It's Hot in Kansas, and the Heatwave Will Continue
TOPEKA, Kan. (KPR) — It's hot in Kansas. Temperatures have been in the 90s for several days and the heatwave is expected to continue through the work week and weekend ahead. A Heat Advisory remains in effect until 7 pm Monday for eastern Kansas, including Atchison, Doniphan, Leavenworth, Wyandotte, Johnson, Miami and Linn counties.
One of the highest recorded temperatures in American history - and the highest ever recorded in Kansas - took place on July 24th, 1936 near Alton, in north-central Kansas. On that day, the temperature recorded in the Osborne County town maxed out at 121 °F. Only four other states — California, Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada — have recorded higher record temperatures.
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Bombing of Iran: Members of Congress React, Protest in Lawrence
UNDATED (LJW / KPR) — Among the Kansas Congressional delegation, reaction to President Trump’s decision to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities is breaking down along party lines, with the Republican majority supporting the president, and the state’s lone Democratic representative questioning the move.
In postings on social media, Republican Senator Jerry Moran said, “We stand tall with President Trump,” while Democratic Representative Sharice Davids said the president’s “unilateral decision … puts American troops and global stability at risk and threatens another endless war.”
In Lawrence, about fifty people held a candlelight vigil in South Park Sunday evening to protest President Trump’s decision to bomb Iran. Holding signs that said “No War,” the protesters gave the peace sign to passing motorists. The Lawrence Journal World reports the protest was peaceful.
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Police Shooting in Lenexa Leaves One Dead
LENEXA, Kan. (KC Star) — Police shot and killed a man in Lenexa early Sunday. The Lenexa Police Department wrote on social media that officers responded to a report of an armed man at the Lenexa Crossing Apartment Homes around three a.m. and “shots were fired by at least one Lenexa officer, and one person is deceased.” The victim’s identity was not released. No officers were hurt. The Kansas City Star reports the Johnson County Officer Involved Critical Incident Investigation Team is investigating.
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Federal Commission Files Lawsuit Against KDHE over Alleged Age Discrimination
UNDATED (KNS) – The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is suing a Kansas agency for allegedly discriminating against an employee because of her age. The lawsuit claims that in 2023, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment discriminated against Annette Carper, a lab tech who was 58 at the time. The agency allegedly offered a promotion to a younger, less qualified employee without publicly listing the job. Josh Pierson, an assistant attorney for the federal commission, told the Kansas News Service that the lawsuit aims to send a message about ageism. “While we are of course interested in Miss Carper’s damages and we want her to be made whole, we value just as much the obligation that we have to ensure that this kind of discrimination does not happen again,” he added.
KDHE declined to comment because the case is pending.
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Sign Honoring All-Black Town in Kansas Damaged
ELLIS COUNTY, Kan. (KSNW) — A sign honoring the oldest all-Black settlement west of the Mississippi River has been damaged in western Kansas. The sign, in the town of Ellis, honors the nearby town of Nicodemus, which was founded primarily by former slaves in 1877. KSNW TV reports that the sign, placed in Memorial Park, honors the settlers who arrived in Ellis by train before they continued to the town of Nicodemus, about 35 miles away. The Ellis Police Department believes the vandalism was recent and deliberate.
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ICE Agents to Resume Raids at Agricultural Worksites
UNDATED (HPM) – Despite pushback from some agriculture leaders, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will raid farms, ranches, and dairies in an effort to ramp up arrests and deportations. This is a reversal of a brief pause, following recent ICE raids at farms and meat-processing facilities. Harvest Public Media reports that some immigration experts say this policy could hurt an industry that’s so heavily dependent on immigrants. Rural communities and immigrant workers are concerned about raids, according to Sonia Parras, an immigration attorney in Des Moines, Iowa. She provided legal services in 2008, when ICE raided a meat-packing plant and arrested nearly 400 people in the city of Postville, Iowa. “When the administration — to me — prioritizes punitive enforcement that targets these workers, it creates a bit of a paradox where the very workforce that the farmers relied upon is being driven into the shadows, right?,” she said. More than 40 percent of U.S. farm workers are undocumented or not legally authorized to work, according to a 2022 report from the Department of Agriculture. (Read more.)
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Body of Boy Struck by Train Recovered in Neosho River
ERIE, Kan. (KSNF) — The body of a twelve-year-old boy who fell into the Neosho River when he was struck by a train last week has been recovered. The boy and his friend were walking across a trestle over the river when the train struck them near Erie on Wednesday afternoon. The friend was also killed.
Emergency crews launched an immediate rescue effort, but high water in the river made conditions extremely dangerous. By Saturday, the search had been suspended due to the hazardous conditions. KSNF reports the boy’s body was discovered by fishermen Sunday afternoon near the KGE dam in Labette County. First responders were able to recover the body. It has been turned over to the Neosho County Coroner.
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New PSU President Introduces Himself to Campus
PITTSBURG, Kan. (KRPS) – Pittsburg State University’s next president introduced himself to the campus Monday. Dr. Thomas Newsom is currently the president of Southeastern Oklahoma State University. The Kansas Board of Regents picked him Friday to be PSU’s 11th president. KRPS Radio reports that Newsom said he wants to continue momentum from previous administrations, noting that "...the first thing is, is that our mission will always be, that our success is not necessarily what our students do here at Pittsburg State. But our true success is what our students do when they leave us." Newsom has 20 years of experience in higher education. His hiring comes after former President Dan Shipp resigned earlier this year for a new position.
(–Earlier reporting–)
New President Named at Pittsburg State University
TOPEKA, Kan. (Kansas Reflector) — The Kansas Board of Regents has chosen a new president for Pittsburg State University. The Kansas Reflector reports the board selected Thomas Newsom, who is currently the president of Southeastern Oklahoma State University. Newsom will become PSU’s 11th president. Southeastern Oklahoma’s enrollment has grown by 500 students since Newsom became president in 2020. In the same period, PSU’s enrollment has fallen 13%.
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KU Online Tool Tracks Health of Crops and Rangeland
LAWRENCE, Kan. (KNS) — Scientists at the University of Kansas have created a free online tool called Sentinel GreenReport Plus to help monitor the health of crops and rangeland. Farmers and ranchers can track crop and grass growth online using high-resolution satellite images. Dana Peterson, a geospatial scientist at the Kansas Biological Survey and Center for Ecological Research, says GreenReport could help landowners and researchers hone in on specific crops. “[It can] allow a person to come in and say, ‘Okay, I want to look at a corn area and see how it's performing relative to the long-term average,’” she said. The tool also lets users relate growth patterns to rain and temperature conditions.
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Federal Cuts Mean Some DCF-Related Food Deliveries on Hold in Kansas
LIBERAL, Kan. (KNS) — Low-income Kansans are not receiving expected food deliveries for soup kitchens and community shelters due to federal cuts. The Kansas Department for Children and Families helps distribute food to low-income families and community support organizations around Kansas. The Kansas News Service reports that earlier this year the U.S. Department of Agriculture cut millions of dollars of funding to the emergency food programs rural communities rely on. Without the funding, Kansas could not afford to ship food to community partners like the Stepping Stone Shelter, an emergency housing organization in Seward County. State officials say they are trying to secure federal funding for deliveries in July.
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USDA to Open Facility to Research New World Screwworm Threat
UNDATED (HPM) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to open a facility in south Texas to defend against new world screwworms – a parasite that once terrorized American ranchers. Harvest Public Media reports that screwworms are heading through Mexico toward the U.S. They were pushed out of the country in the 1960s by dropping sterilized insects from airplanes. The new facility at an inactive air force property in south Texas will be a staging area for that same technique. USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins said it was just one of her department’s investments to keep screwworms out of the country, including potential expenditures in new technologies, new science, and plans to move forward with the design process of a domestic production facility. A separate production facility to make more sterilized flies would also be housed at Moore Air Base, but Rollins said it would take several years to build. (Read more.)
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Midwest Innocence Project Attorney Leaving for New Post in Pennsylvania
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCUR) – A prominent attorney, and a leading voice in criminal justice reform in Kansas and Missouri is leaving her post at an organization that represents people convicted of crimes they did not commit. Tricia Rojo Bushnell led the Midwest Innocence Project for 12 years, and helped free 15 people from incarceration. “Watching someone come home and seeing them lead their lives, and also knowing that others won’t experience the harms that they do is incredibly rewarding, ” she said. Bushnell says she can’t forget the cases that were unsuccessful, and the clients who died waiting for resolution, adding that “ ...it is certainly a fight because there are also really dark days.” Bushnell grew Midwest Innocence Project from one employee to a dozen. Their legal work is pro bono, and most of their budget comes from donations.
Bushnell will become leader of the Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice at the University of Pennsylvania in August.
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Panasonic Plant Facing Economic Headwinds
JOHNSON COUNTY, Kan. (KCUR) — The State of Kansas devoted almost $830 million in tax breaks to win the $4 billion Panasonic battery plant nearing completion in De Soto. But KCUR reports that the plant is facing economic and political headwinds under the Trump Administration. The Panasonic plant is built to supply Tesla with batteries. That seemed like a winner two years ago, and Panasonic promised 4,000 new jobs. But now Tesla sales are down sharply and President Trump wants to end a $7500 subsidy for new EV purchases. Industry analyst Chris Kuehl with Armada says Panasonic is looking for additional customers. "They are, as I understand it, they're trying to shift a little bit more towards storage batteries, because the big limitation for solar and wind is you don't get energy all the time, so you have to store it," Kuehl explained. He says Panasonic also faces high tariffs for imported components, and materials, like lithium. All of that is squeezing company profits, possibly cutting production and shrinking the factory’s labor needs.
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Second Person Charged with Murder in Johnson County Fentanyl Overdose Death
JOHNSON COUNTY, Kan. (KCUR) — A 25-year-old Johnson County man is the second person charged with first-degree murder in a 2023 fentanyl overdose death of a pregnant woman in Kansas. KCUR reports that Nicholas Draven Gregg was charged this week – a year-and-a-half after the death of 31-year-old Alexandrea Hunter, who was pregnant. Hunter overdosed on fentanyl in a QuikTrip bathroom in Roeland Park. Earlier this month, 24-year-old Izabel Reed was also charged with first-degree murder. Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe said cases built on circumstantial evidence sometimes take a long time to build, but he sees charging dealers in drug overdoses as a way to fight the fentanyl crisis.
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Topeka Zoo Debuts Cheetah Brothers
TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW-TV) — The Topeka Zoo introduced two new residents over the weekend, cheetahs named Roosvelt and Leopold. The cheetahs are brothers. They are the zoo’s first cheetahs. Animal Curator Shanna Simpson told WIBW-TV the cheetahs are a “perfect fit” for the enclosure that previously held African painted dogs. (Click here to see photos of the cheetahs.)
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