Hays

• The Hays City Commission decided to keep outside agency funding flat and plans to exceed the state revenue neutral rate for its 2027 budget. →
• Ellis County Commissioner Nathan Leiker was appointed to a task force aimed at stabilizing the ACCESS Transportation public transit. →
• The Hays USD 489 Board of Education voted 6-1 to renew the contract for board attorney Bill Jeter despite some debate over costs. →
• Grab your sunscreen and stay hydrated today, Hays, because we’re looking at a sunny and scorching Monday with a high near 101°F.

🌾 Kansas

• Kansas regulators closed Small Business Bank in Lenexa on July 17, and Farmers State Bank of Oakley assumed its deposits and reopened the branch Monday. →

• Deep Fission missed the July 4 federal deadline to achieve criticality at its mile-deep reactor site in Parsons, now targeting full-power operation in early 2027. →

• Kansas recorded 156 fireworks-related injuries between June 20 and July 7 under the state's expanded fireworks sales law, according to a State Fire Marshal report released July 17. →

• Kansas State will sell alcohol stadium-wide at Bill Snyder Family Stadium starting with its Sept. 5 season opener, ending previous restrictions limiting sales to designated beer gardens. →

• Newton police announced July 14 they have deployed Flock license-plate-reader cameras, joining a growing number of Kansas agencies using the technology amid privacy concerns. →

🇺🇸 US

• American troops have been killed in action for the first time since fighting with Iran reignited two weeks ago, with U.S. Central Command reporting three service members dead, one missing and four hospitalized after Iranian missiles and drones struck a base in Jordan and Iraq, pushing the U.S. military death toll from the conflict to 16. →

• China's monthly car exports topped 1 million vehicles for the first time in June, putting the country on pace to export more cars in 2026 than the roughly 10.2 million the U.S. produced in all of 2024. →

• U.S. Marshals arrested Andrew and Tristan Tate in Miami on Saturday on a British extradition request tied to new rape and human-trafficking charges involving seven alleged victims. →

• Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance announced the birth of their fourth child, Alec Neel Vance, on Sunday. →

• Spain won its second FIFA World Cup title Sunday, beating Argentina 1-0 in extra time at MetLife Stadium in what is expected to be Lionel Messi's final World Cup. →

Weather

JULY 20, 1969: NEIL ARMSTRONG WALKS ON MOON

At 10:56 p.m. EDT, American astronaut Neil Armstrong stepped off the lunar module Eagle and became the first human to walk on the surface of the moon, declaring it “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” The Apollo 11 mission fulfilled President John F. Kennedy’s 1961 pledge to land a man on the moon before the end of the decade, marking a decisive Cold War triumph for the United States over the Soviet Union.