KANSAS

Republicans still waiting on Pompeo in key Senate race

TOPEKA – Even though U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has declared a Senate run to be “off the table” next year, many fellow Republicans in Washington and his home state of Kansas aren’t buying it.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is among the GOP senators encouraging the former congressman to rethink a run for Kansas’ open Senate seat.

For Republicans, wooing President Donald Trump’s top diplomat to run for Senate stems in part out of fear that a crowded field could lead to the nomination of a more divisive Trump ally, Kris Kobach.

The former Kansas secretary of state and advocate of tough immigration policies lost the governor’s race last year to Democrat Laura Kelly. Some in the party are afraid he’ll again tap a conservative base, emerge from a crowded primary, alienate moderate voters and lose an otherwise safe seat that Republicans likely need to maintain their narrow Senate majority.

Buzz about Pompeo built again with the announcement that he would speak Sept. 6 at Kansas State University at a public affairs lecture series. The timing raised expectations that Pompeo would make his plans known before then, rather than let the guessing game extend into the fall.

The scrum in Kansas began when four-term GOP Sen. Pat Roberts announced in January that he wouldn’t seek re-election in 2020, but it’s been left in suspended animation by the speculation about whether Pompeo really has decided against running.

Two Democrats, Barry Grissom, a former federal prosecutor, and former Rep. Nancy Boyda, of northeast Kansas, have launched campaigns.

The GOP has won every U.S. Senate race in Kansas since 1932, and registered Republicans outnumber Democrats among the state’s 1.8 million voters by more than 3-to-2. But the 2020 vote will come two years after the GOP lost the governor’s office and a Kansas City-area congressional seat and had to work hard to hold an eastern Kansas seat.

NEW MEXICO

State officials outline domestic terrorism legislation

SANTA FE – New Mexico state legislative leaders and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has outlined proposals to write definitions for domestic terrorism into state statutes to bolster investigatory powers and possibly stiffen penalties related to hate crimes.

The proposals came in response to recent mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, and were announced at the end of a one-day domestic terrorism summit involving lawmakers, prosecutors, Cabinet members and local law enforcement officials.

Participants gathered in the governor’s office for a briefing by the FBI and discussions about how to respond in particular to the Aug. 3 shooting at a Walmart in El Paso that killed 22 people.

Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, said changes to state statutes regarding terrorism-related crimes would be aimed at strengthening investigative capabilities. Attorney General Hector Balderas said proposals could include some stronger penalties for hate-related crimes.

Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth said the El Paso shootings add urgency to stalled efforts to enact red-flag legislation that makes it easier to petition a judge to take firearms from people who may be a danger to themselves or others.

Sheriffs from rural communities across much of New Mexico were vocal critics of a red-flag bill that stalled in the state Senate this year.

UTAH

Mormon church warns youths about coffee, vaping

SALT LAKE CITY – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has issued a warning to young members that coffee is prohibited no matter how fancy the name, that vaping is banned despite the alluring flavors and that marijuana is outlawed unless prescribed by “competent” doctors.

The new guidance in the August issue of a church youth magazine does not include fundamental changes to the religion’s strict health code, but the clarifications are significant and seem to reflect growing concern about young Latter-day Saints’ adherence to the rules.

The article says it aims to clear up issues that could be confusing for young people within the religion’s “Word of Wisdom,” a set of rules about what foods and drinks are good for members and what substances they should avoid.

The rules prohibit alcohol, tobacco, illegal drugs and coffee and tea. They are based on what church members believe was a revelation from God to founder Joseph Smith in 1833.

The faith’s rejection of coffee has long generated curiosity and more than a few jokes, including a scene in the biting satirical Broadway musical called “The Book of Mormon” where dancing cups of coffee appear in missionary’s nightmare.

The article warn: “[D]rinks with names that include cafe or caffe, mocha, latte, espresso, or anything ending in -ccino usually have coffee in them and are against the Word of Wisdom.”

The passage about marijuana seems to underscore the faith’s desire to carve out a space to allow some members to use medical marijuana, while reiterating that recreational use is prohibited. The faith worked with Utah state legislators, many of them church members, and medical marijuana advocates to craft a medical marijuana program last year.

NEBRASKA

Huskers overrule parking penalty against governor

LINCOLN – The University of Nebraska’s parking referees have thrown a flag after spotting Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts’ official vehicle illegally parked outside the Cornhuskers’ football practice facility.

But after further review, the penalty called on Aug. 14 for parking in a reserved area was overturned, and the ticket was withdrawn.

A Ricketts spokesman says university officials told the Nebraska State Patrol to park in the spot where the vehicle was ticketed and withdrew the citation “after that was made clear.”

University spokeswoman Leslie Reed says the ticket was issued due to a miscommunication and was promptly invalidated.

Ricketts was on campus to watch the team practice before their season opener against South Alabama on Aug. 31.

NEW MEXICO

Muslim lawmaker speaks out on immigrant poem

ALBUQUERQUE – The first Muslim elected to the New Mexico Legislature is speaking out against a Trump administration official who said the inscription on the Statue of Liberty welcomed only people from Europe.

State Rep. Abbas Akhil told The Associated Press that comments by Ken Cuccinelli, acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, were divisive and racist.

The Albuquerque Democrat says Emma Lazarus’ poem welcoming “your tired, your poor, your huddled masses” spoke to him when he came to the U.S. in 1972 from India.

Cuccinelli had said the poem should read “give me your tired and your poor who can stand on their own two feet and who will not become a public charge.”