Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach confirms that he’s serving as an unpaid adviser on immigration issues to Republican Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign.

Kobach told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he’s been advising the former Massachusetts governor since the beginning of this year. Kobach said he started serving as an adviser even before he formally endorsed his fellow Republican last month.

The Kansas secretary of state is a former law professor who’s known nationally for advising state and local officials about cracking down on illegal immigration. He helped draft tough laws in Alabama and Arizona.

Kobach said he advised Romney during Romney’s unsuccessful 2008 campaign for the GOP presidential nomination.

A Kansas Senate committee has endorsed a redistricting bill that is likely to give the state’s senior Republican congresswoman a more Democratic district.

Reapportionment Committee members who supported the measure Wednesday didn’t mention opposition to it from Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins, who represents the 2nd District of eastern Kansas in the U.S. House.

Instead, they said it accounted for changes in population over the past decade while creating relatively compact districts.

But the proposal moves the boundaries of the 1st District of western and central Kansas so that it sweeps in the northeast Kansas community of Manhattan. It also puts all of Democratic-leaning Lawrence in the 2nd District, instead of splitting it between two districts.

Manhattan officials have said they want their community to remain in the 2nd District.

A high number of Kansas tax refunds added up to lower-than-expected state revenue collections in January.

The Department of Revenue said Tuesday that overall receipts were $30.6 million less than anticipated, with individual income receipts off by $33 million.

Revenue Secretary Nick Jordan says Kansas has seen a 25% increase in electronic tax filings and that many people are getting their refunds earlier than previous years. The agency said refunds are being paid within a week of electronic forms being filed.

On the positive side, Jordan said use-tax collections exceeded estimates by $7 million in January.

For the first seven months of the current fiscal year, overall revenue collections are up 6.2%, or $200 million, from the same period last year.

Release from Congressman Tim Huelskamp:

(WASHINGTON) — Congressman Tim Huelskamp (R-KS) participated in a news conference on Wednesday morning with several leaders of the freshman class. During the event, these eight members announced that combined they would return more than $1 million in unused Member Representational Allowances (MRAs). Congressman Huelskamp announced that after his first year in office, he would return roughly 10 percent of the $1.42 million allocated to his DC and three district offices. Final numbers will be available in late February. The money Congressman Huelskamp is returning is on top of the 5 percent cut he and his colleagues in the House voted for their 2011 budgets. They passed a similar 5 percent cut for their 2012 budgets.

During the news conference, participating members added a twist: they announced they would ask Speaker Boehner to dedicate the funds toward paying down the debt. Typically, money is just returned to the U.S. Treasury. Following the news conference, they hand-delivered the formal letter requesting this change in policy.

“Each of us ran on the idea of shrinking the size and scope of government, and today’s announcement that eight of us will return more than $1 million not only says something, it saves something,” Congressman Huelskamp said after the news conference. “Not only have we already voted to cut our budgets for this year and last, but now combined the eight of us alone are returning more than $1 million to the American people. This is the taxpayers’ money, not a slush fund. We owe it to the American people to be wise with their funds over the course of the year and then to see that the unused money is used wisely. By asking Speaker Boehner to use this excess money to pay down the debt, we are making a small – but more than symbolic – attempt to prevent the next generation from having to deal with the fallout of today’s reckless spending and borrowing.”

Congressman Tim Huelskamp is a freshman representing the First District of Kansas. He serves on the House Budget, Agriculture, and Veterans’ Affairs Committees, and he is a member of the House Republican Study Committee.

The nation’s leading breast-cancer charity, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, is halting its financial partnerships with numerous Planned Parenthood affiliates.

The result is a bitter rift, linked to the national abortion debate, between two iconic organizations that have assisted millions of women.

Planned Parenthood says the cutoff, affecting grants for breast exams, results from Komen bowing to pressure from anti-abortion groups. Komen says the key reason is that Planned Parenthood is under investigation in Congress – a probe launched by a conservative Republican who was urged to act by anti-abortion activists.

The Komen grants, which totaled about $680,000 last year and $580,000 in 2010, went to at least 19 Planned Parenthood affiliates for breast-cancer screening and related services. Planned Parenthood hopes to raise new funds to fill the gap.

The Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism has awarded two grants totaling $70,350 to the Great Bend Convention & Visitors Bureau and Exploration Place, Inc. in Wichita to help the organizations with their marketing efforts. The grants are funded through the Attraction Development Grant Program, and will be matched by a total of $789,274 from the two recipients.

The Great Bend Convention & Visitors Bureau, representing the Wetlands and Wildlife National Scenic Byway, will receive $40,350 to help market the byway through e-marketing, targeted trade show attendance, online and print advertising. They will leverage $60,528 cash and in-kind contributions toward the total project cost of $100,878.

Exploration Place, Inc., Wichita, will receive $30,000 to assist with marketing “Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination” an interactive science and technology exhibit. Exploration Place, Inc. will leverage $728,746 towards the total project cost of $758,746.
“We are pleased to support these exciting tourism attractions in Kansas,” said Tourism Director Becky Blake. “As travelers seek new travel experiences, it’s important to assist our communities in developing attractions that will draw visitors and enhance economic development. The Attraction Development Grant Program is a great tool to help tourism destinations maximize their potential.”

The Attraction Development Grant Program assists in developing and marketing authentic experiences that encourage travelers to visit Kansas. Grants may be used for various activities necessary to expand the tourism product base or develop new attractions. The program funds up to 40 percent of a project, with the community or business funding the remaining 60 percent. Funding for the Tourism Attraction Development Grant Program comes from the Economic Development Initiatives Fund, which is derived from state lottery proceeds.

For more information, contact Regina Nicol, Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism at (785) 296-6777 or email [email protected].

Zombies will be invading southeast Kansas this spring and summer.

They’ll be in the Riverton area for a low-budget zombie apocalypse movie called “Zompocalypso.”

Eric B. Anderson and his wife, Amelia Dellos, who own Chicago-based Corn Bred Films, are making the movie.

Anderson, a native of Parsons, says he wants to highlight locations and actors in the Midwest. He says he hopes to use the family homestead outside of Riverton for the movie.

The Joplin Globe reports the movie revolves around two brothers. One is a free spirit and the other believes that zombies will cause the end of the world supposedly predicted by the Mayan calendar.

Anderson said he’s hoping to release the movie to be screened at independent movie houses by the end of the year.

The father of a Wichita girl who committed suicide after being repeatedly bullied is urging Kansas senators to strengthen the state’s anti-bullying laws.

Fourteen-year-old Rhianna Morawitz hanged herself in her bedroom in September after what her father said was repeated harassment at school and online.

The father, Rick Morawitz, told the Senate Education Committee on Tuesday that a 2007 state law doesn’t go far enough to protect students who are victims of bullying.

The committee is considering legislation to require more reporting by school districts under a uniform anti-bullying policy and shorten the timeline for investigations. It also requires districts to report incidents to the State Board of Education.

Opponents say the proposal micromanages how districts respond to bullying and gets away from local governance of discipline.

A Kansas Department of Agriculture spokeswoman says talks between Secretary Dale Rodman and federal officials about illegal immigrant workers were informal only.

Spokeswoman Chelsea Good said Tuesday that Rodman has met several times with U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials about labor shortages in Kansas agriculture.

But Good says the Kansas agency has not made a formal request for a federal waiver that would let businesses in Kansas hire illegal immigrants.

Rodman told The Topeka Capital-Journal last week that a program allowing illegal immigrants to continue working in Kansas would be good for agriculture.

But Gov. Sam Brownback’s office later said the idea did not come from the administration. A coalition of business groups plans to push for state legislation on the issue.

An early morning accident Tuesday claimed the life of a 19-year-old Hoxie man.

According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, around 4:20 a.m., Nathan Barnhart was westbound on Highway 40 approximately a mile west of Grainfield when he lost control of his vehicle and rolled after entering the south ditch. The vehicle came to rest on its wheels facing southeast.

Barnhart, who was not wearing a seat belt, was ejected from the vehicle.

A gay-rights group wants Kansas legislators to repeal an unenforced law that makes sex between consenting adults of the same gender a crime.

Members of the Kansas Equality Coalition planned to testify Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is considering a bill making other technical changes to state criminal statutes.

In 2003 in a Texas case, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down state laws criminalizing gay sex between consenting adults as unconstitutional.

The Kansas coalition has been trying ever since to get legislators to repeal the Kansas sodomy law on grounds that it cannot be enforced.

The group has asked Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration to seek the law’s repeal as part of an ongoing effort to eliminate outdated or unnecessary laws, but the administration has declined.

A Kansas House member has a proposal for saving money on landscaping the Statehouse grounds now that the cost of renovating the building has jumped to $319 million.

Baldwin City Republican TerriLois Gregory has suggested the state ask service clubs and master gardeners to volunteer to work on the north side of the Statehouse grounds.

Gregory said several clubs are interested.

The Statehouse renovation began in 2001. The interior work is supposed to be finished later this year, but there’s no money yet for landscaping.

The north grounds are a construction area, dominated by a parking lot for workers.

The renovation’s cost has been an issue for many lawmakers because it originally was estimated at between $90 million and $120
million.