Top 5 Kansas news stories
January 22 2026
Arctic Storm to Dump Up to 8 Inches of Snow, Trigger Life-Threatening Wind Chills Across Kansas
Kansas Lawmakers Advance Voter ID Constitutional Amendment, Push Congressional Term Limits Resolution
Federal Infrastructure Grants Deliver $2.6M to Upgrade Kansas Airports Across 10 Communities
Kansas Rejects Federal Vaccine Changes After CDC Cuts Childhood Immunization Recommendations
Wichita Police Kill 27-Year-Old Armed Man
Arctic Storm to Dump Up to 8 Inches of Snow, Trigger Life-Threatening Wind Chills Across Kansas
WICHITA, Kan. — A powerful winter storm is bearing down on central and southern Kansas, threatening heavy snowfall and dangerously cold conditions that meteorologists warn could create life-threatening wind chills and hazardous travel from Friday afternoon through early next week. The National Weather Service issued a winter storm watch predicting 4 to 8 inches of snow with locally higher amounts possible across a wide swath of the state, while a cold weather advisory warns of wind chills plunging as low as 22 below zero — cold enough to cause frostbite on exposed skin in as little as 30 minutes. The snow is expected to begin Friday afternoon and intensify Friday night, continuing through Saturday night with the heaviest accumulations forecast for southern Kansas counties including Sedgwick, Sumner, Cowley and Chautauqua. The arctic blast will arrive even earlier, with dangerous wind chills of 10 to 20 below zero likely from Friday morning through Monday morning, according to the weather service. The coldest conditions are expected Saturday and Sunday mornings, when some central Kansas locations could see wind chills dip just below minus 20 degrees. Forecasters warn the combination of heavy snow and extreme cold could severely impact Friday evening's commute and make travel very difficult through the weekend.
Greg Loving
Kansas Lawmakers Advance Voter ID Constitutional Amendment, Push Congressional Term Limits Resolution
TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas legislators introduced a proposed constitutional amendment Wednesday requiring voters to present photo identification at the polls, along with a resolution calling for a national convention to establish congressional term limits. House Concurrent Resolution 5021 would ask voters to enshrine the photo ID requirement in the state constitution during an Aug. 4 special election. Kansas law currently requires voters to show photo identification, but the proposed amendment would make the requirement more difficult to repeal. The House also introduced HCR 5022 applying to Congress for a limited convention to propose a constitutional amendment establishing term limits for members of the U.S. House and Senate. Meanwhile, the Senate introduced legislation requiring correctional facilities and jails to provide free telephone calls to inmates, and the House advanced a bill mandating fentanyl abuse education programs and requiring schools to maintain supplies of the overdose reversal drug naloxone.
Federal Infrastructure Grants Deliver $2.6M to Upgrade Kansas Airports Across 10 Communities
TOPEKA, Kan. — Ten Kansas communities have secured more than $2.5 million in federal Infrastructure and Investment Jobs Act funding from the Federal Aviation Administration's Airport Infrastructure Grant program, Governor Laura Kelly announced today. Combined with just over $145,000 in matching funds from the Kansas Infrastructure Hub and Build Kansas Fund and over $22,000 in local contributions, the total investment into airport infrastructure in Kansas through this round of grants exceeds $2.6 million. The awarded projects include runway and taxiway rehabilitation in Great Bend and Chanute, airfield electrical improvements in McPherson, hangar construction design in Colby, and equipment buildings, lighting upgrades and fuel farm installations in seven other communities including Hugoton, Garnett, Eureka, Strother Field and Kearny County. In addition to these ten awards, the Build Kansas Fund has provided required matching dollars for 79 other federal grant awards across Kansas, with the fund's combined investment exceeding $47.7 million and resulting in federal grant awards of more than $153.4 million.
Kansas Rejects Federal Vaccine Changes After CDC Cuts Childhood Immunization Recommendations
TOPEKA, Kan. — The Kansas Department of Health and Environment announced it will not adopt the updated vaccine schedule recommended by the Centers for Disease Control after the federal agency eliminated routine childhood vaccine recommendations for rotavirus, hepatitis A, meningococcal disease and influenza. In a Jan. 16 statement issued through the Kansas Health Alert Network, KDHE said it does not anticipate changes to the state's clinical guidance regarding childhood immunization schedules, emphasizing that vaccines remain one of the most effective tools for preventing serious infectious diseases and that decades of rigorous studies have shown they are safe and effective. The CDC's Jan. 5 changes, which followed President Donald Trump's directive to align U.S. recommendations with other developed nations, reduced the number of diseases with recommended vaccines from 17 to 11. Kansas Rep. Brett Fairchild, R-St. John, said he is considering adding a budget proviso to compel KDHE to adopt the CDC's recommendations, citing constituent concerns about children receiving too many vaccines over a short period.
CJOnline
Wichita Police Kill 27-Year-Old Armed Man
WICHITA, Kan. — The Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office has identified a man shot and killed by a Wichita police officer Tuesday as 27-year-old Deaundre Hill following a disturbance call at an apartment complex in the 2300 block of north Woodlawn. Three officers responded around 12:47 a.m. to reports of a disturbance involving a man and woman, but after receiving no answer at the suspected unit, they heard voices in neighboring unit 415 and knocked, announcing themselves as police. Officers could hear a man inside telling someone to get his gun and grab bullets, and threatening to shoot officers in the brains, according to Sheriff Jeff Easter, who said officers identified themselves as police nine times. Body camera footage shows that 11 seconds after two officers retreated up the stairs and one moved down the hallway to cover, Hill emerged from the apartment holding a gun, turned left and pointed the weapon at the officer positioned behind cover. After ordering Hill to drop his weapon four times, the officer fired multiple shots, striking Hill several times.
KWCH
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