Kansas daily brief
Kansas and US news for busy people - Feb 11, 2026 edition
🌾Kansas
- Kansas faces a severe rural attorney shortage with 80% of lawyers concentrated in five urban counties while 45% of the population lives in rural areas, prompting the Supreme Court to launch the Rural Justice Initiative after judges reported difficulty appointing constitutionally-required criminal defense counsel.
- House advances social media child safety bill and immigration enforcement mandate requiring platforms to limit compulsive use features for minors while forcing sheriffs to comply with federal immigration detainers and preventing sanctuary-style policies.
- State seizes local water control authority as House passes bill 116-6 shifting transfer approval power to the state's chief engineer, overriding county-level zoning and moratoriums despite concerns about undermining community input on industrial water usage.
- Voter registration website restrictions pass along party lines with an 86-36 House vote imposing new requirements on third-party registration platforms that Republicans say protect election integrity but Democrats argue will suppress registration among young voters.
- Pharmacists protest unsustainable middleman pricing as data shows 83% of prescriptions at independent pharmacies are filled at or below cost due to pharmacy benefit manager reimbursement rates, forcing drugstores to rely on vaccines and retail sales to survive.
Greg Loving
🇺🇸 US
• FAA grounds all El Paso flights for 10 days citing unspecified "special security reasons" with authorization to use deadly force against threats—the most sweeping U.S. airport closure since Reagan National was shut for 23 days after 9/11.
• Netanyahu makes urgent White House visit as Iran nuclear talks stall and Trump oscillates between threatening military strikes and pursuing diplomatic deals amid regional tensions.
• Grand jury refuses to indict Democratic senators (including Mark Kelly and Elissa Slotkin) who told troops they could disobey illegal orders, delivering a rare rebuke to DOJ prosecutors.
• First social media addiction trial begins with a 20-year-old plaintiff accusing Meta and YouTube of deliberately hooking children through "slot machine" features like infinite scroll and autoplay.
• Gunman kills nine at remote Canadian school in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, leaving seven dead inside the school (including the shooter) and two at a nearby residence, reigniting Canada's gun control debate.
Greg Loving
Weather
February 11 1751: America's first hospital opens its doors "to care for the sick-poor and insane...wandering the streets of Philadelphia." It is co-founded by Ben Franklin.
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