Kansas Cities Pause Data Center Development

Explosive Diarrhea Outbreak Reaches 55 Kansas Cases

Export Disruption Lifts Kansas Wheat Prices

Kansas Teacher Vacancies Drop, Special Education Lags

Dangerous Heat Bears Down on Kansas

Kansas Cities Pause Data Center Development

LAWRENCE, Kan. — The Lawrence City Commission voted unanimously July 14 for a 24-month moratorium on new data centers, while the Topeka City Council approved a one-year pause hours later. Relatively cheap land and electricity have drawn the large computing warehouses, which store and process information behind artificial intelligence and cloud services, but residents have raised concerns about their heavy use of water and power and their potential effect on utility bills. Lawrence doubled its initially proposed 12-month pause so planning staff can write zoning rules because the current code would allow massive data centers in several areas by right, without a public hearing for neighbors. Both moratoriums let property owners request exceptions in a step intended to limit the cities' legal exposure, and the votes follow the fast-growing data center corridor near the Panasonic battery plant in De Soto and similar debates in Topeka and Geary County. The local decisions will shape how much of the national artificial intelligence infrastructure boom Kansas absorbs, how its landscape changes and who pays for the electricity, water and grid upgrades the facilities require.

Lawrence Times · Lawrence Journal-World · WIBW · KSNT

Topeka City Council Summary

Week of July 15, 2026

citizen journalCronkite

Explosive Diarrhea Outbreak Reaches 55 Kansas Cases

TOPEKA, Kan. — The Kansas Department of Health and Environment said July 15 that Kansas has recorded 55 cases this year of cyclosporiasis, an intestinal illness caused by a microscopic parasite that can spread through contaminated fresh produce and cause prolonged, explosive diarrhea. The total more than doubled from 22 cases the previous week, and 37 infections were locally acquired, 17 were tied to international travel and one could not be classified; 30 domestic infections have occurred since June 24. Johnson County accounts for 25 cases, nearly half the state total. Officials in other states have identified lettuce and other leafy greens as a likely source, but Kansas has not linked its cases to a single product or outbreaks elsewhere. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed 1,645 domestic cases since May 1 and is investigating more than 5,100 additional reports across at least 31 states. Because infections can last for weeks and recur without treatment with a specific antibiotic, Kansas health departments are urging residents to wash produce carefully during the summer growing season.

Kansas Reflector · KCUR · KSHB · KAKE

Export Disruption Lifts Kansas Wheat Prices

TOPEKA, Kan. — Wheat futures jumped July 15, led by the Kansas City contract that tracks the hard red winter wheat grown by Kansas farmers, after Russia restricted shipping through the Kerch Strait in response to Ukrainian wartime drone attacks on vessels in the Sea of Azov. Russian authorities described the restrictions as a security measure and did not specify how long they would remain in place. The strait carries more than a quarter of grain shipments from Russia, the world's largest wheat exporter, so traders bid prices higher on fears that the disruption would tighten global supplies. The benchmark Chicago wheat contract settled at about $6.77 a bushel, up roughly 33 cents for the day, with Kansas City wheat leading the gains. The increase could benefit Kansas growers who recently finished a drought-affected harvest with sharply uneven yields and have faced prices that often fell below production costs. Because Kansas is consistently the nation's top wheat-producing state, global price swings affect farm income, land values and small-town economies, and even a short-lived spike can influence planting and marketing decisions on thousands of farms.

DTN · Brownfield Ag News · Reuters via Business Recorder · Le Monde

Kansas Teacher Vacancies Drop, Special Education Lags

TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas State Department of Education figures released around July 15 show 1,588 unfilled teaching positions statewide this spring, down about 9% from 1,747 in fall 2025. Nearly a quarter of the openings are in special education, the field serving students with the most intensive disabilities, which districts again identified as their hardest area to staff, with 378 vacancies this spring compared with 414 last fall. Shane Carter, the state's director of teacher licensure, called special education a "super area of need" that has been "historic for years," and officials said the shortage is worst in rural western Kansas. Districts report the figures to the state, and schools often cover vacancies with long-term substitutes or teachers working outside the subjects they were trained to teach. The lower overall total suggests recent pay raises and recruitment efforts may be gaining traction, but persistent special education and rural shortages affect students with the strongest legal right to individually tailored instruction and highlight a long-running divide between population centers and sparsely settled western counties.

KMUW · KAKE

Dangerous Heat Bears Down on Kansas

TOPEKA, Kan. — National Weather Service forecasters issued new extreme heat alerts July 15 for a prolonged stretch of dangerous conditions across much of Kansas through the weekend, including an extreme heat warning for the Kansas City metro. Highs are expected in the mid- to upper 90s and could reach or exceed 100 degrees in some areas, while heat index values that account for humidity may reach about 105 from Saturday through Monday. Forecasters said overnight lows above 75 degrees are especially dangerous because homes and bodies cannot fully cool, increasing the risk of heat illness for people without reliable air conditioning. The warning extends a hot, humid pattern that has gripped Kansas for much of July. Officials urged residents to limit outdoor activity, check on older neighbors and never leave children or pets in parked vehicles. Heat is the deadliest form of severe weather in the United States, and sustained high nighttime temperatures pose particular risks to older rural residents, outdoor farm and construction workers, and low-income households that cannot afford to run air conditioning around the clock.

KWCH · FOX4 · KCTV5

Sources

1. Lawrence Times / Lawrence Journal-World / WIBW / KSNT
2. Kansas Reflector / KCUR / KSHB / KAKE
3. DTN / Brownfield Ag News / Reuters via Business Recorder / Le Monde
4. KMUW / KAKE
5. KWCH / FOX4 / KCTV5

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