Hays daily brief

Hays, Kansas and US news for busy people - Aug 26, 2026 edition

Hays daily brief
Courtesy of City of Hays, Kansas

Hays

  • An Italian man is seeking help from Hays residents to locate a woman who wrote a 1997 farewell letter before moving to the Kansas city.
  • The Hays City Commission will review its July financial report and vote on a $43,700 HVAC contract for the Parks Department on Thursday.
  • Hays city commissioners urged driver caution and warned parents of e-bike traffic safety concerns as local schools resume classes.
  • Ellis County Jail Reports 27 Arrests Over Aug. 17-24
  • Expect mostly sunny skies in Hays today with light north winds and a high of 90°F.

🌾 Kansas

  • The U.S. Department of Education reached a resolution agreement with Topeka Public Schools over parents' access to student records, while Olathe and Shawnee Mission schools rejected similar deals and could face court action or lost federal funding.

  • Newton residents challenged the city's 11 newly deployed Flock Safety license plate readers at an Aug. 25 public forum, citing concerns over out-of-state searches, data breaches and insufficient public input.

  • The Pittsburg City Commission voted unanimously Aug. 25 to reject a $42,420-a-year contract for AI-assisted downtown parking enforcement after residents and students objected on privacy and accuracy grounds.

  • A husband, wife and their 2-year-old son died early Aug. 24 in a house fire near Galesburg in rural Neosho County, and the state fire marshal is investigating the cause.

  • Kansas National Guard members arrived Aug. 25 to help clear storm debris in Kansas City, Kansas, after severe storms with near-70 mph winds left about 9,000 customers without power days later.


🇺🇸 US

  • Canada announced retaliatory tariffs Aug. 25 on about $20 billion in U.S. exports, some as high as 50%, after U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods took effect and the USMCA renewal talks collapsed.

  • Fifteen New York county sheriffs sued Aug. 25 to challenge the state's Local Cops, Local Crimes Act, which bans local law enforcement partnerships with ICE.

  • SpaceX and Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry announced Aug. 25 plans for a up to $100 billion Starship launch campus, dubbed Starbase Louisiana, on roughly 125,000 to 130,000 acres of former Exxon marshland in Vermilion Parish.

  • Iranian missile and drone strikes have caused billions of dollars in damage to U.S. intelligence posts and surveillance equipment across the Middle East, unnamed officials told NBC News in a report published Aug. 25.

  • Dolly Parton died Aug. 25 at age 80 at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville after a brief battle with cancer.


Weather

Weather



AUGUST 26, 1939: FIRST MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL GAME IS TELEVISED

On this day, experimental TV station W2XBS in New York broadcast a Brooklyn Dodgers–Cincinnati Reds doubleheader from Ebbets Field, with Red Barber calling the action. Though only about 400 New York-area homes had television sets and the pictures were crude, the broadcast helped spark the growth of televised sports into a major industry.

This article was written using our proprietary AI system, Cronkite. The final decision to publish this article was made by a human. For more info, read our AI policy.