Kansas
Kansas City Royals Pitcher Proving Last Season Wasn’t a Fluke
The Kansas City Royals were able to surprise some folks last season, going 86-76 en route to a postseason berth. While they’re not having the same success in the win column to begin the 2025 campaign, they’re still finding ways to surprise.
Former Stanford Cardinal left-hander Kris Bubic is off to a tremendous start, holding a 1.45 ERA through five outings, covering 31 innings of work. He’s 2-1 on the year with a 1.06 WHIP and has 33 strikeouts in his time on the bump.
Last season, after returning from Tommy John, he was used in relief and held a 2.67 ERA across 27 appearances (30.1 innings) while holding a 1.02 WHIP and striking out 39.
The ERA has gone down in roughly the same number of innings, his WHIP has stayed fairly consistent. His strikeouts per nine are down, but he’s also pitching as a starter this season as opposed to airing it out for one inning at a time out of the bullpen.
At this point in the season, he’s looking very much like the guy that he showed us in 2024, which is a very different version of who he was before. The left-hander still holds a career 4.40 ERA, so what has changed?
While his velocity is down from last season, again, he’s not pitching out of the bullpen, so that is to be expected. Last year he was averaging 93 miles per hour on his four-seam, and this year it’s at 92.2 mph, which is a touch higher than it had been in ’23 or ’22 when it sat around 91.8.
But it’s not the velocity that is the biggest difference-maker for Bubic. It’s the movement on the pitch. According to Statcast, his four-seamer now has a lot more vertical movement. In simple terms, it went from ranked right around No. 185 all the way up to No. 28.
Before the injury, Bubic was a fastball/changeup guy, but since his return last season he has incorporated a sweeper as his second most-used offering, utilizing it 22.1% of the time this season. It also has a batting average against (BAA) of just .200, and has given him a fifth offering in his arsenal.
While his four-seamer, changeup, and slider still generate more whiffs, the sweeper produces the lowest average exit velocity at 83.4 mph. Adding a pitch that can produce weaker contact is always a winning idea.
Last night in his outing against the Colorado Rockies–in Colorado where all bets are off–he went seven scoreless innings, gave up four hits, no walks, and struck out six. While pitching in Coors is tough for seemingly any pitcher, facing the 2025 Rockies lineup has to make the task a touch easier.
It’s not like all of Bubic’s outings have come against the Rockies, however. He’s also faced the New York Yankees and Cleveland Guardians, the two teams that battled in the American League Championship Series last season. His other two starts came against the Milwaukee Brewers and Baltimore Orioles, two teams that won their divisions a year ago.
His next scheduled start should represent another good test, as he’s slated to go up against the Houston Astros on Sunday at home. If he gets through that one ok, then the real test this season will be as he heaps on innings after not crossing the 100-inning mark since 2022, having tossed 16, 30.1, and 31 innings (so far) the past three seasons.
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Kansas
RESULTS: NE Kansas high schools to play Friday after Tuesday sub-state wins
TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – Below is a look at the results from Tuesday night’s high school basketball sub-state semifinals in Northeast Kansas.
Editor’s Note: This story will be updated with what schools are hosting when that information becomes readily available.
WIBW Scoreboard
BOYS
5A East Boys: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results
- KC Washington 68, Highland Park 38
- Shawnee Heights 49, De Soto 37 (will play Leavenworth Friday)
5A West Boys: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results
- Topeka West 55, Hutchinson 32 (will play Bishop Carroll Friday)
- Emporia 61, Great Bend 41 (will play Maize South Friday)
- Seaman 73, Valley Center 51 (will play Hays Friday)
3A West Franklin Boys: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results
- Burlington 60, Osage City 35 (will play Baxter Springs Friday)
3A Sabetha Boys: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results
- Hiawatha 73, Oskaloosa 48 (will play Heritage Christian Friday)
- Silver Lake 58, Sabetha 39 (will play Perry-Lecompton Friday 7:30 p.m.)
GIRLS
6A West Girls: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results
- Washburn Rural 60, Wichita South 32 (will play Derby)
- Topeka High 69, Maize 45 (will play Liberal)
- Manhattan 67, Free State 21 (will play Wichita East)
4A East Girls: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results
- Rock Creek 71, Parsons 23 (will play Tonganoxie)
- Wamego 54, Labette County 33 (will play Bishop Miege)
- Hayden 2, Athison 0 (will play Baldwin)
2A Eskridge/Mission Valley Girls: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results
- Rossville 71, KC Christian 49 (will play Maur Hill-Mount Academy)
- Lyndon 61, Jeff. Co. North 31 (will play Valley Heights)
- Valley Heights 65, Doniphan West 41 (will play Lyndon)
Copyright 2026 WIBW. All rights reserved.
Kansas
Doe v. State of Kansas | American Civil Liberties Union
In early 2026, the Kansas state legislature passed SB 244, a law which prohibits transgender people from using public restrooms on government property that align with their gender identity and establishes a private right of action that allows anyone who suspects someone is transgender and in violation of the law to sue that person for “damages” totaling $1,000.
The law also invalidates state-issued driver’s licenses with updated gender markers that reflect the carrier’s gender identity. In February 2026, transgender people across the state received letters from the state Department of Revenue’s Division of Vehicles informing them that their driver’s licenses “will no longer be valid,” effective immediately. SB 244 also prohibits transgender Kansans – or those born in Kansas – from updating the gender marker on state-issued birth certificates and driver’s licenses in the future.
The same day SB 244 went into effect, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Kansas, and Ballard Spahr LLP filed a lawsuit challenging SB 244 in the District Court of Douglas County on behalf of two transgender men who had their driver’s licenses invalidated under the law. The lawsuit charges that SB 244 violates the Kansas Constitution’s protections for personal autonomy, privacy, equality under the law, due process, and freedom of speech.
“The invalidation of state-issued IDs threatens to out transgender people against their will every time they apply for a job, rent an apartment, or interact with police,” said Harper Seldin, Senior Staff Attorney for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Rights Project. “Taken as a whole, SB 244 is a transparent attempt to deny transgender people autonomy over their own identities and push them out of public life altogether.”
Kansas
Kansas City man sentenced for cocaine trafficking, possession of illegal firearm
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – A Kansas City man was sentenced in federal court for his role in a drug trafficking conspiracy and possession of an illegal firearm.
According to the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri, 22-year-old Antoine R. Gillum was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison without parole.
His sentencing stems from a June 2024 incident in a metro gas station. KCPD investigators contacted Gillum inside and found that he had discarded a 9 mm pistol in an aisle between the merchandise. He also discarded a pill bottle containing multiple illegal substances: cocaine base, oxycodone/acetaminophen and oxycodone.
Officers searched the vehicle Gillum had arrived in and found approximately 32 grams of cocaine base.
On May 6, 2025, Gillum pleaded guilty to one count each of possession with intent to distribute cocaine and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica Jennings. It’s a part of ‘Operation Take Back America,’ a nationwide Department of Justice initiative to eliminate cartels and transnational criminal organizations.
No further information has been released.
Copyright 2026 KCTV. All rights reserved.
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