Deadline Approaches for Royals Proposal
TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) — Now that we know the Chiefs are headed to Kansas, the deadline is approaching for the Royals to make a similar decision. The same sales tax bonds the Chiefs will use to build a $3 billion stadium in Wyandotte County are also available to the Royals. Kansas House Speaker Dan Hawkins says time is running out for the Kansas City baseball team. “Right now, we have not heard what they have anything put together, so... we’re just going to have to wait," he said. Hawkins added that there's no chance the deadline will be extended. Indications are if the Royals jump the state line, the team wants to build on the old Sprint Campus at 119th and Nall in Overland Park.
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Man Charged in Death of 13-Year-Old Kansas Boy
LINN COUNTY, Kan. (KMBC/KSHB) — A teenage boy who was reported missing from Linn County, Kansas, has been found dead in the woods in Missouri. And a suspect in the case is now in custody. KMBC TV reports that 13-year-old Airen Andula was reported missing Sunday evening. His body was recovered two days later about 30 miles from his home.
According to court documents, a man from Pleasanton - identified as Damon Leonard - led authorities to a wooded area in Bates County, Missouri, where the child's body was found. Leonard allegedly admitted to transporting the boy's body from Kansas to Missouri. The boy's parents say Leonard is a neighbor who lives up the street.
KSHB TV reports that an autopsy has been scheduled to determine the boy's exact cause and manner of death.
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Another Prison Inmate Seeks Release Due to Alleged Golubski Malfeasance
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (KCUR) — Another Kansas City, Kansas man serving a long prison sentence is seeking his release, saying he was set up by disgraced KCK police detective Roger Golubski. The inmate, 46-year-old Ahmon Mann, filed his motion in Wyandotte County Court Tuesday. Mann’s case is similar to that of Lamonte McIntyre, a young Kansas City, Kansas, Black man who was railroaded by Golubski and then later exonerated for a double homicide. Mann was convicted of murder in the year 2000 on the testimony of just one witness who has since recanted. His case is another in what is expected to be several more wrongful convictions based on police work by Golubski. The white police officer killed himself a year ago just as he was set to go on trial for federal civil rights violations. (Read more.)
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Kansas Stem Cell Donor Seeks to Raise Donation Awareness
UNDATED (KNS) — A Kansas woman donated stem cells that helped save a stranger’s life. Pauline Oropesa of McPherson, Kansas, says she registered to donate blood stem cells through DKMS, a nonprofit focused on fighting blood cancer. The Kansas News Service reports that she took the step in 2021 on a whim after hearing about the program on the radio. Earlier this year, when she learned she was a match for someone in need, the decision to donate was easy. Just months earlier, she’d lost her mom to bone cancer. She says stem cell and bone marrow donations can help people fighting blood and bone cancers. “Not only are you helping the people who are receiving this, but every single person in their life who is worried and praying for them,” she added. Oropesa says she would absolutely donate again and she encourages others to register to see if they are a match.
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Immigration Crackdown Could Add to Ag Labor Shortage
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (HPM) - The Trump Administration is poised to step up workplace immigration raids in 2026, as $170 billion in new federal funding flows into enforcement efforts. Harvest Public Media reports that the crackdown could make a labor shortage in the ag sector even worse. Farmers laborers were in short supply before the immigration crackdown, so the Trump Administration has moved to expand guest worker visas and lower mandatory hourly wages for guest workers. Farmers generally applaud those moves, but North Carolina tobacco farmer Brandon Batten says the industry needs long term legislative fixes. "We just need options to be able to continue to feed and clothe this nation within our own borders, and without legislation or meaningful reform, the stability is not going to be there, because every administration is going to have their own take on the rules," he said. Legislation introduced in Congress that would loosen restrictions on the guest worker program is opposed by farm labor unions.
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Farmers Facing Trade Uncertainty in 2026
UNDATED (HPM) — Producers had good crop harvests in 2025 across the region, but because of the ongoing trade war, the U.S. is short on international buyers. Harvest Public Media reports that trade uncertainty remains a challenge as farmers are making decisions for the next planting season. For Luis Ribera, economic professor at Texas A&M University, trade in 2026 is hard to predict because it’s heavily political. He says markets don't know how to react to tariff unpredictability. “In my world, that's the big question - is this the new normal? Is the tariff going to be a tool to negotiate with other countries? And looks like that's the way it's going to be," he said. Ribera is hopeful for more trade agreements to come out of the tariffs, but so far that’s still up in the air. He says the U.S. is not the only player vying for other countries to buy agricultural products, and producers know once a market share is gone, it’s hard to gain it back.
Many farmers are entering 2026 in a tight spot. Producers across the Great Plains and Midwest are seeing record-high prices for beef while facing dismal crop prices. Cortney Cowley, with the Kansas City Federal Reserve, says the challenges for crops and livestock are opposites. “Like on the livestock side, we don't have the supply to meet the demand, which is why we have such high prices," she said. "But on the crop side, we have too much supply and not enough demand where those markets become a lot more important.” Farmers are also paying more for inputs like fertilizer and machinery, which is cutting into their bottom lines.
A September outlook from the University of Missouri found farm income could fall by about $30 billion dollars in 2026 because of lower crop prices and a decline in government payments. (Read more.)
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