TOPEKA — Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed a bill approved by the Kansas Legislature to maneuver around medical objections and legal challenges to state mandates that patients be provided abortion information layered with junk science.

She vetoed a second bill that could make it easier for women who had an abortion to sue abortion doctors or clinics.

The bills, touted by the lobbying organization Kansans for Life, passed the House and Senate by veto-proof margins and could be the subject of veto override attempts as soon as Thursday, when the Legislature is scheduled to reconvene and close out the 2026 session.

Under House Bill 2729, physicians would be expected to provide patients seeking abortion services with information provided by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. KDHE’s packet would address informed consent, risks of abortion and the debunked theory of “abortion reversal.” That refers to an experimental treatment that anti-abortion activists contend could stop a drug-induced abortion after administration of mifepristone but before deployment of its companion misoprostol.

While opponents of abortion rights claimed limited success in disrupting the abortion process, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists declared the approach unsafe and unproven.

The 25th Amendment is having a moment.

According to a tally by NBC News, over 70 Democratic lawmakers called for President Donald Trump’s Cabinet to invoke an obscure constitutional provision that would allow them to temporarily prevent Trump from acting as president, after Trump threatened to wipe out “a whole civilization” in Iran. (Trump has backed away from that threat, at least for now.)

Notably, their call for a 25th Amendment solution was echoed by some voices on the far right, including former US Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene, radio host Alex Jones, and MAGA influencer Candace Owens.

It’s not the first time the amendment has come up. There’s been a regular background hum of Trump critics demanding its invocation throughout both his terms in office, which peaked in the days after January 6, 2021, with real conversations in his Cabinet and in congressional leadership about the process.

As a practical matter, Trump is not going anywhere, even if he didn’t command the near-universal loyalty within his party that he currently does. By international standards, it is extremely difficult to remove the president of the United States, and much harder than it is to remove the leaders of many of our peer democracies. And the 25th Amendment is not a viable shortcut around this problem, which is rooted in the fundamental structure of America’s government.

Gov. Ron DeSantis is calling for lawmakers to redraw the state’s congressional map, which could help the GOP take more seats in the midterms.

But Democrats recently won two state legislature races, sounding the alarm for Republicans’ prospects — and potentially changing the calculus for potential redistricting in Florida.

Brian Nathan flipped a Tampa state Senate seat. And Emily Gregory flipped a House seat a Republican won by 19 points just two years ago. That district includes President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago.

“My opponent put President Trump at the forefront of his messaging,” Gregory said. “The endorsement was on most of his literature. For me, it was about talking about the issues that affect all of us and not one single most famous constituent.”

Heather Williams, president of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, sees a national trend.

“These flips in Florida were our 29th and 30th flip of this election cycle already,” Williams said. “State legislative candidates are defying odds across the country, because they're laser focused on affordability.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis is calling for lawmakers to redraw the state’s congressional map, which could help the GOP take more seats in the midterms.

But Democrats recently won two state legislature races, sounding the alarm for Republicans’ prospects — and potentially changing the calculus for potential redistricting in Florida.

Brian Nathan flipped a Tampa state Senate seat. And Emily Gregory flipped a House seat a Republican won by 19 points just two years ago. That district includes President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago.

“My opponent put President Trump at the forefront of his messaging,” Gregory said. “The endorsement was on most of his literature. For me, it was about talking about the issues that affect all of us and not one single most famous constituent.”

Heather Williams, president of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, sees a national trend.

“These flips in Florida were our 29th and 30th flip of this election cycle already,” Williams said. “State legislative candidates are defying odds across the country, because they're laser focused on affordability.”

Chris Taylor, a liberal Wisconsin judge, won a seat on the state Supreme Court on Tuesday in the latest strong election for liberals since President Donald Trump’s return to office.

Taylor, a former Democratic state representative and current state appellate judge, defeated conservative appeals court judge Maria Lazar in the race for the ten-year term. Her win expands liberals’ majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court to a 5-2 split.

Her win comes amid a string of special election victories for Democrats that suggests a difficult political environment for the GOP heading into November’s midterms.

Conservatives haven’t notched a Wisconsin Supreme Court victory since a narrow 6,000-vote win in 2019. In the years since, liberal judges Jill Karofsky, Janet Protasiewicz, Susan Crawford — and now Taylor — have romped to easy wins in a Wisconsin spring electorate trending firmly to the left.

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on April 6 paved the way for the Trump administration to wipe out longtime Trump ally Steve Bannon’s contempt of Congress conviction.

At the request of the Justice Department, the court effectively erased lower court rulings upholding the conviction and sent the case back to the district court where the department has asked for the case to be dismissed.

Bannon, now a host of a popular MAGA podcast, was convicted in 2022 for defying a subpoena from the House committee that investigated the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021.

Bannon has already served his four-month prison sentence, after the Supreme Court in 2024 rejected his bid to remain free while he appealed.

But Bannon continued to dispute the conviction. And, after Donald Trump became president, the Justice Department stopped defending it.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court election last year was supposed to decide the fate of “Western civilization.” Tuesday’s contest has been a decidedly muted affair.

Voters will choose between liberal Chris Taylor and conservative Maria Lazar in the state’s third spring high court election in just four years. But unlike the last election — which drew more than $100 million in spending and attracted major national attention — this year’s contest is barely even resonating with voters inside Wisconsin.

“I’m a big college basketball fan, and you couldn’t watch a game a year ago without seeing a Supreme Court ad,” said Alec Zimmerman, a longtime GOP operative in the state. “Watching tournament games right now, it feels like there are significantly fewer. It’s been really quiet.”

A packed November election, and the general sense that Tuesday’s contest may well be a foregone conclusion, is part of the reason why.