Manhattan

• Assessed property valuations in Manhattan rose 7.76 percent to $798.6 million, increasing the value of one mill to about $798,000. →
• The Manhattan City Commission is exploring a 2 percent franchise fee increase with Evergy and Kansas Gas Service to fund debt service. →
• The Manhattan City Commission is considering a recommended 3 percent water rate increase for the 2027 municipal budget. →
• The Manhattan City Commission is considering a 50-cent monthly stormwater base fee increase in 2027 to cover operating expenses. →
• Riley County Police Department Reports 4 Arrests on June 22 →
• Riley County Police Department Reports 5 Arrests June 14-24, 2026 →
• After some early morning patchy fog clears up, expect a partly sunny Wednesday in Manhattan with a high near 83°F and almost no wind.

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🌾 Kansas

• Emporia's Planning Commission voted unanimously June 23 to table three zoning proposals for a gigawatt-scale data center after a 6½-hour hearing drew 400 to 500 residents, with a special meeting set for June 30. →

• Kansas AFL-CIO unanimously endorsed state Sen. Ethan Corson for governor June 23, sparking a dispute with rival Democratic candidate Sen. Cindy Holscher over union membership ahead of the August 4 primary. →

• Kansas unemployment fell to 3.8% in May, down from 3.9% in April, with nonfarm payroll employment rising by 5,100 jobs, the state Department of Labor reported June 23. →

• Kansas funded only 67% of special education excess costs last year, falling $226 million short of the statutory 92% target, according to the Kansas State Department of Education. →

• Fort Hays State University paused its men's and women's golf programs June 23 following a $2.4 million state funding cut, though the university said it will honor all existing scholarships for the 2026-27 academic year. →

🇺🇸 US

• Congress passed the 21st Century Road to Housing Act on June 23, sending the most ambitious federal housing legislation since the 1980s to President Trump, who has pledged to sign it; the House approved the measure 358-32 after the Senate passed it 85-5. →

• Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard released declassified documents June 18 alleging Anthony Fauci helped shape intelligence-community assessments of COVID-19's origins and lied to Congress in 2024 about his contacts with U.S. intelligence agencies. →

• The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 June 23 in Landor v. Louisiana Department of Corrections that former inmates cannot sue individual prison officials for money damages under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, blocking a Rastafarian man's suit after guards shaved his dreadlocks days before his release. →

• Iran's growing use of China's yuan-based financial system is undermining U.S. sanctions leverage as nuclear negotiations proceed, with Chinese refiners shifting to yuan-settled oil purchases that bypass the American-led banking system. →

• The U.S. and Iran publicly clashed June 23 over whether Tehran agreed to readmit IAEA inspectors as part of a war-ending deal, while IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said June 24 that inspectors will visit Iranian enrichment sites under the interim agreement's memorandum of understanding. →

Weather

JUNE 24, 1993: UNABOMBER MAIL BOMB SERIOUSLY INJURES YALE PROFESSOR

On this day, Yale computer science professor David Gelernter was gravely wounded when a mail bomb from the Unabomber exploded in his office. The attack was part of Ted Kaczynski’s long-running bombing campaign targeting universities and airlines, meant to dramatize his belief that modern industrial-technological society was dehumanizing and destroying both nature and human freedom. His manifesto, Industrial Society and Its Future, argued that advanced technology inevitably leads to pervasive social control, loss of autonomy and environmental ruin, and called for a revolutionary rejection of the industrial system rather than reforming it.