Kansas
A transgender professor at Kansas State University is suing for discrimination
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A transgender faculty member at Kansas State University alleged the university created a hostile environment and did not provide medical accommodations.
Associate professor Harlan Weaver filed a gender discrimination and retaliation lawsuit against KSU April 28. He is asking for $300,000 in damages, front and back pay including benefits and attorney’s fees.
Weaver was assigned female at birth but identifies as male. He was hired as an associate professor within the Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies Department in August 2015, according to court documents and his personal LinkedIn.
KSU’s communications director Michelle Geering said the university has yet to receive the lawsuit. She also declined to make any further comment stating she “would not comment on active litigation.”
What claims does Harlan Weaver make in his lawsuit against Kansas State University?
In March 2022, Weaver underwent a hysterectomy, which is a surgery to remove a uterus. This procedure requires a post-surgery recovery period of six to eight weeks.
In preparation for the surgery, Weaver claimed he ensured his duties would be covered through the appropriate university channels, according to the lawsuit However, he was then allegedly pressured by his cis gender supervisor and is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit, Christie Launius, into coming back to work before recovering. Launius did not immediately respond for comment.
Weaver reported back to work two weeks after his procedure and completed the Spring 2022 semester.
During the Fall 2022 semester, Weaver took a sabbatical and returned in time for the Spring 2023 semester. When he returned he found out that cis gender coworkers who also took a sabbatical were given more leniency and cooperation from Launius, according to court documents.
Weaver raised concerns to the department about the unfair treatment he had received in a department faculty meeting in January 2023 and again in the March 6, 2023 meeting.
On March 23, 2023, Weaver filed a complaint against Launius to the university’s Office of Institutional Equity for the differential treatment. After which, Weaver claims Launius’ demeanor became more negative against him and that Launius refused to acknowledge him on multiple occasions.
On April 17, 2023, the university held a meeting to address “tension” within the department and a co-worker had an aggressive and emotional outburst directed at Weaver stating he should be ashamed for filing a complaint, according to court documents. The co-worker is not named as a defendant in this lawsuit.
Weaver filed a second complaint on June 9, 2023 to the Office of Institutional Equity for the increasingly hostile environment created by Launius and his coworkers. Weaver claims the complaint was not addressed before closing two months later.
During that time, Launius was named interim department head despite Weaver’s objections.
In the Fall 2023 semester Weaver was allegedly the only one told he could no longer speak off topic during department faculty meetings. However, his submissions for discussion points were repeatedly denied by Launius.
During the October department meeting Weaver used the word orgasm, which is used when discussing sex education research. Soon afterwards, a coworker, Susan Rensing, filed a complaint against him for it. Rensing did not immediately respond for comment.
Near the end of October, Launius and Rensing allegedly took Weaver off the Queer Studies Committee without his consent or input, which would impact Weaver’s ability to get full professorship. He then alleged in his lawsuit that Launius withheld information about the full professorship application until after applications were due.
By summer time, Launius and Rensing moved to a different department and we’re no longer in direct contact with Weaver.
LOWER SWATARA, Pa. (WHP) — Police are searching for a teenager from Kansas who was reported missing Monday while visiting family in the Middletown area.
Lower Swatara Township officials said Jamilian Jones,16, was last seen around 1 p.m. in Harrisburg near 18th and Forester streets after being dropped off by a family member.
Officials said Jones was last seen wearing a purple Ed Hardy sweatshirt and blue jeans.
Anyone with information regarding her whereabouts should contact Lower Swatara Township Police at 717-558-6900.
KSHB 41 reporter Megan Abundis covers Kansas City, Missouri, including neighborhoods in the southern part of the city. She also focuses on issues regarding scams. Share your story idea with Megan.
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The Veterans Community Project completed its new outreach center in Kansas City, marking the latest milestone for the organization that began in 2016 with a vision to address veteran homelessness.
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Brandonn Mixon, chief project officer and co-founder of Veterans Community Project, said the growth reflects the support of the local community.
Veterans Community Project opens new, expanded Kansas City outreach center
“Going back to this just kind of a vision in 2016 with a group of combat veterans, to literally changing what veteran’s homeless looks like on a national scale, but it’s literally because of the Kansas City community,” Mixon said.
Mixon said the new building is already fulfilling its purpose of bringing veterans together.
“That’s what’s been great about this, Mixon said. “We’re seeing a big influx of veterans coming in and saying,’Hey I’m a veteran, how do I get involved? What can I do in KC? I want to be around other veterans.”‘ And that’s really what this building is doing,” Mixon said.
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The new outreach center evaluates and helps veterans with many things, including help at the center with military documentation, commissary, rent and bills, bus passes, resume writing, education, a Medicare broker and a workforce representative. In just a few months, the organization has helped 35 people find jobs.
Air Force veteran Terrion Lacy is a veteran with a new job. Lacy served from 1987 to 1994 as a radio communications analyst specialist.
Veterans’ Community Project helped him with his home and bills, a new car, and stable employment.
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“I needed help with my rent,” Lacy said.
Since starting his new job, Lacy has earned a role connected to the World Cup.
“Since I have been in my job, I’ve gotten two promotions,” Lacy said. “That extra boost of confidence continues to help me keep the optimism I already have.”
Lacy encouraged other veterans to seek out help through the organization.
“I am always optimistic, and even if you’re not as optimistic as me, I’m going to tell you, you need to come down here, because they will help you find some,” Lacy said. “If the walk leads you here, you can really believe you’re going to get help.”
Veterans’ Community Project now operates tiny home communities in Kansas City, St. Louis, Glendale, Milwaukee, Sioux Falls, Longmont, and recently announced a new projet in Dallas.
The organization also is planning a $2.5 million expansion of its headquarters, which had been operating out of a former auto shop garage.
“When it gets hot in there, its 90 degrees,” Mixon said.
Mixon said the space has become inadequate.
“To be honest with you, we outgrew our original building a long time ago, but at the end of the day, it’s about serving veterans,” Mixon said.
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The expansion, funded through donations, will repair the roof and HVAC system and create new offices to support the organization’s continued national growth.
“We have to expand before we keep going into other markets,” Mixon said. “Thank you for believing in us, thank you for giving us the opportunity to change lives and have these stories and I look forward to doing more in the future.”
Lacy said the outreach center offers something essential for veterans looking to rebuild.
“Any veteran that wants to better themselves, wants to find the community, this is where you get that at,” Lacy said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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Kansas governor Laura Kelly and Kansas City Chiefs owner Clark Hunt stand outside the Kansas state capitol after an agreement was reached for a new state-of-the-art domed stadium in Wyandotte County.
Kansas City Chiefs
The Kansas City Chiefs are moving from Missouri to Kansas and into a glistening, $3 billion dome, which will be surrounded by an entertainment district.
“It will be a world-class facility,” Kansas governor Laura Kelly said, “the envy of professional sports.”
But going across state lines could have a potentially significant downside: Reduced income for both Chiefs players and staff as a result of the state’s different tax provisions.
The Chiefs are slated to play — and therefore work — in Missouri’s Arrowhead Stadium complex until moving into their Kansas digs in 2031.
Currently, Kansas Citians who work in Missouri instead of Kansas pay less income tax, but the difference is marginal.
The top income tax rate in Kansas is 5.58%, and one reaches that rate with a taxable income of $46,000, which NFL players obviously would exceed. In Missouri it is 4.7% once taxable income reaches $9,436, and those who work in Kansas City, Mo. — like the Chiefs — pay another 1% as an earnings tax.
Another difference between the states is the corporate tax rate, which impacts the Chiefs as a privately held C corporation.
Both states have a base rate of 4%, but only Kansas assesses a surtax of 3% on taxable income of more than $50,000.
That discrepancy, though it wouldn’t impact the players’ individual income, is likely why Jason Sudeikis said tax issues forced him to film scenes from his Ted Lasso show in Missouri instead of Kansas.
And legislation in August could more drastically shift things between the border states.
As part of a special election on Aug. 4, Missourians will vote on Amendment 5.
If the amendment passes, it would eliminate individual state income tax in Missouri. So staying put at Arrowhead Stadium’s GEHA Field would have had financial benefits.
“If you have that situation,” Kenneth Woodward, a Kansas City-area certified public accountant, exclusively shared, “it would have been a totally different ballgame.” To put the numbers in perspective: If the amendment passes and the Chiefs had stayed in Missouri, a Chiefs player making $20 million a year would save about $1 million in taxes. (Guard Trey Smith, for example, will make $19.75 million in base salary this season, though that does not include his bonuses.)
The Chiefs could still save money while playing in Missouri through the end of the decade but not once they leave the Arrowhead complex in 2030 — unless Kansas changes its tax provisions before then, and Congress approves them.
Amendment 5 would not only impact players currently on the roster, but also the entire Chiefs staff, including owner Clark Hunt.
Moreover, it could have helped lure free agents.
After his then-Raiders team moved from Oakland, Calif., to Las Vegas, Nev., tight end Darren Waller lauded the financial windfall because Nevada is one of eight states — along with Alaska, Florida, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming — to have no state income tax. To offset the loss of income tax revenue, states typically increase sales tax, but Texas and Alaska compensate with taxes on oil drilling.
“Each state kind of deals with it on their own,” Woodward said. “They’re all going to get their money from somewhere. It’s not like the states are operating without revenue streams.”
Since moving to Kansas City from Dallas in the 1960s, the Chiefs have played in the state of Missouri.
But moving to Kansas became attractive to the Chiefs because the state will pay for about 60% of the new stadium through its sales tax and revenue (STAR) bonds.
The Wyandotte County in Kansas, City, Kan., location also offers ample space for the stadium to be surrounded by an entertainment district, featuring hotels, bars, restaurants and shops. That will provide further revenue streams and capitalize on the NFL trend.
The New England Patriots have Patriot Place, an outdoor complex adjacent to Gillette Stadium, which has restaurants, hotels, a movie theater and shops. The Dallas Cowboys’ The Star District has a 12,000-seat practice facility also used by high school teams and 19 restaurants, a hotel, a cigar bar, a spa and multiple shops.
Having that kind of complex is the upside of moving to Kansas for the Chiefs.
The downside is they may have cost themselves some future income by staying in Missouri.
“That would have been a big motivator for the Chiefs to stay just to be able to avoid that state income tax,” Woodward said. “If they complete the move to Kansas, then there’s nothing they’re going to be able to do other than just complain to Kansas.”Amendment 5’s Potential Consequences
The Lure Of Kansas
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