Hays

• The Hays Fire Department issued Fourth of July safety guidelines, advising residents not to relight malfunctioning dud fireworks. →
• The Hays Public Library will close this Saturday in observance of the Fourth of July, with normal Sunday hours resuming at 1 p.m. →
• WaterSmart Hays is hosting a Smart Irrigation Month giveaway to provide Hays residents with water-saving tools and irrigation audit tips. →
• The Heartland Community Foundation will host the Heartland Nonprofit Conference on July 29 in Hays to support regional nonprofit leaders. →
• After a slight chance of early morning showers, it's going to be a mostly sunny and breezy day in Hays with a high near 94°F.

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🌾 Kansas

• Emporia's city commission delayed its final vote until July 22 on a Digital Infrastructure Overlay governing a proposed gigawatt-scale data center, adopting strict rules requiring development agreements, public hearings and utility policies that prohibit cryptocurrency mining and make developers pay for infrastructure upgrades. →

• Kansas wheat harvest reached 58% complete as of June 28, well ahead of last year's pace, but yields are running below average due to drought, freeze damage and wheat streak mosaic virus, with a projected statewide average near 38.9 bushels per acre compared to roughly 51 bushels in 2025. →

• Gov. Laura Kelly on July 1 opened the Kansas Office of Early Childhood, consolidating roughly 20 programs from multiple state agencies into a single office under newly appointed Director Christi Smith, fulfilling a goal Kelly first campaigned on in 2018. →

• About 38% of Kansas is under active drought conditions, including 17% in severe drought and 1.4% in extreme drought, stressing wheat and emerging row crops statewide, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor update. →

• CNN on July 1 named Lawrence No. 9 on its list of America's best towns to visit in 2026, citing Massachusetts Street, craft breweries, independent bookstores and the city's history of being burned and rebuilt, making it the only Kansas community on the list. →

🇺🇸 US

• The Trump administration declined July 1 to renew the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement in its current form, opting instead for annual reviews while keeping the treaty in effect and scheduling a third round of negotiations with Mexico for the week of July 20. →

• President Trump took the inaugural flight aboard a Qatar-gifted, taxpayer-refurbished Boeing 747-8 valued at about $400 million on July 1, traveling to North Dakota for events surrounding the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library opening. →

• General Motors reported a 4.2% drop in US second-quarter vehicle sales to 714,896 units, including a roughly 33% decline in EV sales, while Chinese automaker BYD posted a record quarter with approximately 557,000 battery-electric vehicle sales. →

• A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket launched 29 Amazon Leo broadband satellites July 2 from Cape Canaveral in the eighth and final Atlas V mission for the program, bringing the constellation to more than 375 spacecraft in orbit. →

• The US men's national soccer team defeated Bosnia and Herzegovina 2-0 on July 1 in Santa Clara to earn its first World Cup knockout-stage victory since 2002, advancing to face Belgium on July 6 in Seattle. →

Weather

JULY 2, 1881: PRESIDENT JAMES A. GARFIELD SHOT

Only four months into his presidency, James A. Garfield was shot in a Washington, D.C., railroad station by disgruntled office seeker Charles J. Guiteau. Garfield lingered for 80 days before dying of infection, elevating Vice President Chester A. Arthur to the presidency and intensifying calls for civil service reform.