Hays

• Chronic absenteeism in Hays USD 489 rose to 20.7%, prompting district administrators and the school board to explore new interventions. →
• Hays City Commission members toured the nearly complete $5.9 million police station and municipal court facility at 1100 Fort. →
• The Hays Prairie Winds Kite Show will take place Sept. 12 and 13 at the Bickle-Schmidt Sports Complex in Hays. →
• A reception celebrating the relocation of Pete Felten Elizabeth Polly statue will take place Sept. 26 at Fort Hays State Historic Site. →
• It's going to be dangerously hot and breezy today with plenty of sunshine and a high near 104°F, though we could see an isolated shower or thunderstorm pop up late this afternoon.

🌾 Kansas

• President Trump said Sept. 7 he will bar Bombardier from U.S. sales unless the Canadian aircraft maker begins manufacturing domestically, a threat that could affect the company's Wichita-based defense operations employing more than 1,000 workers. →

• A new poll shows Democrat Adam Hamilton edging Republican Sen. Roger Marshall 44% to 43% in Kansas' U.S. Senate race, prompting RealClearPolitics to shift the contest from "Likely GOP" to "Leans GOP." →

• Sedgwick County commissioners voted Sept. 2 to extend their pause on new data center applications through Dec. 24, while Hutchinson will hold a community town hall Sept. 8 to gather resident input on the issue. →

• Evergy is seeking advance Kansas Corporation Commission approval for five new generating and storage assets, including a Missouri gas plant, citing data center-driven demand that could raise customer bills by nearly 9% once the plant is operational. →

• Kansas State routed Nicholls 71-3 in Collin Klein's head-coaching debut Sept. 5, while Kansas opened its season with a 51-6 win over Long Island on Sept. 4. →

🇺🇸 US

• Tesla began ferrying invited riders in its driverless Cybercab robotaxi in Austin on Sept. 3, and shares fell more than 6% days later amid questions about the service's scale and cost. →

• Canadian retaliatory tariffs of 15% to 50% on more than 700 categories of U.S. goods, worth roughly $20 billion, took effect Sept. 8 after trade talks with Washington collapsed. →

• Stevens Point, Wisconsin, said it would suspend and cover its Flock Safety license plate cameras starting Sept. 8, joining Sheboygan and other Wisconsin cities scrutinizing the vendor over data privacy concerns. →

• U.S. Central Command said American fighter jets and drones struck three Iranian oil tankers Sept. 5 after Iran's Revolutionary Guard fired ballistic missiles at a U.S. aircraft carrier and destroyer. →

• Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met separately with Putin in Moscow on Sept. 5 and Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Sept. 6 but left without a ceasefire or peace proposal. →

Weather

September 8, 2003: Recording Industry Begins Suing Individual Sharers of Copyrighted MP3 Files

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) announced it would file lawsuits against individual music fans who shared copyrighted songs on peer-to-peer networks, marking a major escalation in its fight against digital piracy. The move shifted enforcement from targeting file-sharing platforms like Napster to pursuing ordinary users, including families and children, with the threat of significant financial penalties.

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.