Lawrence

• Lawrence Public Schools USD 497 named Amanda Faunce as the next lead principal of the Lawrence College and Career Center. →
• No Labels Kansas Party members unanimously elected a former Kansas GOP official from Eudora to serve as chairman of the organization. →
• Jamie Michelle Miller sued the Kansas Department of Revenue in Douglas County District Court over the invalidation of her driver's license due to a new state law banning changing the gender marker on state IDs. →
• Caiden Clem was charged with trafficking contraband in Douglas County Jail while awaiting trial for a fatal shooting at a Lawrence bar. →
• Union Pacific's Big Boy No. 4014, the world’s largest steam locomotive, is scheduled to pass through the Lawrence depot this July. →
• The City of Lawrence changed its upcoming compost event to a self-load format, allowing residents to also drop off yard waste. →
• Free State High School in Lawrence went into a 15-minute lockdown after a student's water gun was mistaken for a real firearm. →
• Expect a beautiful, mostly sunny day in Lawrence today with highs reaching a pleasant 63 degrees and light north winds.

🌾 Kansas

• Andover City Council unanimously approved a policy to enforce Senate Bill 244, Kansas's new law restricting restroom and locker room access in government buildings to a person's biological sex at birth, with noncompliant entities facing fines up to $125,000 per day. →

• Wichita Airport Authority is developing a 20-year master plan for Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport addressing runway safety, terminal expansion and regional growth, as required by the FAA to remain eligible for federal capital grants. →

• Kansas City, Kansas, firefighters union passed a vote of no confidence in Fire Chief Dennis Rubin and County Administrator David Johnston, citing retaliatory actions, budget mismanagement and proposals to close fire stations. →

• A 14-year-old boy was shot and killed early Tuesday at the Englewood Mobile Home Park in Oaklawn, an unincorporated area between Wichita and Derby, with no arrests made as the Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office investigation continues. →

• Gov. Laura Kelly signed an executive order establishing the Kansas Order of the Sunflower, a new state honor recognizing military spouses, family members and community leaders for volunteerism supporting Kansas military installations, with Fort Riley spouse Michelle Rone named the inaugural recipient. →

🇺🇸 US

• Home insurance premiums are rising fastest in historically low-risk inland states, with Iowa seeing a 91% rate increase since 2021 compared to Florida's 35%, as hail, wildfires and severe wind drive insured thunderstorm losses to an estimated $60 billion annually. →

• The FBI executed 22 search warrants Tuesday at Minneapolis childcare facilities, largely Somali-owned businesses, as part of a fraud investigation into providers allegedly billing the state for services never rendered. →

• The Justice Department indicted former FBI Director James Comey on charges of threatening President Trump, citing a May 2025 Instagram post showing seashells arranged as "86 47," which officials interpreted as a call to harm the 47th president. →

• A federal judge ordered Purdue Pharma to pay more than $8 billion to resolve a criminal fraud case over OxyContin, with distributions to states, cities, insurers and individuals expected to begin as soon as May 1. →

• Chinese automakers including BYD, Geely and Great Wall Motors are aggressively expanding dealerships in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, just five miles from the U.S. border, offering electric and hybrid vehicles at prices American manufacturers say they cannot match without losing money. →

Weather

APRIL 29 2004: LAST OLDSMOBILE ROLLS OFF LINE AS U.S. AUTO ERA FADES

On this day, the final Oldsmobile—a dark metallic cherry red Alero sedan—came off the Lansing, Michigan assembly line, marking the end of America’s oldest automotive brand. The shutdown highlighted how global competition, automation and shifting production—intensified in the early 2000s by China’s entry into the world trading system (the “China shock”)—were quietly reshaping factory work across the industrial Midwest. Oldsmobile’s legacy now lies not just in 35 million cars built, but in the communities that felt the first deep tremors of a broader deindustrialization wave.

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