Kansas
Kansas State football quarterback Avery Johnson embraces leadership role at a young age
Kansas State football quarterback Avery Johnson talks about leadership
Kansas State football quarterback Avery Johnson talks about putting in the extra work required to win the respect of his teammates as a leader.
K-State Athletics
Kansas State football coach Chris Klieman knew from the moment he started recruiting Avery Johnson, that there was something about him, a certain presence that you want in a quarterback.
“He had an it factor,” Klieman said of Johnson, who indeed will be the Wildcats’ starting quarterback this season as a sophomore. “You can tell the guys that have it factors, and the confidence but not arrogance.”
From the time he arrived in Manhattan last year as a true freshman after a standout career at Maize High School, Johnson has done nothing to dispel that notion. His athleticism — particularly his speed, agility and arm strength — all were on display at various times last year when he served as Will Howard’s backup.
Johnson’s finest hours came in 2023 came during a game at Texas Tech, where he ran for five touchdowns in a come-from-behind victory, and then as most valuable player as starting quarterback in the Pop-Tarts Bowl after Howard entered the transfer portal.
Kansas State football quarterback Avery Johnson is ready to lead the Wildcats’ offense
But what has stood out about Johnson perhaps as much as his physical tools, is his ability to command the respect of teammates as well as coaches at such a tender age.
“For a young, young player, he has been a great leader, as well as learning from some of these older guys that are here with him,” Klieman said.
Establishing himself as a leader has been a priority for Johnson ever since he learned that he would start the bowl game. It carried over to the spring and now through player-led summer workouts.
“Just trying to be more vocal and get in front of the guys whenever I get the chance and just continue to lead by example, and just doing my best to gain everybody’s trust,” Johnson said. “I feel like the biggest thing is whenever adversity strikes, whether that’s in the weight room or struggling in the warmup or practice, a run, whatever it might be, just get in front of the team and being vocal and encouraging guys.
“Not bringing guys down, but just trying to pick them up and then let them know to get back to our standard.”
Add Kansas State football quarterbacks coach Matt Wells to list of Avery Johnson fans
It didn’t take winning the starting job for Johnson to demonstrate the it factor that Klieman saw during the recruiting process. That is why he didn’t hesitate in bringing Johnson to Las Vegas on Tuesday as one of K-State’s five representatives at Big 12 media days.
“We saw enough last year that for us, we knew he was going to be the guy long term for us, and he was ready for the moment,” Klieman said. “It was his time and I told him when we recruited him, he’s going to be the face of the program.
“And it came up late in his first year where he ended up truly being the face, and I’m excited because he’s taken that mantle really well, and he’s been a great leader.”
Johnson has earned the team’s respect by putting his money where his mouth is, Klieman added.
“He always has been a really mature guy. But he’s a humble guy, and he works his tail off,” Klieman said. “He’s the best competitor I’ve been around since Easton Stick, and I had Easton at North Dakota State for five years, and he’s with the Chargers.
Kansas State football quarterback Avery Johnson’s maturity shines through in bowl victory
“Avery is that kind of competitor. If you come out and watch a morning run, he’s not losing any of the competition drills. He’s not losing any of the races where it’s not a race, where he’s just going to finish first in everything he does.”
Super-senior linebacker and team captain Austin Moore agreed.
“He is accepted as the guy because he puts in the work, and not only is he an exceptional talent, which anyone can see by just watching him,” Moore said in an interview with Go Powercat. “But he’s someone that’s going to put in the work and have the talent, which is a rare thing to see.
“I’ve been around for a long time, and you don’t see that happen a whole lost.”
For Johnson, his leadership remains a work in progress.
“Just trying to be more vocal,” he reiterated. “Other than that, just continuing to put my head down and work and continue to lead by example.”
Arne Green is based in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett network. He can be reached at agreen@gannett.com or on Twitter at @arnegreen.
Kansas
Kansas bills would end grace period for mail ballots and ban ranked-choice voting
Fact-checking Trump’s claims about windmills and the Panama Canal
President Trump made some questionable claims about birthright citizenship, renewable energy costs and voter turnout in the 2024 election.
Kansas’s two election committees are fast at work in the Kansas Statehouse this year and have already had hearings on some of the more controversial election bills being considered.
Kansas has taken on a flurry of election security bills since 2020, when President Donald Trump baselessly blamed widespread voter fraud for his defeat. Some of the laws that passed in the Statehouse fell flat in the courts, namely the prohibition of “impersonating an election employee.”
Democrats have signalled that they’re not willing to work on many of the bills being considered.
“Anything that makes voting more difficult for Kansans is going to be a nonstarter with us,” said Senate Minority Leader Dinah Sykes, D-Lenexa.
Kansas bill considers ending the ballot grace period
In 2017, the Kansas Legislature approved a three-day grace period for ballots that were sent before Election Day, but received by a county election office up to three days after the election. A bill that would make a hard deadline of 7 p.m. on Election Day for ballots was recommended to be passed by the Senate Committee on Federal and State Affairs despite substantial pushback from opponents.
Identical bills have passed the Senate and House over the past few years, but they’ve failed to overcome Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto.
Election Day is the mail-ballot deadline for most states, with 32 states requiring the return of mail-in ballots as the polls close. The other 18, plus Puerto Rico, Washington, D.C., and the Virgin Islands allows ballots after Election Day if it is postmarked with the date it was sent.
Written testimony for the bill largely skewed oppositional, with more than 50 organizations and private citizens asking the committee to reject the bill compared to 10 proponents.
Proponents argued that the U.S. Postal Service postmarks are unreliable, would speed up tabulation and would make elections more secure.
“Nothing in this bill does anything to change voters access. Kansas makes it very easy to vote. This law would also make it harder to cheat,” said Jason Sneed, executive director of Honest Elections Action Project, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that advocates for tougher election security laws.
Sneed previously managed the Heritage Foundation’s election fraud database, which found 16 cases of voter fraud in Kansas since 2005.
Opponents included several civil rights groups and civic organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union, the League of Women Voters and the Disability Rights Center. Opponents argued that the bill was uncontroversial when it passed in 2017, and responded to delayed USPS service that has only gotten worse since. Some also said this would throw out ballots and cause confusion among voters.
“Could you tell me your mail delivery time? How long it’s going to take for any letters? You don’t know,” said Davis Hammet, president of the youth voter access and engagement advocate Loud Light. “Weather events can happen that create mail delays that are outside of anyone’s control. So this is just a common sense simple thing. It’s about protecting people from some of the failures of the federal government.”
Ann Mah, former Democratic representative from Topeka and former Kansas State Board of Education member, called the bill “pure voter suppression” of Democrats, who are more likely to vote by mail than Republicans.
The bill was also opposed by the Kansas County Clerks and Election Officials Association, which represents the county clerks and election officials in the state.
“Most properly mailed advance ballots are returned the day after the election but diminishing quantities continue to be received after Election Day,” said Rick Piepho, the elections committee chair of the KCCEOA.
An identical bill, House Bill 2017, is submitted to the House, but so far the House Elections Committee hasn’t scheduled a hearing on it.
Bill would ban ranked-choice voting in Kansas
Sen. Mike Thompson, R-Shawnee, introduced a bill that would ban ranked-choice voting in Kansas, which hasn’t been adopted by any city thus far. Current state law doesn’t have a method for ranked-choice voting outlined in statute, meaning cities couldn’t do it unless lawmakers passed a law allowing it according to the Kansas Revisor of Statutes.
Madeline Malisa, a visiting fellow at Opportunity Solutions Project, argued that ranked-choice voting has been a “nightmare” in Maine, where she lives. She said the tabulation process throws out ballots, is too complicated and increases the chance of less-popular candidates to gain office.
Maine adopted ranked-choice voting in 2018, but several Republican-led states have soured on the idea after Alaska elected its first Democrat in decades in its first ranked-choice election.
Ranked-choice voting advocates argued that the practice could improve the voting process and that several of the proponents’ ideas aren’t backed up by evidence. About 75% of Utah voters who participated in a ranked-choice voting pilot found it easy, though neither ranked-choice or single-vote plurality voting reached majority support.
Resolution would say noncitizens can’t vote in Kansas
A House resolution proposed slightly altering the Kansas Constitution to more explicitly state that noncitizens aren’t allowed to vote, though Kansas’s laws have interpreted the current language as doing just that for over 100 years.
Some municipalities across the country have allowed noncitizens to vote in local elections, though they’re barred from participating in federal elections. No city in Kansas has followed suit.
The bill was supported by two out-of-state advocacy organizations, Americans for Citizen Voting and Opportunity Solutions Project. The ACLU, Loud Light and League of Women Voters opposed it.
Currently, Kansas enfranchises “every citizen of the United States who has attained the age of 18 years and who resides in the voting area in which he or she seeks to vote.” Proponents of the bill argue that it still leaves some wiggle room for municipalities to allow noncitizen voting.
“It does not prohibit a municipality from allowing a non-citizen to vote legally. It is granting the right to vote to citizens of the United States but not reserving the right to vote to only citizens of the United States,” Becky Arps, director of research for Americans for Citizen Voting, wrote to the House Elections Committee.
About 15 states have language explicitly barring noncitizens from voting. Arps said some states with similar language to Kansas’s statutes have cities that allow noncitizen voting. But Arps couldn’t point to any currently existing city in Kansas that allows noncitizen voting.
“I am unaware of any situations where noncitizens are voting,” Arps said. “You are at risk for a municipality that maybe even considers themselves a sanctuary city, I don’t know if you have any of those or that consider themselves that, they would be a municipality that might decide to allow noncitizens to vote.”
The committee hearing turned contentious when Hammet, president of Loud Light, could give people the impression that illegal immigrants are voting in elections and increase incendiary rhetoric surrounding immigration. He referred to the Garden City bombing plot in 2016 as an example of violence targeted at immigrants.
“In their legal defense, they tried to say that they thought it was OK because of the political rhetoric about immigrants. And I know that’s no one’s intention here, to be clear, but I just want you to think about this. Legally and practically, it won’t do anything, but it could create fuel on the fire for some radical groups,” Hammet said.
Lawmakers grilled Hammet, who is frequently an oppositional voice in committee hearings, for invoking political violence and his use of the term xenophobic.
“It’s a little distasteful that we got into this,” said Rep. Ricky James, R-La Cygne.
If it passes, the resolution would require approval by voters in a statewide election.
Bill would require comparison of voter rolls to temporary drivers’ licenses
House Bill 2020 was the least controversial of the election bills that got a committee hearing this week, with even opponent testimony saying it agreed with the concept of the bill but had concerns about how it would work in practice. The bill would require the Division of Motor Vehicles to provide a list of all temporary drivers’ licenses issued to noncitizens to the secretary of state, who would compare the list with voter registration rolls and delete any noncitizens on the rolls.
General counsel for the Kansas Secretary of State’s Office said the process is similar to what the office has been doing on its own.
“Essentially what this bill does is it makes a statutory requirement of something that’s been going on for about 15 years, and we recently worked with Gov. Kelly on this where the Department of Motor Vehicles would give us a list of people that have a temporary driver’s license, and we would compare it to the voter rolls, trying to identify anyone that might be a noncitizen,” Clay Barker said.
Loud Light and the ACLU submitted testimony in opposition to the bill, but Hammet said the system should required investigation and due diligence before removing people from voter rolls.
“The most dangerous thing you could do is assume that you can take two lists and perfectly compare them,” Hammet said.
Kansas
The Best Kansas City Chiefs Merch for Every Fan (and Swifty)
From special-edition Patrick Mahomes jerseys to Travis Kelce puffer jackets, here’s the best Chiefs gear to pick up ahead of Super Bowl LIX
If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Rolling Stone may receive an affiliate commission.
After a 32-29 victory over the Buffalo Bills, the Kansas City Chiefs are headed to the Super Bowl. That’s nothing new — this will be their fifth Super Bowl appearance since 2020 — but history is on the line this time. If Patrick Mahomes and Co. can take down the Philadelphia Eagles, the Chiefs will be the first team in NFL history to hit a three-peat.
If you’re looking to rep Kansas City (or Taylor Swift) during this year’s Super Bowl LIX, read on. Below, we’ve rounded up some of the best Chiefs merch to buy online — whether you’re supporting from the stands, a Super Bowl party, or a sports bar.
Best Kansas City Chiefs Merch to Buy Online
Some of our favorite places to buy Chiefs merch are Nike, Fanatics, and ‘47. We also love Amazon for Chiefs merch and memorabilia, although be aware that not everything on the Everything Store is officially licensed. Another place we check for any merch is Etsy, which is all fan-made, but you can score fun pieces like this Go Taylor’s Boyfriend sweatshirt that you won’t find through official vendors.
Here are some of our favorite pieces of Chiefs merch to buy right now:
Off Season x NFL Travis Kelce Puffer
Can you guess who made this Off Season Kelce puffer jacket go viral? Correct, it was Taylor. Prior to the jacket’s release this January, the superstar wore it to one of the Chiefs games and everyone noticed. We think it’s one of the best pieces of Chiefs merch because it’s more unique than a jersey and well-suited to the frigid winter we’ve been having.
Chiefs New Era 2024 AFC Champions Hat
With their win over the Bills, the Chiefs picked up their fifth AFC Championship. If you’re looking to celebrate that milestone, check out this official 2024 AFC Champions locker hat, complete with commemorative graphics.
Nike Patrick Mahomes Chiefs Super Bowl LIX Jersey
You can’t go wrong with an official jersey, and you definitely can’t go wrong with a jersey for one of the best quarterbacks of all time. This special edition Super Bowl LIX Mahomes jersey is already selling out on Nike, so grab one fast if you want it for the big game.
Nike Travis Kelce Chiefs Super Bowl LIX Jersey
Another one of the best jerseys to pick up right now is this Super Bowl LIX Travis Kelce kit. Fanatics has both white and red variants in stock.
Go Taylor’s Boyfriend Sweatshirt
Taylor Swift might not be an official member of the Chiefs, but she’s certainly one of the team’s biggest stars. If you’re watching the game to join her in cheering on boyfriend Kelce, pick up this “Go Taylor’s Boyfriend” sweatshirt on Etsy.
‘47 Chiefs Snapback
We’re big fans of ‘47, a brand that specializes in throwback-inspired merch like this fresh Chiefs snapback. The Chiefs logo is embroidered on the front, and the whole thing looks (and feels) more high-quality than your typical sports gear.
‘47 Chiefs Beanie
Another great pick from ‘47 is this Chiefs beanie. It features a low-key style, a cozy microfleece build with raised front embroidery, and a pom up top.
Junk Food Clothing x NFL Chiefs Tee
If you just want a straightforward, affordable piece of Chiefs merch, check out this officially licensed T-shirt from Junk Food. It’s currently on sale at Amazon for 20% off, bringing the price to just $24.
YouTheFan Chiefs Party Bowl
Throwing a Chiefs Super Bowl watch party? Pick up this Kansas City snacks bowl. The large vessel is dishwasher and microwave-safe, and it features Chiefs branding on the inside and out.
Simple Modern Chiefs Tumbler Cup
This large 30-ounce tumbler is a great Stanley Cup replacement if you want a more celebratory cup. It’s insulated to keep drinks hot or cold for hours and works well for Super Bowl party beverages as well as daily drinks.
Kansas
Kansas tuberculosis outbreak becomes largest ever in US
An unprecedented tuberculosis (TB) outbreak in Kansas has reached historic levels, becoming the largest recorded in U.S. history.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) has reported 67 active cases since 2024, with 60 in Wyandotte County and 7 in Johnson County.
Additionally, 79 latent infections—77 in Wyandotte County and 2 in Johnson County—have been identified.
“Currently, Kansas has the largest outbreak that they’ve ever had in history,” Ashley Goss, a deputy secretary at the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), told the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee on January 21, according to the Topeka Capital-Journal.
A KDHE spokesperson later clarified the statement, explaining that the current outbreak “is the largest documented outbreak in U.S. history.” Newsweek contacted the KDHE via email for further comment.
Why This Matters
TB, though treatable, remains a serious infectious disease that can lead to complications and fatalities if untreated. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate 13 million Americans live with inactive TB and about 10 percent of these individuals could develop active TB without treatment.
The sharp rise in TB cases—from 51 statewide in 2023 to 109 in 2024—has placed a spotlight on public health measures. Kansas health officials are actively working to contain the outbreak, partnering with the CDC to prevent further transmission.
What to Know
TB is caused by bacteria that primarily attack the lungs but can affect other parts of the body. The infection spreads through the air via coughs or speech but requires prolonged contact for transmission.
Active TB disease makes individuals sick and is infectious, while latent TB infections are dormant, non-contagious and symptom-free but can become active.
Treatment is available for both active and latent TB infections and involves a several-month regimen of antibiotics. Active TB patients are typically non-contagious after 10 days of treatment.
Wyandotte County has been the hardest hit, but health officials maintain that the general public remains at “very low risk.”
What People Are Saying
Goss told the Senate Committee: “Some of you are aware, we have and still have mobilized staff and resources addressing an unprecedented tuberculosis outbreak in one of our counties. We are working collaboratively with CDC on that. CDC remains on the ground with us to support. That’s not a negative.
“This is normal when there’s something unprecedented or a large outbreak of any kind, they will come and lend resources to us to help get a stop to that.”
What Happens Next
Kansas health officials and the CDC are continuing their collaborative response to the outbreak.
Their efforts include identifying and testing individuals who have been in close contact with TB patients and ensuring that both active and latent cases receive proper treatment.
Vaccinations for TB are available in the U.S., though they are seldom used, according to the CDC.
For now, Goss said that infections are “trending in the right direction.”
Is there a health problem that’s worrying you? Do you have a question about low blood pressure? Let us know via health@newsweek.com. We can ask experts for advice and your story could be featured in Newsweek.
-
Culture1 week ago
Book Review: ‘Somewhere Toward Freedom,’ by Bennett Parten
-
Business1 week ago
Opinion: Biden delivered a new 'Roaring '20s.' Watch Trump try to take the credit.
-
News1 week ago
Judges Begin Freeing Jan. 6 Defendants After Trump’s Clemency Order
-
Business5 days ago
Instagram and Facebook Blocked and Hid Abortion Pill Providers’ Posts
-
News3 days ago
Hamas releases four female Israeli soldiers as 200 Palestinians set free
-
Politics4 days ago
Oklahoma Sen Mullin confident Hegseth will be confirmed, predicts who Democrats will try to sink next
-
World3 days ago
Israel Frees 200 Palestinian Prisoners in Second Cease-Fire Exchange
-
News1 week ago
A Heavy Favorite Emerges in the Race to Lead the Democratic Party