Kansas Senate Race Spending May Top $50 Million

SNAP Dispute Stalls Five-Year Farm Bill

Kansas Schools Lock Up Phones Under New Ban

Washburn Tech Opens Campus in Former Kmart

Residents Seek County Data Center Moratorium

Kansas Senate Race Spending May Top $50 Million

TOPEKA, Kan. — The general election between Republican U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall and Democratic nominee the Rev. Adam Hamilton is projected to draw more than $50 million in combined spending, Kansas Reflector reported Monday. Hamilton, the founding pastor of the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, won the Aug. 4 Democratic primary with about 35% of the vote against 10 opponents, while Marshall is seeking a second term. Marshall has called Hamilton too “woke” for Kansas and highlighted his vote for tax legislation signed by the president. The Cook Political Report and Sabato’s Crystal Ball still favor Marshall after moving the contest only from safe or solid Republican to likely Republican, and Kansas has not elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1932. Record spending by the campaigns, national party committees and outside groups could bring months of heavy advertising and make the November margin a national measure of whether Republican support is shifting on the Plains.

Kansas Reflector · KCUR · Cook Political Report

SNAP Dispute Stalls Five-Year Farm Bill

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry voted 10-11 along party lines to keep the five-year farm bill in committee, preventing it from advancing to the Senate floor. The dispute centered on a provision requiring states with high Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program error rates to begin paying part of benefit costs in 2027; Democrats sought a two-year delay, while Republicans offered one year. Chairman John Boozman, R-Ark., recessed the markup, and the committee is not expected to reconvene until September, after the Senate’s August recess. For Kansas, the bill would set five years of policy for crop insurance, commodity price supports, disaster aid and conservation as farmers finish the state’s smallest winter wheat harvest since the 1950s, about 196 million bushels compared with nearly 347 million last year. The delay leaves producers making 2027 planting, borrowing and herd decisions without knowing the federal safety net and increases the chance Congress will rely on another short-term extension.

Agri-Pulse · Nebraska Public Media · American Ag Network · National Association of Counties · Dakota Radio Group · KCBD

Kansas Schools Lock Up Phones Under New Ban

OLATHE, Kan. — Kansas districts opened the 2026-27 school year by putting storage and collection systems in place for the state’s new all-day student cellphone ban. The Olathe school board approved updated device rules Aug. 6 and spent $40,700 on locked CUBE Phocus Stations for every school, while Wyandotte High School began collecting phones each morning and returning them at dismissal. House Bill 2299, signed in March, requires personal phones, smartwatches and earbuds to be turned off and stored out of reach from the first bell through dismissal, including lunch and passing periods. Districts retain limited discretion over enforcement and exceptions for devices required by an individualized education program or medical plan. Supporters say the rules will reduce distraction and cyberbullying, while some parents worry about reaching their children during emergencies, making districts’ storage and enforcement choices central to how consistently the first statewide policy changes the school day.

KCTV5 · Lawrence Journal-World

Washburn Tech Opens Campus in Former Kmart

TOPEKA, Kan. — Washburn University Institute of Technology opened its third campus Monday inside a former Kmart at 2240 N.W. Tyler St. in North Topeka, two days before classes were scheduled to begin. Washburn Tech, the technical education arm of Washburn University, also operates its main campus on Huntoon Street in southwest Topeka and Washburn Tech East. The school awards certificates and associate degrees in trades, health care and industrial fields, with many credentials designed to take months rather than years to complete. The opening coincides with the start of the 2026-27 school year for area districts, including Topeka Public Schools’ Aug. 11 and 12 return dates. Placing the campus in a lower-income neighborhood with limited transit could reduce cross-city travel for residents seeking short-term training and make enrollment more practical for people who face transportation barriers.

WIBW

Residents Seek County Data Center Moratorium

TOPEKA, Kan. — A large group of residents asked the Shawnee County Planning Commission to recommend a one-year countywide moratorium on data center development, citing potential effects on the Wakarusa watershed, property values, farm ground and noise and seeking independent environmental studies before approvals resume. At the same meeting, staff briefed commissioners on the Kansas Open Meetings Act ahead of a Compass Data Centers hearing, directing them to disclose communications about the application and cautioning them about attending outside meetings during the quasi-judicial review. Staff also found Compass’ application incomplete because it lacked construction phasing, electrical load figures and a statement of ownership intent and did not say whether the Southwest 77th Street campus would use city water and sewer or a state-permitted lagoon and Rural Water District 3, a decision that affects the required neighbor-notification radius. Planners questioned how up to 10 buildings and several substations would remain under the claimed 10% lot coverage, retained an outside engineering firm to review noise, stormwater, electricity and water demand, and asked whether backup generators would use standard diesel or hydrogenated vegetable oil. Topeka already has a one-year moratorium within city limits, and Compass intends to refile its county application by Aug. 28, according to KSNT and WIBW. The residents’ request would not itself halt applications, but a county moratorium would require action by the Shawnee County Commission and would extend a pause to the area where Compass filed.

Shawnee County Planning Commission · KSNT · WIBW

Sources

1. Kansas Reflector / KCUR / Cook Political Report
2. Agri-Pulse / Nebraska Public Media / American Ag Network / National Association of Counties / Dakota Radio Group / KCBD
3. KCTV5 / Lawrence Journal-World
4. WIBW grand opening coverage / WIBW former Kmart coverage
5. Shawnee County Planning Commission meeting video / KSNT resident concerns coverage / KSNT engineering review coverage / WIBW

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