The Star:

TOPEKA | The Kansas Supreme Court upheld the murder conviction of Kimberly Danielle Sharp, one four people convicted in the death of a lobbyist for the homeless three years ago. (more…)

Source:

When Kris Kobach made a recent campaign stop in Salina — the former chairman of the Kansas Republican Party is running for Kansas Secretary of State — he was all about what he says is rampant voter fraud and his determination to clamp down on it. (more…)

NRO:

The grotesqueries of Chinese statism mount.

GUANGZHOU, China - Mrs. Chen can’t imagine abandoning one of her two best friends: her scruffy terrier mutt and a white fluffy Pekingese mix with buggy eyes.

But that’s what the government in this southern Chinese city wants the middle-aged housewife to do when a one-dog policy takes effect in Guangzhou.

Beginning July 1, each household can raise only one pooch. The regulation won’t be grandfathered in, so families with two or more dogs will apparently have to decide which one gets to stay.

Prime Buzz:

First it was Vice President Joe Biden.

Now it’s EPA chief Lisa Jackson who’s getting the strong arm, and some local tour advice, from Kansas Sen.Pat Roberts about her upcoming trip to Kansas City. (more…)

WSJ:

Such is the existence of David Duval, perhaps the most beguiling player in the U.S. Open field. Duval was up to his old tricks Friday, climbing the leaderboard with a first-round 67, or three-under-par, seven strokes better than his onetime rival Tiger Woods. Then he went out for his second round and reverted to his form for much of the past 10 years. (more…)

Politico:

President Obama’s campaign for health care reform by this fall, once considered highly likely to succeed, suddenly appears in real jeopardy. (more…)

LJ World:

In case there was any doubt, Kansas Republican Party leaders are backing U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback for governor. (more…)

The Star:

Sometimes you just have to sit back and behold what’s smack-dab in front of you.

What was in front of me last week was Sen. Sam Brownback’s powerful surge in Kansas. (more…)

The Post:

Millions of Iranians take to the streets to defy a theocratic dictatorship that, among its other finer qualities, is a self-declared enemy of America and the tolerance and liberties it represents. The demonstrators are fighting on their own, but they await just a word that America is on their side.

KSN:

WICHITA, Kansas - More environmental problems are coming to Exxon - this time in Kansas. The oil giant is facing criminal charges for unlawfully killing migratory birds in three Kansas counties. (more…)

WSJ:

China’s official media have been the recent target of a 45 billion yuan ($6.6 billion) push to expand their influence at home and abroad. This effort has seen the launch of an English edition of the Global Times, a major boost for the domestic and international operations of the official People’s Daily newspaper, and an ambitious plan for state broadcaster CCTV to become a global contender along the lines of CNN, BBC and Al Jazeera.

The  Star:

Two Lawrence eateries are among the Kansas Sampler Foundation’s winners of its 8 Wonders of Kansas Cuisine Contest. (more…)

WSJ:

The approach suggests an unusual reversal among the Americans and Europeans from recent history, with Washington emerging as a relatively passive voice and the European Union assuming the role of Tehran’s chief scold. (more…)

The Star:

How are business in normally-prosperous Johnson County doing in the recession? According to sales tax records, the answer is lousy. (more…)

Source:

The night before he headlines at the De Soto Chamber of Commerce Country Concert, Tracy Byrd will play at the Mecca of country music, the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tenn. (more…)

The Star:

Johnson County park officials said they don’t know exactly how much it will cost to kill more than 500 deer in Shawnee Mission Park this fall. (more…)

The Star:

The First National Bank of Anthony, known in this market as the First National Bank of Johnson County, became the nation’s 40th bank to fail this year. (more…)

Club for Growth:

From the Washington Post:

The activist legislator in [Iowa Senator Chuck] Grassley would like to affix his name to what he calls “the biggest bill of my career,” and most voters in his increasingly Democratic state would presumably applaud him for it. For months, he has sought bipartisan consensus on health-care reform with his old friend and longtime collaborator, Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.). Grassley emerged yesterday as a charter member of the “coalition of the willing,” a group of four Republicans and three Democrats seeking common ground in the Senate.

Every indication shows that a government-run plan is a bridge too far for Grassley, but a “bipartisan consensus” should always concern fiscal conservatives.

NRO:

Can a president speak out forcefully in favor of an opposition cheated in an election without inflaming a nationalist reaction? Well, President Clinton did it. Four days after Milosevic stole an election in September 2000 - in a country we had just bombed - Clinton issued this statement: (more…)

The Star:

I went looking for trouble Thursday morning and found none - not that I’m complaining. (more…)

WSJ:

The Minnesota Twins catcher has never hit above .347 in a full season. And no catcher has topped .362, the mark set by Mike Piazza in 1997. But after going 1-for-4 on Thursday against Pittsburgh, Mauer is hitting .425, and has the best shot at becoming Major League Baseball’s first .400 hitter in 68 years since … well, maybe only since Chipper Jones last year.

The Post:

What’s happening on the streets of Tehran is a lesson in what makes history: It isn’t guns or secret police, in the end, but the willingness of hundreds of thousands of people to risk their lives to protest injustice. That is what overthrew the shah of Iran in 1979, and it is now shaking the mullahs.

WSJ:

Network-security firm Arbor Networks says it has a rough sketch of how the government’s firewall works and that it appears to be selectively blocking Internet applications, particularly online video and email. (more…)

The Examiner:

What’s next in the budding scandal over President Obama’s abrupt firing of Gerald Walpin, the inspector general of AmeriCorps?
(more…)

NY Post:

THE next time he sees President Obama, Mayor Bloomberg should lay out how the White House’s auto-industry bailouts have hit hard at US financial markets — and so hurt New York’s future. (more…)