Riley County Extends Data Center, Battery Storage Moratorium

Kansas Students Gain Ground on Reading, Math Tests

Animals Knock Out Power to 9,600 Wichita Customers

Wrong-Way Crash Kills Two During I-70 Pursuit

Cold Front Brings Saturday Frost Risk to Kansas

Riley County Extends Data Center, Battery Storage Moratorium

MANHATTAN, Kan. — Riley County commissioners unanimously extended a moratorium on data centers and battery energy storage systems in unincorporated areas for six months, through mid-May 2027. The pause prevents staff from accepting applications for data centers and large battery installations that store electricity for the power grid. Assistant County Counselor Michael Hawthorne requested the extension to give the Planning & Development Department time to draft zoning rules and monitor potential state legislation governing local regulation of the facilities. The moratorium began in May and was scheduled to expire Nov. 12; commissioners previously directed staff to prepare a six-month extension. Planning Director Amanda Webb said in June that both uses would likely require special-use approval and public review. Neighboring Geary County adopted a 12-month moratorium, The Manhattan Mercury reported, while an Oct. 9 brief reported that Dickinson County was studying a data center zoning overlay during its own one-year pause.

Riley County Commission Summary

Week of October 16, 2026

citizen journalCronkite

Riley County Commission · WIBW · The Manhattan Mercury · Oct. 9 brief

Kansas Students Gain Ground on Reading, Math Tests

TOPEKA, Kan. — The Kansas State Department of Education presented spring 2026 reading and math results at the State Board of Education’s Oct. 13-14 meeting, providing the first annual comparison since the tests were overhauled in 2025. An Education Data Center analysis, published before a KSDE results news release was available, found proficiency among students in grades three through eight rose to about 46.8% in English language arts from 45.6% in 2025 and to 41.8% in math from 39.6%. Math proficiency increased in every grade examined, and third grade was the only grade where reading declined; more than half of students remained below proficient in each subject. The board adopted a new scoring scale, proficiency thresholds and performance-level names in 2025, preventing direct comparisons with earlier results. The free-market Kansas Policy Institute argues the thresholds lowered standards and inflated proficiency, while KSDE says the changes corrected a misaligned system whose labels did not accurately reflect college and career readiness. The results give lawmakers, school boards and parents another measure of the billions of dollars Kansas spends on education ahead of the 2027 legislative session, which begins in January.

KSDE · Education Data Center · Kansas Reflector · Kansas Policy Institute

Animals Knock Out Power to 9,600 Wichita Customers

WICHITA, Kan. — An Evergy outage near Kellogg and Rock Road cut power to about 9,600 east Wichita customers shortly before 8 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 15, disrupting homes and businesses during the morning commute. A Sedgwick County dispatcher said traffic signals went dark at several intersections, disrupting travel through the commercial corridor. Evergy said animals entered its equipment and caused the outage. Power was restored to all affected customers around 9:35 a.m., the utility said. The interruption was unrelated to weather and came two days after storms knocked out power across the Kansas City metro and flooded parts of Wichita.

KWCH · KSN

Wrong-Way Crash Kills Two During I-70 Pursuit

JUNCTION CITY, Kan. — Two drivers died Wednesday afternoon, Oct. 14, when a pickup fleeing Geary County sheriff’s deputies reentered Interstate 70 in the wrong direction and struck an oncoming SUV near the Washington Street interchange, according to the Kansas Highway Patrol. The patrol identified the drivers as Seth A. Moreland, 41, of Caney, and Diane Lister, 62, of Chapman; its crash report said Moreland was not wearing a seat belt, while Lister was. Before the pursuit, Riley County police reported an erratically driven red Ford F-150 that struck several vehicles and continued into Geary County. The sheriff’s office said the pickup crossed a roundabout median before returning to the interstate and colliding head-on with the SUV. Authorities had not formally identified what prompted deputies to begin the pursuit, and the Highway Patrol was investigating. Pursuit policies weigh the danger to other drivers against allowing a driver to escape, and historical federal crash data document hundreds of pursuit-related deaths nationwide annually, including uninvolved motorists and bystanders.

KWCH · KSNT · KSN · KAKE · JC Post · Hays Post · KMAN · Bureau of Justice Statistics

Cold Front Brings Saturday Frost Risk to Kansas

TOPEKA, Kan. — A cold front crossed Kansas Thursday, Oct. 15, ending midweek rain and bringing the possibility of the season’s first frost or freeze Saturday morning, Oct. 17, according to forecasters at WIBW and KWCH. KWCH forecast widespread frost with lows in the upper 20s to low 30s, while WIBW expected highs to return to the 70s next week. Wednesday night’s thundershowers brought 0.73 of an inch of rain to K-State’s Agricultural Research Center–Hays, raising the station’s 2026 total to 24.18 inches, Hays Post reported. The cool-down followed Wichita tying its record for 90-degree days earlier this month and Tuesday’s storms causing Kansas City-area power outages and flooding Wichita streets. USDA reported Kansas sorghum and soybean harvests and wheat planting were behind average, adding concern about a freeze’s potential to damage late-maturing crops still in the field. The temperature outlook remains a forecast and could change before Saturday.

WIBW · KWCH · Hays Post · USDA

Sources

1. Riley County Commission / The Manhattan Mercury / WIBW / The Manhattan Mercury / Oct. 9 brief
2. KSDE / Education Data Center / Kansas Reflector / Kansas Policy Institute
3. KWCH / KSN
4. KWCH / KSNT / KSN / KAKE / JC Post / Hays Post / KMAN / Bureau of Justice Statistics
5. WIBW / WIBW / KWCH / KWCH / Hays Post / USDA

This article was written using our proprietary AI system, Cronkite. The final decision to publish this article was made by a human. For more info, read our AI policy.

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!)