McPherson

• Mickey Mitani, 69, died Saturday morning after his vehicle went airborne and overturned while attempting to negotiate a turn from K-61 onto the northbound I-135 on-ramp. →
• The McPherson City Commission will hold a special session on Monday to discuss an agreement allowing the city fire department to participate in broader wildfire response efforts. →
• The McPherson County Board of Commissioners will consider updates to planning and zoning fees and the transfer of culvert maintenance to Jackson and Gypsum Creek Townships. →
• The McPherson Board of Public Utilities will meet on March 23 to review identity theft prevention policies and receive operational updates regarding electric and water distribution. →
• The team of Mike Sikes, Mark Sikes, Matt Sikes, and Kipp Jones won the championship flight at Turkey Creek’s 2026 season-opening tournament sponsored by Viega LLC. →
• The McPherson County Special Olympics Wolfpack and Wildpups basketball teams both earned second-place finishes at the state tournament, concluding their season with silver medals. →
• Expect a cloudy Monday in McPherson with a high near 57 — but warmer days are ahead, with temperatures climbing into the upper 80s and low 90s by midweek.

🌾 Kansas

• Gov. Laura Kelly signed more than a dozen bipartisan bills Friday spanning law enforcement, child welfare, transparency, health care and local governance, including a measure requiring funeral support for officers killed in the line of duty. →

• Gov. Laura Kelly signed House Bill 2433, reaffirming the state's sole authority over water transfers and appropriations in Kansas and prohibiting counties from enacting conflicting resolutions. →

• Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar introduced the Homegrown Fertilizer Act, a bipartisan bill establishing a grant and loan program to boost domestic fertilizer production as the Strait of Hormuz blockade disrupts global urea shipments. →

• President Donald Trump demanded Congress pass the long-stalled farm bill in a March 20 Truth Social post as Kansas farmers face some of the toughest economic conditions in a generation. →

• Kansas coach Bill Self said after the Jayhawks' NCAA Tournament elimination Sunday that he has not yet decided whether he will return for a 24th season in Lawrence. →

🇺🇸 US

• President Trump instructed the Department of Defense Monday morning to postpone all military strikes against Iranian power plants for five days, citing "very good and productive conversations" with Tehran toward a "complete and total resolution" of hostilities after his 48-hour ultimatum threatening to "obliterate" Iran's electrical grid. →

• Brent crude climbed to $114 a barrel Monday while the national average gasoline price reached $3.94 a gallon, up $1.01 from a month ago, as oil prices have risen more than 50 percent since the U.S. and Israel struck Iran in late February. →

• Iran's failed missile attack Friday on Diego Garcia demonstrated a 4,000-kilometer range that puts major European capitals including London within reach, upending Western assumptions about Iranian missile capabilities. →

• Elon Musk announced Tesla and SpaceX will jointly build a semiconductor manufacturing facility called Terafab in Austin to produce chips for vehicles, humanoid robots and space-based AI satellites, a project Morgan Stanley estimates would cost over $20 billion. →

• Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers will deploy to airports Monday to ease security bottlenecks caused by a partial government shutdown stemming from a congressional impasse over Department of Homeland Security funding. →

March 23 1857: First Commercial Elevator Installed in New York City

Vermont inventor Elisha Otis installed the first commercial, steam-powered elevator in an upscale New York City department store, traveling just 40 feet per minute. His built-in safety catch, which stopped the car if the hoisting rope failed, made vertical transportation far safer and helped pave the way for modern skyscrapers.

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