Extreme Heat Warning Grips Kansas After Floods

Kansas Supreme Court Upholds Carr Brothers' Death Sentences

Kansas Wheat Harvest Nears End Amid Heavy Abandonment

Nebraska Driver Drowns in Sumner County Floodwaters

World Cup Group Play Ends in Kansas City

Extreme Heat Warning Grips Kansas After Floods

WICHITA, Kan. — Kansas swung from flooding to dangerous heat as the National Weather Service issued an Extreme Heat Warning and heat advisories across much of the state beginning June 28. The warning runs from early June 29 through July 3 for the Kansas City metropolitan area, while advisories cover central, east-central, south-central and southeastern Kansas, where forecasters expect afternoon temperatures of 95 to 102 degrees and heat-index values as high as 107. Moisture left by weeks of rain is fueling the humidity that makes the heat more dangerous and raises the risk of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Officials urged residents to limit outdoor activity, check on elderly neighbors and never leave children or pets in parked cars. The heat also strains an electric grid already pressured by surging demand from new data centers.

ABC17 News · The Watchers · NWS

Kansas Supreme Court Upholds Carr Brothers' Death Sentences

TOPEKA, Kan. — The Kansas Supreme Court on June 26 unanimously upheld the death sentences of brothers Jonathan and Reginald Carr, ruling they are not entitled to resentencing in one of the most notorious crimes in state history. The Carrs were convicted in the December 2000 Wichita massacre, in which four young people — Aaron Sander, Brad Heyka, Heather Muller and Jason Befort — were kidnapped, robbed, sexually assaulted and shot in a snowy field on Dec. 14, 2000, while a fifth victim, Ann Walenta, died weeks later after being shot Dec. 11. Defense lawyers had argued that because appellate courts overturned all but one capital-murder count, the surviving count required a new sentencing hearing, but the justices rejected that reasoning. Prosecutors said the brothers have exhausted their direct appeals, though two later stages remain, typically beginning with claims that their trial lawyers were ineffective. The ruling lands days after Gov. Laura Kelly denied clemency to serial killer John Robinson, while the Carrs have their own clemency petitions pending before the Kansas Prisoner Review Board.

KWCH · KSN · KSNT

Kansas Wheat Harvest Nears End Amid Heavy Abandonment

GREAT BEND, Kan. — The latest Kansas Wheat harvest report confirmed one of the worst winter-wheat years in recent memory, with farmers in the drought-scarred southwest leaving large shares of their fields uncut. Abandonment reached extreme levels in places, as Jason Ochs of Hamilton County walked away from about 60% of his wheat and averaged only about 20 bushels per acre on what remained, while a producer in northern Barton County estimated up to 90% of local acres would go unharvested. Conditions varied sharply by region, with growers along U.S. Highway 36 in the north reporting 70 to 80 bushels per acre, but morning fog and persistent humidity slowed combines statewide and left the northwest only 60 to 70% finished and behind the normal pace. The U.S. Department of Agriculture had already rated more than half the Kansas crop in poor or very poor condition this spring. Kansas is consistently the nation's top winter-wheat producer, so a short, uneven harvest tightens grain supplies and squeezes the farm income and rural elevators that small towns depend on.

Kansas Wheat · USDA · Great Bend Post

Nebraska Driver Drowns in Sumner County Floodwaters

WELLINGTON, Kan. — A 33-year-old Nebraska man drowned in south-central Kansas after his vehicle was swept into floodwaters, the first confirmed death from weeks of relentless rain across the region. Sumner County deputies were called to the 600 block of South Oliver, near Wellington, just before 3:30 p.m. Saturday, June 27, after a witness saw a passenger car enter the rushing water with the driver still inside. The current was too strong for water-rescue crews to safely enter, and the Wellington and Mulvane fire departments, a police drone and a Kansas Highway Patrol air unit searched without success before suspending the effort overnight. Crews resumed Sunday morning and recovered the body of Venkatesh Doppalaudi of Elkhorn, Nebraska, around 12:20 p.m. on June 28. Rivers and creeks across south-central Kansas remained swollen after repeated rounds of heavy storms and flash flooding earlier in June, and authorities again urged drivers not to cross flooded or barricaded roads, the leading cause of flood deaths nationally.

KAKE · KSN · Cowley Post · Sumner Newscow

World Cup Group Play Ends in Kansas City

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City area wrapped up its FIFA World Cup group-stage hosting on June 27 with a 3-3 draw between Algeria and Austria at Arrowhead Stadium, renamed Kansas City Stadium for the tournament, capped by a Riyad Mahrez goal in the final minute of regulation and an Austrian equalizer deep in stoppage time that sent both teams into the knockout round. The result closed a stretch of group matches the region hosted between June 16 and 27, drawing large international crowds to the metro that straddles the Kansas-Missouri line. Kansas City now turns to a Round of 32 knockout game scheduled for July 3, the first World Cup elimination match ever played in the region. Kansas has served as a home base and training site for several national teams, and Gov. Laura Kelly's disaster-emergency declaration for Johnson, Wyandotte and Douglas counties remains in effect through July 30 to help coordinate police, transit and emergency agencies for the crowds. Officials have estimated the tournament could draw roughly 650,000 visitors to the region.

KCUR · NBC Sports · KSHB

Sources

1. ABC17 News / The Watchers / NWS
2. KWCH / KSN / KSNT
3. Kansas Wheat / USDA / Great Bend Post
4. KAKE / KSN / Cowley Post / Sumner Newscow
5. KCUR / NBC Sports / KSHB

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