Kansas daily brief

Kansas news for busy people - Feb 18, 2026 edition

Kansas daily brief
'Fiirenado' driven by 70 mph winds threatens Englewood, Kansas

🌾 Kansas

  • Wildfires that swept out of the Oklahoma panhandle burned more than 150,000 acres across western Kansas, forcing evacuations in Clark, Comanche, Seward and Rawlins counties as multiple named fires continued burning Wednesday with elevated fire danger forecast through Thursday.

  • The Kansas Senate voted 31-9 Thursday to override Gov. Laura Kelly's veto of a bill defining biological sex for state law and restricting access to restrooms and locker rooms in government buildings.

  • The Kansas House passed a bill 75-48 Tuesday prohibiting students from using cellphones during school hours, sending the measure back to the Senate amid debate over state versus local control of classroom technology policies.

  • The Kansas House tax committee approved a bill capping annual city or county property tax revenue growth at 3 percent unless residents fail to collect signatures from 10 percent of presidential election voters to block the increase.

  • The worst flu season in 25 years is forcing Kansas school districts to cancel classes and flooding Wichita pharmacies with patients as the CDC estimated at least 9,300 flu-related deaths nationally through mid-January.


🇺🇸 US

  • Vice President JD Vance said Tuesday that Iran failed to meet core U.S. demands in Geneva nuclear negotiations, with Washington giving Tehran two weeks to close gaps as military action remains an option.

  • The White House on Tuesday rejected Democrats' latest offer on constraints for federal immigration officers, deepening the impasse that has left the Department of Homeland Security unfunded since Saturday.

  • New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday proposed a nearly 10% property tax increase as a "last resort" to close a projected $5.4 billion two-year budget deficit.

  • Stephen Colbert criticized CBS and the FCC on Monday after the network blocked his planned interview with Texas Democratic State Rep. James Talarico over equal-time rule concerns.

  • The U.S. presented seismic data Tuesday alleging China conducted a secret low-yield nuclear test in 2020, challenging Beijing's claims it has observed the international nuclear testing ban.


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February 18 2010: WikiLeaks publishes leaked documents

Chelsea Manning, a U.S. Army intelligence analyst in Iraq, secretly downloaded and leaked hundreds of thousands of classified documents—starting with the “Reykjavik13” cable WikiLeaks published on February 18, 2010. The disclosures exposed previously hidden civilian casualties and alleged abuses in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, deeply embarrassing the U.S. government and its diplomatic corps. Depending on your perspective, Manning is either a courageous whistleblower who revealed grave misconduct or a traitor who recklessly endangered national security.



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