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Kansas daily brief

Kansas and US news for busy people - Jan 29, 2026 edition

Greg Loving

29 Jan 2026 • 3 min read

Tragic Prelude is a large mural of John Brown in the Kansas State Capitol building, painted by John Steuart Curry in 1942.

🌾Kansas

Anti-abortion leaders blamed Kansas courts for the state's abortion access at a Statehouse rally, with AG Kobach calling Kansas "the abortion capital of the Midwest".
Rep. Sharice Davids is touring four Kansas cities entirely outside her district this week, fueling speculation she's preparing to challenge Republican Sen. Roger Marshall in November.
Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark told lawmakers his top priority is negotiating a better TV contract to close the massive revenue gap with the SEC and Big Ten, as the conference hasn't been a free agent in TV negotiations for over 20 years.
Kansas Legislature passed sweeping legislation restricting public restroom access to biological sex and requiring the state to reissue IDs with gender markers "corrected" to sex assigned at birth, now headed to Gov. Kelly's desk.
Arctic air is bringing dangerous wind chills near zero degrees and freezing fog to Kansas Thursday morning, with temperatures plunging to the teens by Saturday and frostbite possible in 30-45 minutes.

🇺🇸 US

Trump-Schumer Immigration Deal: President Trump and Sen. Schumer are negotiating to separate DHS funding from a larger spending package to avoid a Saturday shutdown, with Democrats demanding new restrictions on immigration enforcement and accountability for agents.
Pretti-Federal Agent Video: New footage shows Alex Pretti confronting and kicking a federal immigration vehicle days before his fatal shooting.
Consumer Confidence Plummets: The Conference Board's consumer confidence index crashed to 84.5 in January—the lowest since May 2014 and below pandemic levels—raising concerns about uneven economic distribution despite GDP growth.
FBI Searches Georgia Election Office: The FBI executed a search warrant at Fulton County's election facility seeking computers and ballots related to alleged 2020 election fraud as part of an ongoing investigation.
Trump Threatens Iran: Trump warned Iran that a "massive Armada" is heading their way with strikes potentially worse than June's attack, while Iran's foreign minister said forces have "fingers on the trigger" but remains open to a nuclear deal.
Fed Holds Rates Steady: The Federal Reserve paused rate cuts for the first time since July.

Weather

January 29 1861: Kansas enters the Union

Kansas entered the Union as a free state after years of violent conflict over whether slavery would be allowed there. Throughout the 1850s, pro-slavery forces from neighboring Missouri and anti-slavery settlers in Kansas clashed in a period known as “Bleeding Kansas,” marked by fraudulent voting, competing constitutions, and repeated atrocities on both sides. When the anti-slavery faction finally prevailed and Kansas became the 34th state, its admission highlighted the deep national divide over slavery and the Civil War began just three months later, in April 1861.