A coalition of Kansas groups is considering a legal challenge to the state’s new voter photo identification law.

The Wichita Eagle reports that while the Kansas Voter Coalition won’t discuss specific legal strategies against the law, a major concern appears to be the need to pay for underlying documents in order to obtain the free ID.

Ernestine Krehbiel, president of the Kansas League of Women Voters, said “paying to vote is a poll tax.”

More than a half-dozen groups, including the Kansas chapters of the League of Women Voters and American Civil Liberties Union, make up the coalition.

Secretary of State Kris Kobach, primary author of the law, says he’s confident the law will hold up. He said it was drafted so well that it’d be “bulletproof in court.”

The National Agricultural Statistics Service says the number of farms in the U.S. dropped slightly last year and the amount of land used for farming continued to decline.

A report released Friday shows the nation had 2.18 million farms last year. That’s down from 2.19 million farms the previous year.

Meanwhile, the amount of land used for crops, pasture and grazing dwindled further to some 916.9 million acres. That is 1.85 million fewer acres than in 2010. The average U.S. farm size last year was 420 acres.

In Kansas, the numbers remained stable. Kansas had 65,500 farms in 2011, unchanged from 2010.

Some 46 million acres in Kansas were used for crops, pasture and grazing last year. That’s down from 46.1 million in 2010. Kansas farms averaged 702 acres.

A central Missouri mother and her boyfriend are charged in the fatal beating of a toddler whose injuries initially were blamed on a hit-and-run accident.

Morgan County court records show that 21-year-old Thomas Presley and 25-year-old Jamie Ann Litton, both of Stover, Missouri, face one count of second-degree murder in death of 3-year-old Blake Litton.

Officers responding to Presley’s 911 call found the boy dead Thursday morning about 100 miles southeast of Kansas City. Both Presley and Litton were jailed on $100,000 bond last night.

Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul is planning a stop in Kansas City.

Paul, who finished second behind Mitt Romney in last weekend’s Maine primary, is widely considered to be trailing Romney and Rick Santorum in the race for the Republican nomination.

But Paul says he remains a viable candidate, and he’s planned a rally Saturday night at Kansas City’s Union Station to mobilize supporters before the state’s March 17 Republican caucuses.

Paul finished third behind Santorum and Romney in the official Missouri primary Feb. 7, but a series of political spats prompted the GOP to ignore the results and instead begin picking delegates from the caucuses.

A northeast Kansas prosecutor says he won’t file criminal charges over the state’s destruction of abortion records, an issue that had overshadowed a criminal case against a Planned Parenthood clinic.

Shawnee County District Attorney Chad Taylor said Friday that no records related to Planned Parenthood were destroyed by the Kansas attorney general’s office when it shredded abortion-related files.

Taylor said the destruction occurred in April 2010.

In Johnson County, District Attorney Steve Howe had told a judge that the attorney general’s office had destroyed records that could be evidence in the Planned Parenthood case in April 2009. That led a judge in November to dismiss 49 of 107 criminal charges against a Planned Parenthood clinic in Overland Park.

Neither DA was available to answer questions immediately after Taylor’s announcement.

Police are asking for the public’s help in finding a man accused of killing two brothers in Leavenworth.

An arrest warrant was issued Thursday for 36-year-old Aundray Duashawn McDonald on two counts of first-degree murder and two weapons-related charges.

Leavenworth Police Chief Pat Kitchens says McDonald is a suspect in the deaths of 25-year-old Derrick and 28-year-old Marshall Jones.

The two brothers were shot Dec. 16.

Kitchens said the shooting stemmed from a feud between the brothers and McDonald.

The Leavenworth Times reports McDonald is already facing drug charges in Leavenworth County District Court.

Kitchens says McDonald should be considered armed and extremely dangerous.

An eastern Kansas sheriff says a would-be armed robber left a rural home empty-handed after he confronted the occupant and had the door slammed in his face.

Osage County Sheriff Laurie Dunn says a resident of the home in the northern part of the county answered a knock around 6:30 a.m. Thursday.

The Topeka Capital-Journalreports the occupant found himself face-to-face with a man holding a gun. The home’s occupant slammed the door, locked himself in a bathroom and called for help.

Dunn says the gun-wielding man drove away.

Eight Kansas legislators have endorsed former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

Gingrich’s campaign announced the endorsements Thursday. The Republican lawmakers include two state senators – Ray Merrick, of Stilwell, and Rob Olson, of Olathe.

Six Kansas House members have endorsed Gingrich as well. They are Anthony Brown, of Eudora; Mario Goico, of Wichita; Trent LeDoux, of Holton; Larry Powell, of Garden City; John Rubin, of Shawnee, and Scott Schwab, of Olathe.

The state’s Republican presidential caucuses are March 10, with 40 delegates to the GOP National Convention at stake.