Salina

• The Salina Animal Control Advisory & Appeals Board will transition to monthly meetings as residents demand transparency regarding euthanasia practices and the alleged misuse of donation funds. The city is commissioning a $60,000 independent assessment of the shelter's operations before considering a management transition to a nonprofit organization. →
• The shelter received a satisfactory rating from the Kansas Department of Agriculture after addressing previous violations by replacing rusted water bowls and installing new waste containers. →
• The Salina Animal Control Advisory & Appeals Board is debating whether dogs in unfenced yards should be required to be on a leash or if current off-leash rules apply. →
• Salina police arrested 24-year-old Christopher Hernandez Lopez after he allegedly bombarded a woman with over 60 calls and tried to break into her home. He now faces charges including stalking, aggravated burglary, and resisting arrest. →
• New federal inspection standards for the county's 218 bridges will require hiring a $109,000 consultant to handle an increased workload that would otherwise take staff five months to complete. →
• A new pavilion planned for the parking lot at Santa Fe Avenue and Ash Street will provide permanent lighting and shade for outdoor concerts and farmers markets. →
• Thirty-six student teams will compete in the Kansas KidWind State Championship this Saturday in Salina for a chance to advance to the world finals. The free public event features custom-built wind turbines and a unique, shark-themed high-speed wind tunnel traveling from Wisconsin. →
• Salina Central softball improved to a perfect 8-0 on the season after sweeping cross-town rival Salina South in a competitive Tuesday doubleheader. Behind two stellar performances from pitcher Sophia Johnson, the Lady Mustangs secured a 2-0 shutout in the opener before rallying for a 5-4 victory to stay undefeated. →
• Ten-time defending state champion Sacred Heart opened the 2026 season with a dominant 14-stroke victory at the Salina Invitational. Led by Will Tuttle’s second-place performance, the Knights secured the win with five golfers finishing in the top 15. →
• Shaw Lee struck out 10 in a dominant complete-game shutout to lead Kansas Wesleyan to an 8-0 victory over McPherson. The Coyotes backed Lee's stellar performance with nine hits, highlighted by a two-run home run from Carter Allen and a three-hit night by Zac Goldenberg. →
• Keep an eye on the sky for some morning showers and storms, but expect a breezy, partly sunny day overall with a high near 81.

🌾 Kansas

• Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed Senate Substitute for House Bill 2745 on Wednesday, rejecting the Republican-backed measure that would have created a protest petition process allowing voters to block local property tax increases exceeding inflation-adjusted revenue, and proposed a three-part alternative including a one-time $250 vehicle registration credit. →

• Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed 15 bills Wednesday, including measures that would have eliminated mail-in voting for many Kansans, restricted online voter registration, created what she called a backdoor private school voucher program, and undone 2016 juvenile justice reforms. →

• Gov. Laura Kelly signed House Bill 2513, a multi-year state budget covering fiscal years 2026 through 2029, but criticized the Republican-led Legislature for cutting school mental health services while boosting lawmakers' salaries by 4% and giving state employees in prisons and mental health facilities just a 1% raise. →

• A warm, dry winter and spring have Kansas wheat farmers bracing for a diminished crop and the earliest harvest ever at some operations, with fields roughly six weeks from cutting after little snow, a warmer-than-average March and the return of drought conditions statewide. →

• Kansans are already paying more for helium as the Iran conflict chokes off roughly a third of the global supply, disrupting Kansas hospitals, manufacturers and aircraft industry operations that rely on helium for MRI machines, surgical equipment and leak checking. →

🇺🇸 US

• The two-week U.S.-Iran ceasefire faced immediate strain as Iran accused Washington of violations and moved to consolidate control over the Strait of Hormuz, limiting crossings to roughly a dozen ships per day. →

• China used its economic and diplomatic leverage to push Iran toward accepting the two-week ceasefire in the final hours before the deal was announced, according to three Iranian officials. →

• The U.S. fertility rate dropped to 53.1 births per 1,000 women of childbearing age in 2025, extending two decades of decline, according to data released Thursday by the National Center for Health Statistics. →

• Chinese state hackers used Anthropic's AI to breach ~30 organizations with minimal human involvement — the first known AI-driven cyberattack — but the same tools are now arming defenders to catch long-hidden vulnerabilities, turning cybersecurity into a race over who finds the flaws first. →

• The U.S. labor-force participation rate slipped to 61.9 percent in March, its lowest level since 1977 outside the pandemic, driven by retiring baby boomers and the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. →

Weather

April 9, 1959: NASA Introduces America’s First Astronauts

NASA presented the original seven Mercury astronauts—Carpenter, Cooper, Glenn, Grissom, Schirra, Shepard and Slayton—to the American public. Their selection marked the United States’ first concrete step toward manned spaceflight in the escalating Cold War “space race” with the Soviet Union.

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