Lawrence

• Arthur Benson and two other University of Kansas students in Lawrence have been named Goldwater Scholars for their research achievements. →
• The Douglas County Clerk’s Office launched an online dashboard featuring voter demographics, party affiliations, and registration trends. →
• Lawrence residents will participate in May Day rallies for human rights and economic justice at the University of Kansas and downtown. →
• Haskell Indian Nations University students and staff installed a permanent stickball pole on the Lawrence campus to honor tradition. →
• Lawrence residents helped paint artist Tokeya Waci U Richardson’s new mural at the Vermont Street parking garage on Wednesday evening. →
• Fitness expert Shelly with Prescott Performance Lab discusses how footwear and stance affect knee pain during exercises like squats. →
• It’s going to be a mostly cloudy day with a high near 66, but keep an umbrella handy as scattered showers and thunderstorms become more likely mid-afternoon.

🌾 Kansas

• The House passed a $390 billion farm bill 224-200 on a near-party-line vote, boosting farm subsidies while preserving Trump-era cuts to food assistance after Republican infighting over pesticides, ethanol and pork regulation nearly derailed the measure. →

• Lawmakers stripped a year-round E15 ethanol sales provision from the farm bill after hours of delay, agreeing to hold a separate standalone vote on the issue in the coming weeks. →

• Gov. Laura Kelly expanded Kansas's drought declaration to all 105 counties, placing seven in emergency status as extreme drought spreads across the northwest and far southwest amid above-normal temperatures and limited rainfall. →

• The Rev. Adam Hamilton, pastor of the nation's largest United Methodist Church with roughly 22,000 members, entered the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Kansas, where Republicans have not lost a Senate race since 1932. →

• Threats prompted lockdowns, evacuations and early dismissals at multiple Kansas schools Thursday, including Cheylin High School in Bird City, Western Plains High School in Ransom and El Dorado High School. →

🇺🇸 US

• Republican leaders are pushing Southern states to rapidly redraw congressional maps before midterm elections following a Supreme Court ruling that sharply curbed the use of race in crafting electoral districts, with Louisiana suspending scheduled congressional primaries after Gov. Jeff Landry declared the current map a nonstarter. →

• U.S. Central Command has requested deployment of the Army's Dark Eagle hypersonic missile to the Middle East for potential use against Iran, which would mark the weapon's first combat deployment and is driven by Iran moving ballistic-missile launchers beyond the range of existing U.S. precision strike weapons. →

• Maine Gov. Janet Mills dropped out of her Senate race against Republican Sen. Susan Collins Thursday, citing lack of funds, leaving oyster farmer and Bernie Sanders-endorsed Graham Platner as the near-certain Democratic nominee. →

• Apple reported a record $111.2 billion in quarterly revenue, driven by a nearly 22% surge in iPhone sales, with the company projecting 14% to 17% revenue growth in the current quarter, well above analyst forecasts. →

• The first direct commercial flight between the United States and Venezuela in six years landed in Caracas Thursday, with American Airlines completing the Miami-to-Caracas route as a symbol of the Trump administration's normalization of ties with the government. →

Weather

May 1, 1958: First “Law Day” Observed in the United States

On this date, the United States marked its first official observance of Law Day, following President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s proclamation to honor the role of law in the nation’s creation and civic life. The event, first proposed by the American Bar Association, was also intended to counter the pro-labor, often communist-associated May Day celebrations by shifting public focus to Americans’ constitutional rights and the rule of law.

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