Kansas

When the U.S. Deputy Marshall arrived in the small town of Valley Falls, Kansas, to arrest the staff of Lucifer, the co-editor, E.C. Walker, was nowhere to be found. He was already lodged in the Oskaloosa County Jail in the cell next to Lillian Harman, Moses Harman's 16-year-old daughter. The couple had been imprisoned for their non-state, non-church marriage of September 1886 ... In March 1887, the Kansas Supreme Court upheld this decision. In a contradictory ruling, the court held that the common-law marriage was legal but nevertheless punishable for violation of the marriage license statute.

Kansans have been debating how the development of life on earth should be taught in public schools—as the unintended result of random evolution or as the complex product of an evolution shaped by intelligent design. The board of education is to decide this summer whether the science standards should be changed. Kansas is just one of 19 states in which the Darwinism vs. Intelligent Design contest is being fought. Emotions have been running high, as they often do when the state takes sides in a clash of fundamental values and beliefs.

Even brand-new think tanks are playing a role: The Kansas Public Policy Institute was just founded in 1996, but is already taking on an issue of national significance, said President Bob L. Corkins. "Our major project involves reforming the $8 billion state and local government pension system into a 401k-style retirement program," he said. "Not only is it an enormous state issue; as Kansas and other states succeed in this effort, we set the example for Congress to follow in reforming Social Security.