🌾 Kansas

• Lawrence's City Commission voted unanimously July 14 for a 24-month moratorium on new data centers, and Topeka's City Council approved a one-year pause hours later, amid concerns over water and power use. →

• Kansas has recorded 55 cases of cyclosporiasis this year, more than double the previous week's total, with Johnson County accounting for nearly half the state's cases, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment said July 15. →

• Wheat futures jumped July 15, led by the Kansas City contract, after Russia restricted shipping through the Kerch Strait in response to Ukrainian drone attacks, raising fears of tighter global grain supplies. →

• Kansas recorded 1,588 unfilled teaching positions this spring, down about 9% from fall 2025, though special education vacancies remain the hardest to fill, according to state education department figures released around July 15. →

• The National Weather Service issued extreme heat alerts July 15 for much of Kansas through the weekend, including an extreme heat warning for the Kansas City metro, with heat index values potentially reaching 105 degrees. →

🇺🇸 US

• President Donald Trump reversed a Department of Homeland Security order pausing most ICE traffic stops roughly 24 hours after it was issued, calling vehicle stops one of the agency's most effective tools. →

• Growing hostility toward artificial intelligence has prompted tech executives, including at Anthropic and OpenAI, to bolster personal security following threats and an attempted firebombing at CEO Sam Altman's home. →

• Gov. Greg Abbott declared a disaster in 59 Texas counties after slow-moving storms dumped up to 16 inches of rain west of San Antonio, triggering flash flooding and more than 75 rescues. →

• Stripe and private-equity firm Advent International offered about $53 billion in cash to acquire PayPal, with the company's board expected to consider the bid as soon as July 20. →

• The U.S. military struck Iran for a fifth consecutive day, hitting a military base and an island near the Strait of Hormuz, as Tehran released American detainee Dena Karari in what Trump called a gesture of goodwill. →

Weather

JULY 16 1945: FIRST ATOMIC BOMB TEST IS SUCCESSFULLY EXPLODED

On this day, the Manhattan Project conducted the first successful test of an atomic bomb in the New Mexico desert, unleashing a mushroom cloud that rose 40,000 feet into the air. The blast, equivalent to 15,000 to 20,000 tons of TNT, vaporized the test tower and ushered in the nuclear age as the United States weighed where to use the new weapon in World War II. 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.