Lawrence

• A federal judge ordered USD 497 Lawrence Public Schools to pay $113,000 in attorney fees for bad-faith Open Records Act violations. →
• Renovations at the historic Centennial building are nearing completion to reopen as Choice Campus at Centennial for Lawrence students. →
• Lawrence Public Schools secured state Safe and Secure Schools grant funds to support safety and security infrastructure upgrades. →
• Durham School Services is offering $4,000 hiring bonuses to ensure full bus driver staffing for Lawrence Public Schools this fall. →
• The Douglas County Courthouse is scheduled for major interior renovations, electrical upgrades, and window replacements starting in 2028. →
• Registered Douglas County voters can cast ballots in the Aug. 4, 2026 primary election for county, state, and federal offices. →
• Expect partly sunny skies in Lawrence today with a high near 90°F and a slight chance of afternoon showers or thunderstorms.

🌾 Kansas

• Kansas school boards say the state's underfunding of special education mandates is shifting millions in costs to local property taxes, prompting some districts to consider joining a statewide funding coalition. →

• The Hutchinson USD 308 school board voted 6-1 to place a $36 million bond issue on the Nov. 3 ballot for building upgrades, a much smaller ask than the roughly $109.5 million measure voters rejected in 2025. →

• The Southwest Power Pool declared an energy emergency alert July 27 as triple-digit heat strained the grid across Kansas, prompting a federal emergency order from the U.S. Energy Department through Aug. 3. →

• Gov. Laura Kelly cast an advance ballot July 28, backing state Sen. Ethan Corson in the Democratic gubernatorial primary ahead of the Aug. 4 election. →

• Newton officials are drafting a seven-year lease agreement with Shield AI to build a 30,000-square-foot hangar at Newton City-County Airport, expanding the defense tech company's flight-test operations. →

🇺🇸 US

• The Senate voted 86–12 on July 28 to advance the Lindsey Graham Sanctioning Russia Act, a sweeping Russia sanctions package, hours after Washington held funeral tributes for the late senator. →

• U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issued an interim final rule on July 28 letting asylum officers skip interviews and refer up to 444,000 cases directly to immigration judges to help clear a backlog with waits exceeding 7.3 years. →

• New York Attorney General Letitia James and Gov. Kathy Hochul on July 28 released final rules under the SAFE for Kids Act, making New York the first state to enforce limits on algorithmic social media feeds for minors starting January 25, 2027. →

• Reuters reported July 28 that China has begun mass-producing domestically built immersion DUV lithography machines, threatening to undercut U.S. export controls meant to slow its advanced chipmaking. →

• Iran's Revolutionary Guard fired ballistic missiles at U.S. forces in the Middle East on July 28, shattering a two-day pause in the war, prompting immediate U.S.-Saudi strikes on Iranian-linked sites in Iraq. →

Weather

JULY 29, 1958: NASA CREATED

The U.S. Congress establishes the National Aeronautics and Space Administration as a civilian agency to coordinate America’s activities in space, responding to the Soviet Union’s surprise launch of Sputnik. NASA’s creation marks the formal start of the U.S.–Soviet space race and leads to missions that reshape global communications, navigation, and humanity’s understanding of the solar system.

This article was written using our proprietary AI system, Cronkite. The final decision to publish this article was made by a human. For more info, read our AI policy.