Top 5 Kansas news stories
July 13 2026
Parents Charged After Two Children Die
Emporia Data Center Petition Rejected
Keystone Operator Agrees to $70 Million Spill Deal
Hamilton Stakes Senate Bid on Health Care
Suspect Captured After Dodge City Bar Shooting
Parents Charged After Two Children Die
BROOKVILLE, Kan. — The Ellsworth County attorney charged Aaron French, 37, and Makayla French, 28, on July 10 with four felony counts each of aggravated child endangerment. Both were ordered to appear in district court July 28, and the charges remain allegations unless proven in court. A joint Kansas Bureau of Investigation and sheriff's office inquiry found that a young child discovered a loaded, unsecured shotgun in the family's Brookville home March 28 and shot two siblings, ages 5 and 8. Both children died from their injuries. Kansas law requires any prison terms for the child-endangerment counts to be served one after another rather than at the same time. Under standard sentencing guidelines, the total could reach about six years and seven months for each parent, although prior convictions and the judge's decisions could change the outcome.
KWCH · KBI · Kansas Revisor of Statutes
Emporia Data Center Petition Rejected
EMPORIA, Kan. — The Lyon County Election Office determined by July 10 that a petition opposing a proposed Emporia data center did not comply with Kansas law. Emporia Neighbors United submitted nearly 1,400 signatures, above the reported 804-signature threshold, but the petition pages did not properly document that circulators witnessed the signatures or have their statements verified by oath or affirmation before a notary. The proposed ordinance would prohibit high-impact data centers and Type 2 and Type 3 battery energy-storage systems in Emporia. With enough qualified signatures, Kansas law would require the City Commission to pass the ordinance without alteration within 20 days or send it to city voters, with organizers aiming for the Nov. 3 general election. If adopted by commissioners or voters, the ordinance could not be amended or repealed by the commission for 10 years without voter approval. The group said it would revise and resubmit the petition, making the ruling a delay rather than the end of its effort.
KWCH · KVOE · Kansas Revisor of Statutes
Keystone Operator Agrees to $70 Million Spill Deal
WASHINGTON COUNTY, Kan. — South Bow, owner and operator of the Keystone pipeline system, has agreed to a proposed federal consent decree that includes a $26.9 million civil penalty over a December 2022 rupture that spilled roughly 543,000 gallons, or about 13,000 barrels, of crude oil into Mill Creek. The agreement also requires about $40 million in work to prevent future spills and more than $3 million for Kansas natural-resource restoration, bringing its overall value to roughly $70 million. Federal officials said the rupture was the largest U.S. onshore crude-oil pipeline spill in nine years and exceeded the combined volume of all 22 previous spills on the Keystone system. More than 2,700 animals were harmed or killed, but no workers or nearby residents were injured, and public drinking-water supplies were not affected. The agreement would resolve alleged violations of the federal Clean Water Act and state law, but it remains subject to public comment and a judge's approval. The required prevention work addresses future risks on a pipeline system that crosses Kansas farmland and waterways.
KWCH · KCTV5 · The Daily Gazette
Hamilton Stakes Senate Bid on Health Care
MCPHERSON, Kan. — Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Rev. Adam Hamilton discussed his upbringing, health care and religion before speaking to a packed crowd July 11 at Pizza Ranch in McPherson. Hamilton is one of 11 candidates who filed for the Democratic nomination in the Aug. 4 primary, whose winner would seek to unseat Republican Sen. Roger Marshall in November. Raised by a single mother in the Kansas City area, Hamilton said his family helped settle Hope, KS, and has lived in Kansas for five generations; he later became pastor of the country's largest United Methodist church and married his high school sweetheart, LaVon. He is campaigning as a moderate Democrat who says he can work across party lines. Hamilton said higher Medicaid and KanCare reimbursements could improve patient access and help attract doctors to rural Kansas, and he blamed federal cuts under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act for increasing financial pressure. He said justice and inclusion shape his religious outlook but argued that voters should judge his commitment to public service, with the Kansas voter-registration deadline arriving July 14.
Matthew Petillo
Suspect Captured After Dodge City Bar Shooting
DODGE CITY, Kan. — Two men were killed and two others were wounded in a shooting early Sunday, July 12, at Central Station Bar and Grill on East Wyatt Earp Boulevard, according to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation and local authorities. Officers responding to 911 calls around 1:12 a.m. found four men with gunshot wounds after what investigators described as an altercation inside the bar. Authorities identified the suspect as Ricardo Johary Cadena-Garcia, 36, who fled south into Oklahoma before deputies arrested him without incident near Forgan after a blown tire disabled his truck. The KBI, Dodge City Police Department and Ford County Sheriff's Office are investigating, and Cadena-Garcia is presumed innocent unless proven guilty. The shooting occurred days after a Ford County jury on July 7 convicted a man of a double murder committed at the same bar during a 2023 Halloween gathering. The latest shooting is the second fatal case at the venue since that gathering in Dodge City, a southwest Kansas meatpacking hub of about 27,000 people.
Western Kansas News · KSN · KAKE · KSCB News
Sources
- KWCH / KBI via KRSL / Kansas offense statute / Kansas sentencing grid / Kansas multiple-conviction statute
- KWCH / KVOE / Kansas Revisor of Statutes
- KWCH / KCTV5 / The Daily Gazette
- Western Kansas News / KSN / KAKE / KSCB News
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