Lawrence

• The Douglas County Commission directed staff to prepare a flat mill levy for the 2027 budget, which will require internal budget cuts. →
• Douglas County expects a 4 percent growth in assessed property values, the lowest growth rate for the county since 2021. →
• The Lawrence USD 497 Board of Education approved a $6.8 million annual contract with Durham School Services including new tracking tools. →
• The Lawrence USD 497 Board of Education approved the $1.16 million purchase of Amplify literacy curricula for grades K-8. →
• The Lawrence Connected City Advisory Board reviewed a $103.5 million plan to repair 280 miles of sidewalks to meet federal ADA standards. →
• The Lawrence City Manager authorized strategic overhiring of police officers to bridge staffing gaps and prepare for future vacancies. →
• It'll be a mostly cloudy day in Lawrence with a high of 72°F and a slight chance of a passing shower or thunderstorm this afternoon.

🌾 Kansas

• The extortion group ShinyHunters allegedly breached Canvas parent company Instructure, knocking the learning management system offline at Kansas State University and roughly 8,800 other institutions days before finals week. →

• A federal jury convicted Beneficient founder Brad Heppner on Thursday of securities fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy and making false statements in a scheme that funneled more than $150 million to himself from GWG Holdings. →

• Jump Start opened a biodiesel and biogas blending facility in Potwin, Kansas, that U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall said will consume a third of the state's soybean crop and open new markets for Kansas farmers. →

• The Kansas Association of Chiefs of Police honored four officers killed in the line of duty in 2025 at its annual Valor Awards banquet May 6 in Mulvane, with posthumous Chief's Awards going to deputies and officers from Phillips County, Wyandotte County, Kansas City and Hays. →

• Kansas Sunflower Summer will return July 9–Aug. 2 with a reduced $2.75 million budget and a four-week window, open to pre-K through 12th-grade students and one adult guardian per family. →

🇺🇸 US

• A new AEI working paper warns U.S. fertility has fallen to 1.6 births per woman and projects deaths will exceed births by 2030, with depopulation potentially beginning as early as 2036 under low-immigration scenarios. →

• President Trump said the ceasefire with Iran remains in place after U.S. forces struck Iranian missile, drone and command sites in response to attacks on three American destroyers in which no vessels were hit. →

• Tennessee Republicans adopted a redistricting map that eliminates the Memphis-area majority-Black congressional district held by Rep. Steve Cohen, following a Supreme Court ruling that weakened the Voting Rights Act. →

• Vice President Vance warned major AI CEOs on an April call that Anthropic's Mythos model could enable cyberattacks on critical infrastructure, prompting the White House to weigh an executive order for oversight of advanced AI models. →

• The NCAA announced both the men's and women's basketball tournaments will expand from 68 to 76 teams beginning in the 2026-27 season, the largest bracket change for the men's tournament since 1985. →

Weather

MAY 8 1963: AMERICAN MOVIEGOERS GET FIRST LOOK AT JAMES BOND IN “DR. NO”

The first James Bond film released in the United States introduced audiences to Ian Fleming’s super-spy 007, played by then little-known Scottish actor Sean Connery. The movie established many of the franchise’s trademarks, including the gun-barrel opening, fast-paced action, glamorous “Bond girls,” and Bond’s signature vodka martinis “shaken, not stirred.”

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