Posted: 9:19 AM President Barack Obama is back in Hawaii for vacation after a tense, end-of-the-new-year standoff with Congress over the fiscal cliff.

Posted: 9:11 AM An emergency deal reached after weeks of rancorous negotiations will keep the U.S. from driving off the so-called fiscal cliff, but higher taxes and continued political bickering in Washington threaten to shake the fragile U.S. economy well into 2013.

Posted: 6:39 AM The Kansas Chamber of Commerce wants to allow the state's groceries and convenience stores to sell wine, liquor and full-strength beer.

Posted: 7:14 PM Even if U.S. lawmakers avoid the so-called fiscal cliff, higher taxes and brinksmanship in Washington are likely to continue damaging the fragile economy well into 2013.

Updated: 10:09 PM Final approval came in the House on New Year's Night. The vote was 257 to 167.

Updated: 4:54 PM Her doctors say the blood clot did not result in a stroke, or neurological damage.

Updated: 9:54 PM The measure would extend Bush-era tax cuts for family incomes below $450,000 and briefly avert across-the-board spending cuts set to strike the Pentagon and domestic agencies this week.

Posted: 10:16 AM House Speaker Ray Merrick has turned down a request from Kansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Lawton Nuss to address the 2013 Legislature.

Posted: 8:56 AM Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach says increasing the power of his office is the best way to deter people from double-voting.

Posted: 8:36 AM Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach rejects the idea that a tough stance against illegal immigration is at least partly to blame for fellow Republican Mitt Romney's loss in the presidential election.

Updated: 8:34 AM  

Posted: 8:31 AM Two newly elected Kansas legislators from Wichita have endorsed a proposal to hold city and local school board elections at the same time as elections for state offices in even-numbered years.

Updated: 6:27 PM The White House says President Barack Obama plans to make a statement following a meeting with congressional leaders on the fiscal cliff.

Posted: 12:23 PM When congressional leaders gather at the White House this afternoon, they'll be hearing a limited proposal from President Barack Obama aimed at avoiding the tax increases and deep spending cuts that are slated to take effect next week.

Posted: 8:30 AM Incoming Kansas Senate President Susan Wagle has appointed three new aides, filling her last staff vacancies.

Posted: 10:47 AM Former President George H.W. Bush remained in guarded condition overnight in the intensive care unit at a Houston hospital after a day marked by what his spokesman called "a series of setbacks including persistent fever."

Posted: 9:43 AM Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach's attempts to influence immigration policy and how the U.S. conducts elections are expected to pull his home-state Legislature into two contentious political debates in the coming year.

Updated: 10:39 AM Progress toward avoiding the "fiscal cliff" appears to be stalled -- with the Senate's top Democrat accusing House Speaker John Boehner of standing in the way of a solution to the looming tax hikes and spending cuts.

Updated: 8:20 AM A Kansas House member says lawmakers are likely to debate proposals next year to change the scheduling of local elections around the state.

Updated: 9:21 PM Lt. Gov. Brian Schatz selected to replace Inouye who died Dec. 17 of respiratory complications at 88

Posted: 1:42 PM Sen. Mike Crapo's arrest Sunday in a Washington, D.C., suburb on suspicion of drunken driving contradicts his public persona as a teetotaling member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Updated: 8:50 PM The Idaho Republican was stopped early Sunday morning after running a red light

Posted: 9:32 AM Lieberman says going over the cliff "will be the most colossal consequential act of congressional irresponsibility in a long time, maybe ever in American history."

Updated: 4:58 PM Election workers took more than three hours before posting results.

Updated: 5:02 PM President Barack Obama says he is "ready and willing" to get a big package done to deal with the "fiscal cliff" and says there's no reason not to protect middle-class Americans from tax increases.