Hays

• The Hays City Commission will review general obligation bonds for public infrastructure in the Tallgrass Phase 4 housing expansion. →
• The Hays City Commission will consider renewing its property and liability insurance with current carrier Midwest Public Risk. →
• The Agricultural Research Center–Hays reports that the city's precipitation is nearly three inches below average as drought persists. →
• The Ellis County Commission learned that total assessed property valuations for 2026 will remain flat despite a 3.2% rise in real estate. →
• Grab your sunglasses, Hays, because we're looking at a beautiful, mostly sunny Thursday with a high of 84°F and just a light breeze out of the northeast.

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🌾 Kansas

• Panasonic announced June 17 it will convert part of its De Soto, Kan., electric-vehicle battery plant to produce batteries for AI data centers, with plans to invest $3 billion between fiscal years 2027 and 2029 in AI-related systems. →

• The Kansas Board of Regents approved tuition increases June 17 for state universities for the 2026-27 school year, with KU in-state undergraduates facing a minimum 4.8% increase following a 2.5% cut to operating appropriations for several schools. →

• The Bates County coroner identified all 12 victims of a June 14 skydiving plane crash near Butler, Mo., including four Kansans from De Soto, Lawrence, Olathe and Stilwell, in what FOX4 KC reported is the deadliest U.S. skydiving crash in decades. →

• The USDA opened applications June 16 for $125 million in annual grants to rebuild aging agricultural research facilities at land-grant universities, with awards ranging from $100,000 to $30 million and requiring a dollar-for-dollar non-federal match. →

• Topeka's Affordable Housing Trust Fund Committee recommended roughly $931,000 in city loans for three projects that would create or rehabilitate approximately 229 affordable housing units, with a full council vote expected next month. →

🇺🇸 US

• President Trump signed a U.S.-Iran agreement at the G7 summit in Versailles on June 17, formalizing a deal to end the war within 60 days and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, with oil tankers already moving and average U.S. gas prices dipping below $4 a gallon for the first time since April. →

• The Federal Reserve voted 12-0 on June 17 to hold rates at 3.50%–3.75% for a fourth straight meeting, with nine of 18 officials projecting at least one rate hike before year-end and the updated PCE inflation forecast rising to 3.6%. →

• FBI Director Kash Patel announced the arrest of five people in an alleged plot to attack the UFC event on the White House South Lawn using explosive drones and a pre-staged sniper team, with investigators tipped off by one suspect's mother. →

• Waymo's driverless taxi expansion is stalling across major U.S. cities as labor unions and elected officials push back over job losses, with New York's governor withdrawing support for a state bill and Chicago legislation collapsing after union protests. →

• The Pentagon on June 16 renamed U.S. Indo-Pacific Command back to U.S. Pacific Command, reversing the 2018 rebranding and dropping terminology that had emphasized India's role in regional strategy. →

Weather

JUNE 18 1815: NAPOLEON DEFEATED AT WATERLOO

Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo ended his bid to remake Europe under French dominance and locked in a conservative order that shaped the continent’s borders and alliances for the rest of the 19th century. The balance-of-power system that followed—engineered by the victors at the Congress of Vienna—became the template for modern great‑power diplomacy, echoing today in NATO, the European Union and other security architectures designed to prevent any single state from dominating. Waterloo’s legacy also lives on in current debates over intervention, nationalism and coalition warfare, as policymakers still wrestle with how far powerful nations should go in reshaping other countries and what happens when that project fails.