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Kansas daily brief

Kansas and US news for busy people - Jan 6, 2026 edition

Greg Loving

06 Jan 2026 • 3 min read

Following a capital campaign, St. John Paul II Independent Catholic School will move to the site that was formerly Eberly Farm’s west-side event venue, but it’s going to begin activities there immediately along with building a greenhouse. Students are shown here visiting one. Courtesy photo

🌾Kansas

Lawrence City Hall Shooting: A trained city employee fatally shot a 28-year-old intruder inside Lawrence City Hall on Jan. 5; no employees were seriously injured and the non-local suspect was unknown to police.
Wichita School Farm Purchase: St. John Paul II Catholic School in Wichita bought a 15-acre farm property to expand hands-on education, planning $4.5 million in classroom construction and adding livestock, beehives, and gardens to its curriculum.
Local Government Caucus: Two freshman GOP legislators launched a bipartisan caucus to help state lawmakers understand how Topeka legislation affects Kansas' 105 counties, addressing concerns about one-size-fits-all mandates.
1st District Democratic Challengers: Two Lawrence Democrats are challenging GOP Rep. Tracey Mann in Kansas' heavily Republican 1st District, where Mann won his last three terms with 70%; the district has only elected one Democrat since 1874.
Teen's Death by Dog Attack: Autopsy confirmed a 13-year-old Kansas boy found dead in a Missouri creek died from multiple dog bites; a 47-year-old man faces charges including abandonment of a corpse and having a vicious dog at large.

🇺🇸 US

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz drops reelection bid amid expanding federal fraud probes into pandemic-era child-care programs that have yielded dozens of indictments, while Trump freezes $10B in aid to five Democratic states claiming widespread fraud.
Pandemic relief fraud reached staggering levels nationwide, with federal watchdogs documenting over $300B in fraudulent payments and total losses potentially approaching $1 trillion of the $6 trillion in emergency COVID-19 aid authorized.
CDC cuts childhood vaccine recommendations from 17 to 11 diseases under HHS Secretary RFK Jr., marking a dramatic shift in federal vaccine policy with significant implications for state mandates.
19 states raised minimum wages in January, lifting pay for 8.3 million workers, with more Americans now living in $15+ minimum wage states than $7.25 federal minimum states for the first time.
CIA assessment recommended Maduro regime loyalists lead Venezuela's transition rather than opposition leader María Corina Machado, influencing Trump's decision to prioritize near-term stability after the autocrat's capture.

Weather

January 6 1838: Samuel Morse unveils the telegraph, revolutionizing communication

Morse convinced Congress to fund a Washington–Baltimore telegraph line in 1843 and sent the first official telegram in May 1844: “What hath God wrought!”. Private firms rapidly expanded networks; Western Union completed the first U.S. transcontinental line in 1861, a permanent transatlantic line followed in 1866, and by century’s end telegraph systems spanned Africa, Asia, and Australia.