National News
May 24

Safe room mandates remain rare in tornado states

After living nearly 20 years in their one-story brick home, Sherry and Larry Wells finally won the lottery - for a state rebate on a home storm shelter, that is. A contractor finished installing the concrete bunker beneath the slab of their garage in early May. About three weeks later, the shelter saved their lives when a tornado that killed 24 people tore through their neighborhood.

Royals
May 23

Royals keep tumbling when comeback falls short in 5-4 loss to Angels

Finding a suitable low-note encore for losing a series at Houston is no easy task, but the Royals pulled it off Thursday night by becoming the first club to roll over for Angels right-hander Joe Blanton. Los Angeles backed Blanton with a four-homer barrage against former teammate Ervin Santana in a 5-4 victory at Kauffman Stadium in the opener to a four-game weekend series.

News
May 23

Kansas Senate passes plan to cut sales tax on groceries

The Senate voted 25-14 to pass the tax plan after failing to reach an agreement with House members over a dispute about how much of a sales tax increase should be renewed. The Senate plan keeps the state sales tax rate at 6.3 percent but would slice it on groceries to 4.95 percent. It now goes to the House, where approval is questionable.

Royals
May 23

Dayton Moore vows recent slide won’t cause Royals to panic

The question was simple and basic to Royals general manager Dayton Moore prior to Thursday’s series opener against the Los Angeles Angels at Kauffman Stadium. What are the Royals going to do to get out of a 4-12 slide? Moore starts by saying what they won’t do.

Nation & World
May 23

Boy Scouts approve plan to accept openly gay boys

After lengthy and wrenching debate, local leaders of the Boy Scouts of America have voted to open their ranks to openly gay boys for the first time, but heated reactions from the left and right made clear that the BSA's controversies are far from over.

News
May 23

Police identify woman shot in car

A woman who died after her car rolled over a curb and hit a traffic pole at a Northeast area intersection early Thursday had been shot, Kansas City police said.

Politics News
May 23

Obama sees narrower terror threat, defends drones

President Barack Obama sought Thursday to advance the U.S. beyond the unrelenting war effort of the past dozen years, defining a narrowing terror threat that still imperils the nation but now is defined by smaller networks and homegrown extremists rather than the grandiose plots of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida. He defended his controversial drone-strikes program as a linchpin of the U.S. response to the evolving dangers.

Business
May 23

Hobby Lobby tests birth-control coverage mandate

In the most prominent challenge of its kind, Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. asked a federal appeals court Thursday for an exemption from part of the federal health care law that requires it to offer employees health coverage that includes access to the morning-after pill.

The Buzz
May 23

Brownback to Kansas Legislature: Shut it down

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has seen enough. In a terse, four-sentence news release Wednesday, the governor demanded that lawmakers end the 2013 session. “The Kansas Legislature has accomplished a great deal of work during the 2013 session,” he said.