🌾 Kansas

• The Kansas House passed a multi-year state budget on a 68-53 vote Friday, along with a property tax relief bill and an overhaul of the STAR bond financing program, though the Senate is pursuing a competing property tax approach through a constitutional amendment that would cap annual assessed value growth at 3 percent. →

• Two transgender Kansas residents filed a lawsuit in Douglas County District Court challenging SB 244, a new law that immediately invalidated their driver's licenses and prohibits transgender people from using government restrooms matching their gender identity. →

• Leavenworth city commissioners voted 4-1 Tuesday to advance CoreCivic's special use permit to reopen its dormant private prison as an immigration detention center, moving the application to a second consideration on March 10. →

• The Trump administration officially removed the lesser prairie chicken from the federal endangered and threatened species list, shifting conservation responsibility to private landowners across the bird's five-state range. →

• Four faculty members at the University of Kansas and Kansas State University were named recipients of the 2026 Higuchi-KU Endowment Research Achievement Awards, the state higher education system's most prestigious recognition for scholarly excellence. →

🇺🇸 US

• Vice President JD Vance said Thursday military strikes against Iran remain under consideration but would not draw the U.S. into prolonged conflict, as nuclear talks in Geneva ended with Iran's counterproposal falling short of U.S. demands to destroy facilities and surrender enriched uranium. →

• Netflix withdrew Thursday from its bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, positioning Paramount Skydance chairman David Ellison to take control of CNN. →

• The Trump administration announced it would pause nearly $260 million in Medicaid funding to Minnesota until the state addresses fraud, with Gov. Tim Walz calling the move retribution against blue states. →

• Block announced it would lay off 40% of its workforce — more than 4,000 employees — citing AI transformation, with CEO Jack Dorsey predicting most companies will reach the same conclusion within a year. →

• Anthropic said it would not comply with the Defense Department's Friday deadline to allow military use of its AI technology for all lawful purposes, risking designation as a "supply chain risk" that would require Pentagon contractors to certify they do not use Claude. →

Weather

February 27 1860: Mathew Brady photographs presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln sat for his first portraits with renowned photographer Mathew Brady, including a now-famous beardless image taken just before his Cooper Union address in New York City. Widely circulated in publications like Harper’s Bazaar, the photograph and Lincoln’s forceful speech against the expansion of slavery helped galvanize Northern support and bolster his presidential candidacy.

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