McPherson

• The McPherson Board of Public Utilities will begin rebuilding its oldest 115,000-volt transmission line with steel structures on Sept. 1. →
• The McPherson Fire Department attended a pre-build review in Wisconsin for a replacement fire engine expected for delivery in early 2027. →
• McPherson Police Chief Mikel Golden penned an op-ed in the Kansas Reflector arguing that behavioral health clinics, not arrests, are the answer to mental health crises — citing McPherson's partnership with Prairie View, which cut crisis-related police calls nearly in half since 2022. (full Kansas Reflector article) →
• Moundridge USD 423 is advising families to update printed academic calendars with recent schedule changes before classes start Aug. 27. →
• McPherson High School will host its annual Fall Community Pep Rally with free ice cream Friday at McPherson High School Stadium. →
• McPherson High School posted a 2026 football preview video for the Bullpups, who were named a Class 4A team to watch by Sports in Kansas. →
• Multiple open houses and new real estate listings were announced across McPherson and surrounding central Kansas communities. →
• Expect mostly sunny skies and hot conditions today with a high near 95°F and light southeast winds.

🌾 Kansas

• Democratic nominee Adam Hamilton and Republican Sen. Roger Marshall made separate campaign stops in the Wichita area this week ahead of their Nov. 3 general election matchup. →

• Hays city commissioners reached consensus Aug. 20 to direct staff to draft a resolution setting guidelines for future industrial water use, to protect R9 pipeline supply. →

• An El Niño-driven fall outlook points Kansas toward warmer, wetter weather amid worsening southern drought, with USDA data showing wheat export commitments down 32% from last year. →

• Transgender men calling themselves the SB 244 Compliance Crew have toured public buildings across Kansas, using women's restrooms as required under the state's new restroom law to protest it. →

• Deere & Co. said the farm equipment slump has hit bottom, reporting third-quarter net income of $1.379 billion and raising its full-year profit forecast to between $4.75 billion and $5 billion. →

🇺🇸 US

• Moderna and Merck's personalized mRNA cancer vaccine met its primary goal of reducing melanoma recurrence in a Phase 3 trial, the companies announced Aug. 19. →

• Walmart reported its slowest U.S. same-store sales growth in six years, up 2.6% and below Wall Street's roughly 3.5% estimate, sending shares down about 9%. →

• FBI agents seized former Rep. Eric Swalwell's cellphone at San Francisco International Airport on Aug. 15 and searched his Washington home the next day as part of a criminal investigation into sexual assault and misconduct allegations. →

• The FDA announced Aug. 19 it had cleared Aletta, the first standalone robotic device authorized in the U.S. to draw blood from a patient's arm without hands-on operator intervention. →

• Russia launched an overnight missile and drone barrage on Kyiv that killed between 12 and 16 people and destroyed part of an apartment building, with reports linking the strike's effectiveness to Ukraine's shortage of Patriot interceptors. →

Weather

AUGUST 21, 1863: GUERRILLA RAID MASSACRES LAWRENCE, KANSAS

Pro-Confederate guerrillas under William Quantrill attacked the abolitionist stronghold of Lawrence, Kansas, killing around 150 men and burning much of the town. The massacre, rooted in the long-running frontier conflict known as Bleeding Kansas, intensified the cycle of retaliatory violence along the Missouri–Kansas border during the lead up to the Civil War.

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.