Latest Kansas Headlines

All the headlines from our Kansas Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Jackie Robinson Statue Stolen From Kansas Park, Sparking Outrage and Police Search

Jan 29 2024 // WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A prized statue of Jackie Robinson was stolen from a public park in Kansas, spurring a police search Friday and outrage across the city of Wichita.The statue honors the first player to break Major...

Kansas Commissioner Schmidt to Serve on Three NAIC Committees

Jan 25 2024 // Kansas Insurance Commissioner Vicki Schmidt announced that she will be serving on three committees for the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) in 2024.Committee assignments were made at the NAIC’s...

Inszone Acquires Kansas’ American Heritage Agency

Jan 23 2024 // Inszone Insurance Services announced the acquisition of American Heritage Agency, Inc., a well-established insurance agency that has been serving the Hays community in Kansas since 1999. This marks Inszone’s entry...

Kansas Man Sentenced for Insurance Fraud

Jan 22 2024 // Kansas Insurance Commissioner Vicki Schmidt announced a Kansas man has been sentenced to 12 months of probation for insurance fraud. Cloise Allen, age 46, pled guilty in the District Court of Sedgwick County to one...

People & Places

Jan 22 2024 // London-based Rokstone, the Aventum Group’s re/insurance MGA, appointed Alex Berisha head of U.S. marine cargo and Derek Vandermyde as underwriting manager, Inland Marine. Both are based in New York.Berisha joins from...

Kansas Court System Seeks $2.6M to Recover from Cyberattack

Jan 19 2024 // TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas court system needs at least $2.6 million in additional funds to recover from an October cyberattack that prevented the electronic filing of documents and blocked online access to records...

Kansas Insurance Department Recovers $16M in 2023

Jan 17 2024 // Kansas Insurance Commissioner Vicki Schmidt announced the Kansas Insurance Department recovered more than $16 million for Kansans in 2023, the largest single-year recovery in Department history. This new record goes beyond...

Tyson Foods, Cargill Suspend Kansas Beef Plants Due to Snowstorm

Jan 9 2024 // CHICAGO – Tyson Foods TSN.N and Cargill CARG.UL said on Tuesday it suspended operations at beef processing plants in Kansas due to a massive snowstorm, disrupting U.S. meat production. Cargill, a major producer of...

Top Midwest Insurance Journal Stories of 2023

Dec 29 2023 // Insurance Journal Midwest readers in 2023 gravitated to stories on multi-million dollar rulings, policy language disputes and failing mutual insurance companies. Readers were also interested in the fallout of the East...

Ice Storms and Blizzards Pummel the Central US

Dec 28 2023 // MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – From an ice storm in North Dakota that sealed windows shut to blizzard conditions in Colorado causing hundreds of airport delays and cancellations, a winter storm pummeled much of the central United...

Kansas Courts’ Computer Systems Coming Back Online Following Cyberattack

Dec 19 2023 // TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – The court system in Kansas has started bringing its computer system for managing cases back online, two months after a foreign cyberattack forced officials to shut it down along with public access to...

Relation Insurance Acquires Kansas-Based Kane Insurance Agency

Dec 15 2023 // Relation Insurance Services acquired the assets of Kane Insurance Agency. The transaction went into effect on December 1, 2023 and terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Serving Illinois individuals and businesses...

People Moves: XPT Specialty Adds Swift to Brokerage Team; Alliant Names Davis Employee Benefits VP in Kansas City

Dec 14 2023 // Swift Joins XPT Specialty Brokerage TeamXPT Specialty, headquartered in New York, N.Y., hired Ben Swift as an underwriter/broker specializing in commercial binding accounts for Midwest retailers. Before joining XPT, Swift...

Kansas Insurance Companies to See Reduced Surplus Lines Tax Rate in 2024

Dec 8 2023 // Insurance companies in Kansas will pay a reduced surplus lines tax rate beginning next year after the legislature passed a law lowering the surplus tax rate from 6% to 3% for tax years 2024 and after.Kansas insurance...

Family of Kansas Woman Killed in Apartment Fire Blames 911 Dispatch Center for ‘Systemic Issues’

Dec 5 2023 // WICHITA, Kan. (AP) – The family of a 22-year-old woman who died in an apartment fire in Kansas’ largest city after mistakes by the 911 dispatch center believes the center has “systemic issues,” and the...

EWG Report Finds Rapidly Rising Crop Payouts As Climate Change Hits U.S. Agriculture

Dec 4 2023 // Drought, heat, hail, rain and freezing temperatures – the five horsemen of crop insurance.A new report from EWG found that crop insurance payouts for the top five weather-related losses totaled over $118.7 billion...

Ransomware Prompts Multistate Hospital Chain to Divert Some ER Patients

Nov 30 2023 // A ransomware attack has prompted a healthcare chain that operates 30 hospitals in six states to divert patients from at least some of its emergency rooms to other hospitals, while putting certain elective procedures on...

Kansas Refinery to Pay $23 Million for Clean Air Act Violations and Previous Pollution Problems

Nov 22 2023 // OFFEYVILLE, Kan. (AP) – A Kansas refinery has agreed to pay more than $23 million for violating the federal Clean Air Act and breaching a 2012 settlement for earlier pollution problems, the U.S. Justice Department and...

EWG Report Finds Rapidly Rising Crop Payouts As Climate Change Hits U.S. Agriculture

Nov 15 2023 // Drought, heat, hail, rain and freezing temperatures – the five horsemen of crop insurance.A new report from EWG found that crop insurance payouts for the top five weather-related losses totaled over $118.7 billion...

Kansas Judicial Branch Slowly Restoring Court Information Amid Ongoing Ransomware Investigation

Nov 13 2023 // TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – Nearly a month after a “security incident” with all the hallmarks of a ransomware attack, Kansas judicial officials are slowly renewing public access to court information. But for now,...