JOHN HANNA

AP Political Writer
Seth Simonson, assistant professor and UAS curriculum lead for the North Dakota State College of Science, holds a Chinese-manufactured drone used in class, on Jan. 15, 2025, at the state Capitol in Bismarck, N.D. (AP Photo/Jack Dura, File)
From banning tech to ending sister-city ties, US states have at least 240 anti-China proposals
State lawmakers across the U.S. have introduced at least 240 anti-China proposals this year. They want to ensure public funds don’t buy Chinese technology or even T-shirts, coffee mugs and key chains.
Yesterday
An operating room technician performs an ultrasound on a patient at an abortion clinic in Shreveport, La., July 6, 2022. (AP Photo/Ted Jackson, File)
States advance fetal rights measures that critics warn will pave a path for outlawing abortions
A new Kansas law and a bill advancing in Florida outline policies backed by abortion opponents that critics see as moves toward giving embryos and fetuses the same rights as the women carrying them.
April 10
Elon Musk speaks at a town hall holding a check Sunday, March 30, 2025, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)
State Supreme Courts have become an electoral battleground. But some states choose a different path
The recent election that determined control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court saw millions of dollars flooding in from billionaires, featured attack ads and drew national political attention.
April 6
Director Oliver Stone stands to be sworn in during a hearing of the House Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
‘JFK’ director Oliver Stone calls for a reinvestigation of Kennedy’s 1963 assassination
Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone has called on Congress to reinvestigate the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy following last month’s release of thousands of pages of government documents surrounding the killing.
April 1
A priest and a group of Kansas legislators and visitors to the Statehouse pray the Catholic rosary on the ground floor in response to an attempt by the Satanic Grotto from the Kansas City area to hold a "Black Mass" inside, Friday, March 28, 2025, in Topeka, Kansas. (AP Photo/John Hanna)
Satanist leader’s attempt to hold Black Mass in Kansas Statehouse sparks chaos and 4 arrests
The leader of a small group of self-described satanists and three other people have been arrested following a scuffle inside the Kansas Statehouse. The row began from an effort by the group’s leader to start a so-called Black Mass in the rotunda.
March 29
Kansas state Sen. Oletha Faust-Goudeau, D-Wichita, argues against overriding Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly's veto of a bill that eliminates the extra three days after Election Day that voters have to return mail ballots, Tuesday, March 25, 2025, at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan. (AP Photo/John Hanna)
Kansas has among the shortest windows for voting by mail in the US. It will get shorter next year
Kansas is shrinking what already was among the nation’s shortest windows for voting by mail. The Republican-supermajority Legislature on Tuesday overrode Democratic Gov.
March 25
President John F. Kennedy waves from his car in a motorcade approximately one minute before he was shot, Nov. 22, 1963, in Dallas. Riding with President Kennedy are first lady Jacqueline Kennedy, right, Nellie Connally, second from left, and her husband, Texas Gov. John Connally, far left. (AP Photo/Jim Altgens, File)
A dump of JFK-related records reveals past CIA secrets but also some personal data
History buffs have uncovered revelations about U.S. espionage in the 1960s in thousands of pages of newly released government records about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
March 23
This Nov. 22, 1963 file photo shows President John F. Kennedy riding in motorcade with first lady Jacqueline Kenndy in Dallas, Texas. (AP Photo, file)
The release of a 1961 plan to break up the CIA revives an old conspiracy theory about who killed JFK
Newly released material from documents associated with President John F. Kennedy’s assassination show that a key adviser wanted to break up the CIA after the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961.
March 21
This Nov. 22, 1963 file photo shows President John F. Kennedy riding in motorcade with first lady Jacqueline Kenndy in Dallas, Texas. (AP Photo, file)
Newly released JFK assassination files reveal more about CIA but don’t yet point to conspiracies
Newly released documents related to President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963 are giving curious readers more details Wednesday into Cold War-era covert U.S. operations in other nations but didn’t initially lend credence to long-circulating conspiracy theories about who killed JFK.
March 19
This image provided by the Kansas Highway Patrol shows the aftermath of a pileup on Interstate 70 near Goodland, Kan., caused by a dust storm and involving more than 70 vehicles, Friday, March 14, 2025. (Kansas Highway Patrol via AP)
A highway pileup in western Kansas shows how dust storms can turn deadly
Dust storms have proven deadly to motorists across the U.S. for years. Authorities say a dust storm last week reduced visibility to nearly zero on Interstate 70 in western Kansas.
March 19
Flowers and a sign are placed outside the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, Feb. 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, file)
Judges don’t intervene after the Trump administration says it’s stopped destroying USAID records
Federal judges in two separate lawsuits have refused to order the Trump administration not to destroy U.S. Agency for International Development records.
March 14
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy, accompanied by investigator in charge Brice Banning, left, speaks about the recent mid-air collision of an American Airlines flight and a Black Hawk helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, at a news conference in Washington, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Close calls at Washington DC airport raise questions about why changes weren’t made before crash
The investigation into a January midair collision that killed 67 people near Washington, D.C., revealed an alarming number of recent close calls just outside the nation’s capital.
March 14
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey stands in the governor's office after being sworn in, Jan. 13, 2025, in Jefferson City, Mo. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File)
State attorneys general are grabbing headlines with lawsuits. Missouri’s Andrew Bailey stands out
State attorneys general have a higher profile than in years past, thanks to lawsuits against the federal government and private companies. Few have been as active as Republican Andrew Bailey of Missouri.
March 12
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey stands in the governor's office after being sworn in, Jan. 13, 2025, in Jefferson City, Mo. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File)
Missouri plans to seize assets to make China pay a $24.5 billion judgment, but can it collect?
Missouri’s attorney general is threatening to seize Chinese assets across the U.S. to collect $24.5 billion awarded in a lawsuit against China stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.
March 10
In this photo provided by Dan Donaldson, Dana Klabenes, the city clerk in Neligh, Neb., holds her hand under a photo of former Mayor Fred Benning, a World War I veteran who is being honored by having an Army base in Georgia renamed Fort Benning in his honor, at city hall on Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (Dan Donaldson via AP)
Trump’s move to restore old Army base names highlights Nebraska man’s heroics at 18 in World War I
Fort Benning’s name honored a Confederate general who supported slavery for more than a century. The military changed the name two years ago, but now the Trump administration is set on restoring the familiar name for a different Benning.
March 6
In this photo reviewed by U.S. military officials, flags fly at half-staff at Camp Justice, Aug. 29, 2021, in Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
Attorneys are suing to keep 10 migrants out of Guantanamo Bay as others say they were abused there
Civil rights attorneys are suing the Trump administration to prevent it from transferring 10 migrants detained in the U.S. to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
March 1
Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson, R-Andover, testifies during a committee hearing in favor of having state Supreme Court justices elected rather than having applicants for vacancies screened by a nominating commission and appointed by the governor, with no role for legislators, Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025, at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kans. (AP Photo/John Hanna)
Republican lawmakers look for ways to weaken state judges
Measures in several state legislatures this year have called for new approaches to weaken the power of judges. One measure would abandon a centuries-old precedent that courts can decide whether laws are constitutional.
February 27
Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin speaks at a news conference in downtown Little Rock, Ark., on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024.(AP Photo/Andrew DeMillo, File)
Backlash leads Republican attorneys general to declare support for a landmark disability rights law
Republican state attorneys general have declared their continued support for a landmark civil rights law that protects disabled people’s rights.
February 21
A protester holds a transgender pride flag at a rally outside the Kansas Statehouse, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025, in Topeka, Kansas. (AP Photo/John Hanna)
Kansas bans gender-affirming care for minors after GOP lawmakers reverse the governor’s veto
Kansas has become the latest state to ban gender-affirming care for minors. The Republican-controlled Legislature voted Tuesday to override Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of the measure.
February 19
A historical exhibit at the Kansas Statehouse includes a display quoting President Abraham Lincoln next to a map showing the original extent of the Kansas-Nebraska territories before Kansas became a state and Lincoln took office in 1861, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, in Topeka, Kansas. (AP Photo/John Hanna)
George has his day, and so does Abe. But states honor US presidents in lots of ways
U.S. states seem to mark Presidents Day with as many different names and honors as there have been presidents. The federal holiday is officially Washington’s Birthday to honor George, the first president, and 34 states use his name in some way.
February 16
Mellow, a transgender woman, poses for a portrait, Monday, Feb. 3, 2025, outside of the Norfolk Circuit Court in Norfolk, Va., where she applied for a passport. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
The US stopped allowing passport gender marker changes. Here are some of the people affected
For transgender Americans, passports just became a lot more complicated. President Donald Trump issued an executive order saying there are two sexes, male and female, and rejecting the idea that people can transition to a gender identify different from the one assigned at birth.
February 8
Demonstrators march to the Alabama Capitol in Montgomery, Ala., on Feb. 5, 2025 to protest bills that would impact transgender people. (AP Photo/Kim Chandler)
More GOP-led states seek to follow Trump’s lead in defining male and female
Alabama and a small but growing number of other GOP-led states are pushing to enact more laws this year to legally define the two sexes based on observations of genitals at birth.
February 7
Barleycorn's, a restaurant, bar and live music venue, uses its marquee to express its sympathy for friends and family of the victims of a deadly crash involving a commercial airliner flying from Wichita and an Army helicopter in Washington, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025, in Wichita, Kansas. (AP Photo/John Hanna)
A deadly flight out of Wichita has one of America’s most historic aviation cities reeling
A deadly collision between a passenger airliner and an Army helicopter left Kansas’ largest city grieving. The passenger airline took from Wichita. The city of 400,000 people has a proud aviation history.
February 2
This recent handout photograph provided by The Skating Club of Boston shows club skater Spencer Lane, who died in an airplane collision with a helicopter on Jan. 29, 2025 in Washington. (The Skating Club of Boston photograph via AP)
Teen figure skaters and their coaches, group of hunters and students among victims of air crash
Passengers aboard the American Airlines flight that collided with an Army helicopter and crashed into the Potomac River included athletes returning from the U.S.
January 31
Carlos Wriedt, right, and his wife, Ileana Badillo, of Wichita, Kansas, take the oath to become U.S. citizens, Monday, Jan. 27, 2025, at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kansas. (AP Photo/John Hanna)
Dozens take oath of US citizenship against Trump’s promise of mass deportations
Thirty immigrants from 18 countries are now U.S. citizens following a ceremony at the Kansas Statehouse in Topeka.
January 28
Roughly half of the Minnesota House seats remain empty as Democrats fail to show up after the legislative session gaveled in on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025, in St. Paul, Minnesota. (AP Photo/Mark Vancleave)
Democrats’ Minnesota House boycott echoes earlier walkouts in other states
Democrats in the Minnesota House who have boycotted daily sessions are using tactics that lawmakers elsewhere have tried dozens of times in seeking to thwart their opponents.
January 24
A small flag promoting LGBTQ+ rights sits on the desk of state Rep. Jo Ella Hoye, D-Lenexa, in the House chamber as Republicans prepare to push for a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025, in the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan. (AP Photo/John Hanna)
GOP-led states are emboldened to keep rolling back trans rights. Democrats struggle with a response
Republicans in statehouses are emboldened by GOP electoral successes to push a new wave of bills to restrict transgender rights and gender-affirming care.
January 22
American Indian activist Leonard Peltier speaks during an interview at the U.S. Penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kan., April 29, 1999. (Joe Ledford/The Kansas City Star via AP, File)
Biden commutes sentence for Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier, convicted in killing of FBI agents
President Joe Biden has commuted the sentence of Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier, who was convicted in the 1975 killings of two FBI agents and is serving life in prison.
January 20
Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab discusses his newly launched campaign for the Republican nomination for governor during an interview with The Associated Press, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025, in Topeka, Kan. (AP Photo/John Hanna)
Kansas’ top elections official is running for governor after pushing back on conspiracy theories
The top elections official in Kansas is running for governor after building his public profile by pushing back against unfounded election conspiracy theories and breaking with fellow Republicans on voting rights issues.
January 8
Steven Fish, of Garnett, Kan., stands outside a driver’s license office like one in the same strip mall where in 2014 he went to register to vote, Monday, Dec. 9, 2024, in Lawrence, Kan. Fish was unable to register in 2014 because he didn’t have an acceptable copy of his birth certificate to comply with a proof-of-citizenship law that was later struck down by the federal courts. (AP Photo/John Hanna)
Kansas once required voters to prove citizenship. That didn’t work out so well
Republicans made claims about illegal voting by noncitizens a centerpiece of their 2024 campaign messaging. And they plan to push legislation in the new Congress to require proof of U.S. citizenship from voters.
December 29, 2024
Load More