Kansas is set to invalidate about 1,700 driver's licenses held by transgender residents and roughly as many of their birth certificates. It's because of a new law that goes beyond Republican-imposed restrictions in other states on listing gender identities in government documents. The law takes effect this week after the Legislature’s Republican supermajorities last week overrode a veto by Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly. The new law prohibits the documents from listing any sex other than the one assigned birth and invalidates any that reflect a conflicting gender identity. A handful of states don't allow changes in the documents, but only Kansas requires undoing past changes.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is stepping up his race for the U.S. Senate with early voting about to begin for the March 3 GOP primary. On Monday night the Republican headlined his first scheduled campaign rally since entering the race. He's running against longtime Republican Sen. John Cornyn and Rep. Wesley Hunt. Paxton told supporters at an east Texas bar on Monday that Cornyn is backed by "the D.C. establishment." Republican Senate leaders have spent heavily attacking Paxton over his impeachment and personal scandals. Early voting starts Tuesday. Paxton plans several stops across Texas and has started airing ads that tie himself to President Donald Trump.

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order Thursday "aimed at eliminating” the U.S. Education Department. Meanwhile a federal judge ordered the administration Thursday to provide more information about flights that took deportees to El Salvador, or make a formal “state secrets“ claim. The Justice Department has resisted, accusing the judge of encroaching on the executive branch’s “absolute and unreviewable” authority relating to national security and foreign policy. Trump's border czar has tallied 40,000 immigration-related arrests since Trump got into office. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has negotiated the release of an American hostage held for more than two years by the Taliban.

President Donald Trump began his second administration with a blitz of policy actions to reorient U.S. government priorities. He has covered issues from trade, immigration and U.S. foreign aid to demographic diversity, civil rights and the hiring of federal workers. Some have an immediate policy impact. Others are more symbolic. Some already are being challenged by federal lawsuits. In total, the Republican president’s sweeping actions reflect many of his campaign promises and determination to concentrate executive branch power in the West Wing, while moving the country sharply rightward.

Vice President Kamala Harris has decided on Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate. The 60-year-old Democrat and military veteran rose to the forefront with a series of plain-spoken television appearances in the days after President Joe Biden decided not to seek a second term. Walz has made his state a bastion of liberal policy. He won the governor's office in 2018, and Democratic control of the Legislature has allowed Walz and lawmakers to repeal abortion restrictions, protect gender-affirming care for minors and legalize recreational marijuana use. Walz served 24 years in the Army National Guard.