🌾 Kansas

• Gov. Laura Kelly issued a verbal state of disaster emergency Thursday night as wildfires burned across five southwest Kansas counties, with the Meade Lake Fire growing to more than 33,000 acres and prompting evacuations in Meade and Fowler. →

• Critical fire weather conditions — including winds of 25 to 30 mph and relative humidity as low as 5 percent — threatened southwest Kansas Monday, with four National Guard Black Hawks and more than 200 firefighters from 75 departments deployed statewide. →

• The Storm Prediction Center placed central and northeastern Kansas under a Moderate Risk for severe thunderstorms Monday, warning of supercells capable of producing intense tornadoes, hail up to 4 inches and damaging winds. →

• The 2026 Wheat Quality Council's Hard Winter Wheat Tour projected Kansas production at 218 million bushels — well below the 10-year average of roughly 332 million bushels — with drought, freeze damage and disease cited as primary culprits. →

• Kansas District Court Judge Carl Folsom III blocked the state's ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors Friday, ruling the law likely violates the Kansas Constitution's protections for parental rights and bodily autonomy. →

🇺🇸 US

• Trump's approval rating fell to a second-term low of 37% in a new NYT/Siena poll, with roughly two-thirds of voters saying the decision to go to war with Iran was wrong, including about three in four independents. →

• Sen. Bill Cassidy was defeated in Louisiana's Republican Senate primary Saturday, with Trump-endorsed Rep. Julia Letlow projected to advance to the runoff — the first GOP senator to lose a primary since Cassidy's 2021 vote to convict Trump at his second impeachment trial. →

• U.S. petroleum exports surged to 14.2 million barrels a day as overseas buyers cut off from Middle Eastern suppliers turned to American fuel, pushing national gasoline prices to $4.51 a gallon with further increases possible through Memorial Day weekend. →

• The TSA will launch a pilot program next month allowing Boston Logan-bound travelers to clear security at a remote facility in Framingham, Mass., with shuttle buses transporting screened passengers directly to the gate area. →

• The WHO declared the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda a global health emergency Saturday, with Congo's Ituri province logging 246 suspected cases and 80 deaths from the Bundibugyo strain, for which no approved vaccine exists. →

Weather

MAY 18, 2012: FACEBOOK RAISES $16 BILLION IN LARGEST TECH IPO IN U.S. HISTORY

The social network’s initial public offering valued the company at $104 billion, with around 900 million users worldwide. Despite intense hype, Facebook’s stock price closed only slightly above its $38 IPO price, disappointing many investors.

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