confidence in the ability of the House and Senate to pass a balanced budget that reflects additional cuts to Kansas tax rates.

Both chambers are preparing to debate their budget bills. The bills outline how they propose to spend some $14 billion, including $6 billion from the state general fund.

Legislators built the budgets on tax plans that would make further reductions in income tax rates, though the House version doesn’t contemplate keeping in place a 2010 increase in the state sales tax rate scheduled to expire on July 1. The Senate keeps the sales tax rate at 6.3 percent, instead allowing it to slip to 5.7 percent.

The Senate has passed its tax plan, while the House is yet to vote.

The U.S. Drought Monitor says in its latest report that the amount of Kansas in extreme or exceptional drought dropped from about 70 percent to less than 65 percent.

But long-term moisture shortfalls still persist across the state. The National Weather Service says Kansas still has “precipitation deficits” of up to 20 inches in much of the state, particularly in southern and eastern sections.