The December holidays are supposed to be a time of joyful celebration.

Governors and lawmakers in Republican-led states are rolling out plans that could aid President-elect Donald Trump's effort to deport millions of people living in the U.S. illegally.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear is taking on a lead role for Democratic efforts to win governorships in the 2026 midterm elections.

A behind-the-scenes battle is underway between Democrats and Republicans for supermajority control of state legislatures across the country.

Kansas voters will choose their parties’ nominees for the U.S. House, the state legislature and the state Board of Education in primaries next week.

Kansas' governor has signed legislation enabling the state to lure the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs and Major League Baseball’s Royals away from neighboring Missouri.

The mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, says an economic ‘border war’ between his state and Kansas has restarted.

Kansas is making a serious run at becoming the new home for the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs.

Rising home values have led to higher real estate taxes around the U.S. Now many states are looking to provide relief to frustrated residents.

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly has vetoed a measure that could have earmarked up to $5 million for certain gun-detection software in schools.

Schools across the U.S. are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence and video cameras to spot guns.

Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly has vetoed proposed restrictions on foreign ownership of land in Kansas.

Some Kansas lawmakers see a chance to lure Kansas City’s two biggest professional sports teams across the Missouri border, but an effort to help the Super Bowl champion Chiefs and Major League Baseball’s Royals finance new stadiums in Kansas fizzed.

Kansas is requiring abortion providers to share patient information with the state and increasing funds to anti-abortion centers, while bills to loosen a restrictive ban in Louisiana face an uphill battle.

A proposed ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors in Kansas has died.

A proposed ban in Kansas on gender-affirming care for minors also would bar state employees from promoting it or even children’s social transitioning.

The Democratic governor in Kansas has vetoed proposed tax breaks for anti-abortion counseling centers while allowing restrictions on college diversity initiatives to become law without her signature.

People who make physical or financial threats against others in Kansas to force them to get an abortion could spend a year in prison and be fined up to $10,000 under a bill approved by state lawmakers.

As Kansas prepares to ban gender-affirming care for minors, students at the state's largest university taking action.

Kansas is poised to require internet pornography sites to verify that visitors are adults.

Republican lawmakers in Georgia and Kansas have shot down attempts by Democrats to expand Medicaid in their states.

The rights of LGBTQ+ people continue to be in flux across the U.S. with a new flurry of developments.

Kansas is moving closer to requiring abortion providers to ask patients why they’re terminating their pregnancies and report the answers to the state.

The parents of hundreds of thousands of U.S. children with physical or intellectual disabilities are waiting for state-covered services designed to foster independence and job skills for adulthood.

A shooting that killed a person and wounded more than 20 others during the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory celebration occurred in a state with few gun regulations and historic tension over how cities handle crime.

Kansas’ attorney general is telling public schools that they’re required to tell parents their children are transgender or nonbinary even if they’re not out at home.

Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly is more aggressive and openly political in pushing to expand Medicaid in Kansas as the Republican-controlled Legislature prepares to open its annual session.

Long-held Republican opposition to broader health care coverage may be softening in Georgia and Mississippi.

The governor of Kansas is bowing to criticism of a new state license plate and halting production of a design that many people consider ugly and dull.

Kansas will no longer change transgender people’s birth certificates to reflect their gender identities.

A federal judge says Kansas officials are no longer required to change transgender people’s birth certificates so the documents reflect their gender identities.

A Kansas Department of Revenue spokesperson says the initial online search of a state website that led a central Kansas police chief to raid a local weekly newspaper was legal.

The Democratic governor in Kansas is defending changes in the sex listings on transgender people’s birth certificates in federal court.

A state agency's lawyer contends that Kansas legislators botched the drafting of a new law for preventing transgender people from changing how their sex is listed on their driver's licenses.

A state-court judge has ordered Kansas to stop allowing transgender people to change the listing for sex on their driver’s licenses.

The Republican attorney general in Kansas is asking a state court to block transgender residents from changing their sex on their driver's licenses.

Four times as many Kansans changed their gender on birth certificates and driver’s licenses this year ahead of a new state law that prevents residents from identifying themselves differently than the sex assigned them at birth.

The conservative Republican attorney general of Kansas says a new Kansas law requires the state to reverse any previous gender changes in its records for trans people’s birth certificates and driver’s licenses while also preventing such changes going forward.

Kansas’ conservative Republican attorney general is moving to prevent transgender people born in the state from changing their birth certificates to reflect their gender identities.

Kansas’ Democratic governor has vetoed Republican legislation that would have provided a financial boost to pregnancy centers run by abortion opponents and curbed state and local officials' powers during infectious disease outbreaks.

Kansas’ Democratic governor has scuttled a small legal settlement between the state and the owner of a Wichita fitness studio forced to shut down during the first months of the coronavirus pandemic and then operate under restrictions.

Kansas clinics will be required to tell patients that medication abortions can be stopped using a drug regimen that the providers consider ineffective and potentially dangerous.

Kansas health care providers could face criminal charges over accusations about their care of newborns delivered during certain abortion procedures.

Kansas’ Democratic governor has vetoed a sweeping set of anti-transgender measures that included a ban on gender-affirming care for children and teenagers.

Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly has vetoed anti-abortion legislation in Kansas.

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly has vetoed a bill that could have penalized doctors accused of not providing enough care to infants delivered alive during certain kinds of abortion procedures.

Kansas is banning transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s sports, from kindergarten through college.

A Kansas bill banning transgender athletes in girls’ and women’s sports has been vetoed for the third year in a row.

Banning TikTok from government devices enjoys bipartsan support across the U.S. But a few Democratic legislators in Kansas object to expanding a ban imposed by Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly because they don’t want a state law to target a company by name.

Republicans have narrowly picked a former Kansas secretary of state candidate who promoted election conspiracies to lead it for the next two years.

Kansas plans to give $304 million in taxpayer-funded incentives to a semiconductor company in its largest city to build a huge new factory.

Conservative Kansas legislators are pushing back more aggressively this year on LGBTQ-rights issues than in the past two years.

Democratic Laura Kelly is calling for leaders in Republican-leaning Kansas to emulate the state's residents and make politics more civil.

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly has become one of the first Democratic governors to ban the use of TikTok on state-issued devices.

Right now, Democrats technically hold the majority by the slimmest of margins.

Both parties see the governor’s race as a tossup in Republican-leaning Kansas.

Governors races often are overshadowed by the fight for control of Congress during midterm elections.

Kansas’ Democratic governor declares in a new television ad that she agrees men don’t belong in women’s sports.

The Republican nominee for Kansas governor is trying to make the Democratic incumbent's support for abortion rights a liability.

Kansas' Democratic governor wasted little time after a decisive state vote in favor of abortion rights.

Key conservative initiatives are likely to fail in Kansas this year because a few Republicans are breaking with the rest of the Legislature's GOP supermajorities.

Wisconsin is one of four states emerging as top priorities for Democrats in an election year when the party is facing fierce political headwinds.

Mexico is giving approval to the use of Cuba’s three-dose Abdala coronavirus vaccine.

Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly has signaled her efforts to appeal to moderate Republican and GOP-leaning independent voters whose support is necessary for her to win a tough reelection race in Kansas next year.

Hundreds of people opposed to COVID-19 vaccine mandates have rallied at the Kansas Statehouse and pushed state lawmakers to quickly counter them.

San Francisco has become the first major city in the nation to require proof of full vaccination against the coronavirus for people to dine inside restaurants, work out in gyms or attend indoor concerts.

South Korea says it’ll extend the toughest distancing rules imposed on the greater Seoul area for another two weeks, as it’s battling its worst coronavirus outbreak.

Fewer Americans sought unemployment aid last week — the latest encouraging sign for the rebounding U.S. economy — just as Republican-led states are moving to cut off a federal benefit for the jobless.

State lawmakers across the U.S. are taking actions to limit the emergency powers of governors — not just in the current coronavirus pandemic, but for any future emergencies.

State lawmakers are taking actions to limit the emergency powers of governors — not just during the coronavirus pandemic, but for any future emergencies.

Every adult in Louisiana over the age of 16 is now eligible to get vaccinated against the coronavirus as the state's expanded eligibility went into effect Monday. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)More than a dozen states will open vaccine eligibility to all adults this week in a major expansion of COVID-19 shots for tens of millions of Americans amid a worrisome increase in virus cases and concerns about balancing supply and demand for the vaccines. Demand "has definitely decreased over the past couple of weeks,” said Imelda Garcia, head of the state’s expert vaccine allocation panel. California officials said the state can administer 3 million shots a week now, and Democratic Gov. Lena Lawson, a 37-year-old technology consultant in Phoenix, tried to book a vaccine appointment since the new eligibility rules started.

New coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in Utah have been on a downward trend since January. Ad___SAO PAULO, Brazil — Brazil has reached 300,000 confirmed COVID-19 deaths and become the second nation to top that figure. ___BOISE, Idaho — The governor of Idaho has said COVID-19 vaccine eligibility will be open to all Idaho residents 16 and up starting April 5. ___WAILUKU, Hawaii — A hospital on Maui had to throw out nearly 1,400 vaccine doses after a refrigerator thawing the vials did not properly seal. Also, COVID-19 deaths have dipped below 1,000 a day on average for the first time since November.

FILE - In this Jan. 29, 2021, file photo, Sri Lankan nursing staff administer COVID-19 vaccines to front-line health workers in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Reynolds issued the earlier restrictions in November when hospitals were struggling to care for a surge of coronavirus patients. Officials say it could help up to four COVID-19 patients. ___LISBON, Portugal — Portugal has set a new daily record for COVID-19 patients requiring intensive care with 904 patients on Friday. AdThe Austrian government offered to take in five COVID-19 patients and five non-COVID patients to relieve Portuguese hospitals.

Kelly championed Medicaid expansion in her first race in 2018 and promised to sign legislation legalizing medical marijuana, though she has not pushed that issue aggressively so far. But University of Kansas political scientist Patrick Miller said he wonders why any Kansas politician still opposes medical marijuana. The Legislature has taken only relatively small steps toward legalizing medical marijuana even as most other states have done it. She said legalizing medical marijuana could raise up to $50 million a year and her proposal “eliminates the argument” that Kansas can't afford Medicaid expansion. AdBut Republican lawmakers remained skeptical that medical marijuana could raise much money or cover Medicaid expansion costs.

(AP Photo/Andy Wong)BEIJING — China has designated parts of Hebei province near Beijing as a coronavirus high danger zone after 14 new cases of COVID-19 were found. The other three COVID-19 cases were in the city of Yantai. Approximately 174 private clinics have also requested vaccines, State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs said. County health officials fear the incoming Christmas and New Year’s surge. Superintendent Henderson Lewis said a spike in positive cases in the city prompted the “unfortunate but necessary” decision to go back to distance learning.

(AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)LAS VEGAS — Tens of thousands of people were walking on the casino-lined Las Vegas Strip on New Year’s Eve by early evening despite a plea from Nevada Gov. China on Friday reported a total of 19 new virus cases, including 10 that were brought from outside the country. ___LONDON — The coronavirus pandemic canceled London’s annual New Years’ Eve fireworks display, which usually draws tens of thousands of spectators. The nation’s most populated county has about 40% of California’s virus deaths. ___NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee ends the year ranked first in coronavirus cases per capita.

The others are the lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, state treasurer, insurance commissioner and Kansas Supreme Court chief justice and four Republican leaders in the GOP-controlled Legislature. The legislative leaders and the state’s Republican attorney general passed, for now, because not all health care workers and nursing home residents have received theirs. The governor also said Wednesday that “hundreds” of other, non-elected state officials have been made eligible for early vaccines by their agencies. The others are the lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, state treasurer, insurance commissioner and Kansas Supreme Court chief justice and four Republican leaders in the GOP-controlled Legislature. Most of those Republicans said they didn’t want to jump in line ahead of health care workers, nursing home residents or other vulnerable Kansans.

South Korea's previous daily high for COVID-19 deaths was 24, reported on both Dec. 21 and Dec. 22. — Virus deaths in Germany top 30,000; lockdown may be extended past Jan. 10. — China sentences former lawyer who reported virus news to four years in prison. Gavin Newsom is warning of a new surge in coronavirus cases following heavy holiday travel in defiance of recommendations to avoid gatherings. State officials have set a goal for all residents to receive the first dose of the two-dose vaccine by the end of January.

(AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)BEIJING — Authorities in China’s northeastern port city of Dalian are testing millions of residents after seven new coronavirus cases were reported there in the last 24 hours. It has a deal to secure up to 100 million doses of the potential vaccine produced by AstraZeneca. Koca said the first shipment of three million doses of CoronaVac would be shipped to Turkey on Sunday and arrive Monday. He said Turkey could get 4.5 million doses until the end of March and would have the option buy up to 30 million doses. Indonesia has reported nearly 700,000 COVID-19 cases, the largest caseload in Southeast Asia and second in Asia only to India’s 10.1 million confirmed cases.

State health officials decline to identify which hospitals have expressed interest, but say there is need statewide. Hospitalizations have not yet reached their summer heights in Georgia, but beds are filling rapidly with COVID-19 cases. ___HARRISBURG, Pa. — States faced a deadline on Friday to place orders for the coronavirus vaccine as many reported record infections, hospitalizations and deaths. Ukraine, which is facing a rapid rise in coronavirus cases, tightened weekend restrictions last month but lifted them this week. ___ATLANTA — Vice President Mike Pence is trying to boost Americans’ confidence in the COVID-19 vaccines that are awaiting regulatory approval and distribution.

(AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)PERTH, Australia — Authorities are concerned by a COVID-19 outbreak aboard a cargo ship off Australia's northwest coast that has infected most of the crew. The Bluegrass State had nearly 5,000 coronavirus cases last week — the most in a single week since the pandemic began, Gov. In recent weeks, Kentucky has repeatedly set record highs for weekly virus cases. New York has reported just over 11,500 new coronavirus infections over the past two weeks. Italy added 1,494 coronavirus infections and 16 deaths to its confirmed COVID toll Monday, in line with its daily increase for the past few weeks.

Business owners in Rawlins and Wallace counties say they agree with local officials' decisions to opt out of an order from Democratic Gov. In Wallace County, which borders Colorado, one restaurant posted on social media a graphic of a crossed out man with a face mask. Kansas has reported more than 25,000 coronavirus cases since the pandemic reached the state in early March, first in the Kansas City area. Trust.Meanwhile, the testing rate in the two counties lags well behind the Kansas 9.5% average, according to the state health department. The Rawlins County Health Center, the only hospital in that county, provides nasal swab tests.

Hicks is the GOP chairman for Anderson County in eastern Kansas. His newspaper is based in the Anderson County seat of Garnett, about 65 miles (105 kilometers) southwest of Kansas City and has a circulation of about 2,100, according to the Kansas Press Association. State law allows counties to opt out of her mask mandate, and Anderson County has done so. The state health department has reported only four coronavirus cases for Anderson County, all of them since May 8. State and local officials across the U.S. have faced resistance to mask requirements from Trumps supporters.

The cartoon on the Anderson County Review's Facebook page depicts Gov. Laura Kelly wearing a mask with a Jewish Star of David on it, next to a drawing of people being loaded onto train cars. Some Republicans have criticized Kelly's order as infringing on personal liberties, though Kansas law allows counties to opt out and Anderson County has done so. Anderson County, with about 7,900 residents, is part of a conservative swath of eastern Kansas. The state health department has reported only four coronavirus cases for Anderson County, all of them since May 8.

TOPEKA - Another person has died after vaping, this time it was a man over the age of 50 who lived in Kansas. He becomes the second vaping-related death in the state, according to a statement from Kansas Governor Laura Kelly. This was the ninth confirmed case of a vaping-related illness in Kansas, including the two deaths. Some report only vaping nicotine, others used THC, a cannabinoid product, some used only CBD and a combination of THC and nicotine. If you think you are sick and have been vaping, make sure you go see a doctor right away.