Top 5 Kansas news stories
June 10 2026
Kobach, Masterson Lead Push for Elected Supreme Court
115 mph Windstorm Batters Salina, Blacks Out 105,000
Five Republicans Exit Kansas State Board of Education
Kansas Wheat Harvest Opens in Sumner, Kiowa Counties
Wichita City Council Approves $450 Million Boeing Bond Package
Kobach, Masterson Lead Push for Elected Supreme Court
TOPEKA, Kan. — Electing the state's highest court means justices "won't force you to spend money on schools," Senate President and Republican gubernatorial candidate Ty Masterson told Republicans in November, a pitch now at the center of a proposed constitutional amendment. The Kansas Reflector reported June 9 that Masterson, Attorney General Kris Kobach, Solicitor General Anthony Powell, Americans for Prosperity-Kansas, the Kansas Chamber and the Kansas Policy Institute are the measure's lead proponents. The amendment would replace the merit-based nominating-commission process for selecting Kansas Supreme Court justices with partisan elections. Voters will decide the question on the Aug. 4 primary ballot.
Kansas Reflector
115 mph Windstorm Batters Salina, Blacks Out 105,000
SALINA, Kan. — A fast-moving thunderstorm complex slammed Salina just after 9 p.m. Monday, June 8, with a 113 mph gust recorded at Salina Regional Airport and damage assessments indicating winds as high as 115 mph that uprooted trees, snapped roughly 200 power poles and blew the steeple off First Southern Baptist Church. Evergy said the storm cut power to about 105,000 customers across Abilene, Junction City, Manhattan, Salina and Topeka, briefly leaving all of Salina dark as up to 7 inches of rain fell in Saline County. By Tuesday morning the utility had restored about 60% of affected customers but warned the roughly 40,000 still offline in the Salina and Abilene area faced a multi-day wait, with crews counting more than 500 broken poles across the service territory, including about 200 needing replacement inside Salina city limits. The city announced cooling centers, free meals and a tree-debris drop-off process Tuesday as rebuild work continued. A second round of storms triggered tornado sirens in Lawrence, Eudora and rural Douglas County shortly after midnight Tuesday, after the National Weather Service in Topeka issued a tornado warning based on radar-indicated rotation. Lawrence police responded to about a dozen calls for downed trees, with North Lawrence hardest hit, pockets of 80–90 mph winds reported and a large East Lawrence tree falling on a parked vehicle; no injuries were reported.
KWCH · WIBW · Lawrence Journal-World
Five Republicans Exit Kansas State Board of Education
TOPEKA, Kan. — Five Republican members of the Kansas State Board of Education will not seek reelection this year, opening half the seats on the 10-member board, KCUR reported June 9. Three-term incumbent Jim Porter of Fredonia, two-term member Michelle Dombrosky of Olathe and one-term incumbents Danny Zeck of Leavenworth, Cathy Hopkins of Hays and Dennis Hershberger of Hutchinson are stepping down. Dombrosky left to join Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlotte O'Hara's ticket as her lieutenant governor running mate. Fourteen candidates filed by the June 1 deadline, with contested Republican primaries set for Aug. 4 in three of the five districts and Democrats fielding one candidate in each.
KCUR
Kansas Wheat Harvest Opens in Sumner, Kiowa Counties
CONWAY SPRINGS, Kan. — Kansas Wheat's Day 1 harvest report confirmed test cutting began June 9 in Sumner County, where Conway Springs farmer Tim Turek recorded test weights of 59–60 pounds, roughly 11% protein and a 44-bushel-per-acre yield on his first finished field before scattered showers stalled progress. Todd Dean of ADM Grain in Greensburg reported the first Kiowa County loads also arrived June 9, slightly earlier than normal. The opening followed Monday's USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service report showing the statewide crop 5% harvested for the week ending June 8. The same report rated 57% of the crop poor or very poor.
Kansas Wheat
Wichita City Council Approves $450 Million Boeing Bond Package
WICHITA, Kan. — The Wichita City Council voted unanimously Tuesday, June 9, to approve industrial revenue bonds of up to $450 million for new construction and improvements at Boeing's Wichita campus. The bonds would allow the company to qualify for a 10-year property tax abatement covering construction, renovations and expanded manufacturing facilities on its south-side campus along Oliver between 31st Street South and 47th Street South. City officials said Boeing would privately purchase and repay the bonds, with the city serving as a conduit issuer at no cost to taxpayers or the city. City estimates put the value of the abatement at roughly $100 million in forgone property tax revenue over the decade, including more than $50 million for Sedgwick County and more than $40 million that would otherwise go to Derby Public Schools. Mayor Lily Wu defended the incentives against questions about why Boeing receives tax breaks while residents seek property tax relief, saying job growth would attract more people, expand the tax base and spread the property tax burden over time. The Sedgwick County Commission is scheduled to vote on the same proposal Wednesday, the next step for the $1 billion investment in Wichita that Boeing announced in May.
KWCH
Sources
Found a mistake? Have a news tip or feedback to share? Contact our newsroom using the button below:
citizen journal offers three flagship products: a daily national news summary, a daily Kansas news summary, and local news and school board summaries from 20 cities across Kansas. Each issue contains 5 paragraph-length stories that are made to be read in 5 minutes. Use the links in the header to navigate to national, kansas, and local coverage. Subscribe to each, some, or all to get an email when new issues are published for FREE!
Brought to you by (click me!)
