> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.citizenjournal.us/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Top 5 Kansas news stories - URL: https://www.citizenjournal.us/top-5-kansas-news-stories-305/ - Published: 2026-11-06T12:37:40.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-06T12:37:40.000Z - Description: November 6 2026 - Author: Greg Loving - Tags: Kansas, #summary # Holscher Widens Lead as Kansas Audits Six Races # Evergy Plans 1.4-Gigawatt Data Center Expansion, Raises Earnings Forecast # DeFlock Co-Founder Joins Lindsborg Council Before Camera Policy Vote # Moran Completes Tour of All 105 Kansas Counties # Weather Radio Outage Persists Across Nine Kansas Counties --- # Holscher Widens Lead as Kansas Audits Six Races TOPEKA, Kan. — Democrat Cindy Holscher’s unofficial lead over Republican Ty Masterson in the governor’s race reached about 7,000 votes Thursday afternoon, Nov. 5, up from about 5,500 Wednesday morning; Kansas Reflector had reported a 7,045-vote margin late Wednesday. Republican Pat Proctor’s lead over Democrat Jennifer Day for secretary of state narrowed from 10,756 votes Wednesday afternoon to about 9,000 Thursday, while Democrat Chris Mann led Republican Attorney General Kris Kobach by nearly 13,000, according to KWCH; all three races remained uncalled. State-required audits cover those contests and House Districts 27, 40 and 117, with workers hand-counting ballots in a randomly selected 10% of each county’s applicable precincts, at least one precinct, to check machine totals before results are finalized. Counties are accepting mail ballots postmarked by Election Day that arrive by Friday, Nov. 6, and will determine which provisional ballots qualify after checking voter eligibility at mid-November canvasses, steps that will help settle leadership of three statewide offices for four years. Candidates have until Nov. 17 to request recounts, and state elections director Bryan Caskey urged them to wait until audits and provisional-ballot reviews are complete before deciding. The secretary of state’s office estimated at least 1 million Kansans voted, a turnout officials believe ranks among the state’s three highest for a nonpresidential election year. KWCH · WIBW · KSN · KCTV5 · KSNT · Kansas Public Radio · KCUR · Kansas Reflector --- # Evergy Plans 1.4-Gigawatt Data Center Expansion, Raises Earnings Forecast KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Evergy, which serves much of eastern and central Kansas and the Kansas City area, announced Thursday, Nov. 5, a letter of intent for Digital Realty’s 1.4-gigawatt Kansas data center expansion beside an existing 600-megawatt project with a signed service agreement, plus three customer-contract amendments adding about 250 megawatts. The proposed expansion’s 1,400 megawatts equal 56 times the 25-megawatt data center cap Ottawa voters approved this week; operating continuously at full demand for a year would consume as much electricity as about 1.1 million U.S. households purchase annually. Evergy’s adjusted quarterly earnings rose to $2.58 a share from $2.03 a year earlier, helped by favorable weather and strong operations. The company raised its 2026 earnings forecast to $4.35-$4.50 a share and increased its quarterly dividend 4%. After adjusting for weather, electricity sales grew 8.7% among commercial customers as data centers opened and 3% among industrial customers, mainly from Panasonic’s De Soto battery plant. Executives expect a final Digital Realty agreement in the first half of 2027, contingent on local approvals and Kansas Corporation Commission action on proposed charges and nonrefundable advance payments for the largest customers. The commission approved an initial rate in late 2025 requiring customers adding at least 75 megawatts to accept 12- to 17-year commitments, minimum bills and early-exit fees, provisions Evergy says protect other customers if projects fall through. Evergy forecasts annual retail electricity demand growth of 7%-8% through 2030, largely from data centers, making decisions about who pays for new plants and transmission lines consequential for household bills. Evergy · Motley Fool · Benzinga · Yahoo Finance · Utility Dive · EIA --- # DeFlock Co-Founder Joins Lindsborg Council Before Camera Policy Vote LINDSBORG, Kan. — The Lindsborg City Council unanimously appointed DeFlock Lindsborg co-founder Brandon Burch to the vacant Ward 4 seat Monday, Nov. 2, as it considers new rules for license plate cameras. A selection committee recommended Burch from a field of three applicants, Councilmember Lysa Palmer-Augusta nominated him, and he was sworn in at the same meeting to replace Joshua Swanson. City Administrator Tanner Faust presented a draft camera policy with a 14-day data retention limit, audits and a reasonable-suspicion standard for searches, along with a citizen-proposed ordinance requiring data to be stored only on city-controlled servers. No vote on the citizen-proposed ordinance was reported, and the council will consider the draft policy for final approval at a future meeting. The council voted in August to keep its cameras despite privacy objections, and DeFlock Lindsborg demanded their removal in September. Burch’s appointment gives a leader of the removal campaign a vote on future camera decisions, including rules governing records of residents’ and visitors’ vehicle movements. [DeFlock Co-Founder Brandon Burch Joins Lindsborg City CouncilCamera opponent fills Ward 4 vacancy as council weighs tighter Flock policy![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f7/e6/f7e66a8b-8f27-493f-8b7e-664ecefd4c3d/content/images/icon/cj-icon-1000-d3448463-9e84-4402-9077-3d41e72cca2e.png)citizen journalSarah Newberry![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f7/e6/f7e66a8b-8f27-493f-8b7e-664ecefd4c3d/content/images/thumbnail/city-of-lindsborg-8ec3b742-693d-43dc-b013-38fb5038e8a8.webp)](https://www.citizenjournal.us/deflock-co-founder-brandon-burch-joins-lindsborg-city-council/) Lindsborg City Council · Ad Astra Radio · Citizen Journal · KWCH --- # Moran Completes Tour of All 105 Kansas Counties SHARON SPRINGS, Kan. — Republican U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran completed his 2026 tour of all 105 Kansas counties this week, ending with visits to the Wallace County Courthouse and a local senior center in Sharon Springs. He began the year’s travels at the Dwight D. Eisenhower VA Medical Center in Topeka and St. John Hospital in Leavenworth. Other stops brought him together with health care professionals at Rush County Hospital, rising seniors at Norwich High School, farmers and ranchers at a Winchester roundtable, and Brown County sheriff’s deputies. Moran said constituents’ feedback would inform his work in Washington and credited conversations with civic groups, American Legion posts and Rotary clubs with helping him understand Kansans’ daily challenges, ideas and successes. [Moran completes 2026 tour of all 105 Kansas countiesThe Republican senator finished his statewide travels with a stop in Sharon Springs![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f7/e6/f7e66a8b-8f27-493f-8b7e-664ecefd4c3d/content/images/icon/cj-icon-1000-3e4881ac-175c-420d-8f07-2557c996c447.png)citizen journalGreg Loving![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f7/e6/f7e66a8b-8f27-493f-8b7e-664ecefd4c3d/content/images/thumbnail/Screenshot-2026-11-06-at-6.08.17---AM-037b64cf-4195-4cf8-abe0-e24577db2b5f.webp)](https://www.citizenjournal.us/moran-completes-2026-tour-of-all-105-kansas-counties/) --- # Weather Radio Outage Persists Across Nine Kansas Counties GOODLAND, Kan. — A National Weather Service weather radio transmitter serving nine northwest Kansas counties remained off the air Thursday, Nov. 5, after an October outage, KWCH reported. Technicians will repair the transmitter once they arrive in Kansas, but no repair date was announced. Jesse Lundquist, warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Goodland, told KWCH he hoped the system would be restored before winter weather arrives. Cellphone alerts remain available, along with forecasts and warnings at weather.gov and on social media. Weather radios can sound overnight alarms without internet or cellphone service, giving residents of sparsely populated High Plains counties another way to receive urgent warnings. The outage interrupts that service as the region approaches blizzard and ice season. KWCH --- ## Sources 1. [KWCH](https://www.kwch.com/2026/11/05/candidates-kansas-races-declare-victories-despite-races-being-too-close-call/?ref=citizenjournal.us) / [WIBW](https://www.wibw.com/2026/11/05/candidates-declare-victories-despite-races-being-too-close-call/?ref=citizenjournal.us) / [KSN](https://www.ksn.com/news/your-local-election-hq/six-close-kansas-races-under-audit-per-state-law/?ref=citizenjournal.us) / [KWCH](https://www.kwch.com/2026/11/04/whats-next-kan-secretary-state-breaks-down-post-election-process-some-races-still-undecided/?ref=citizenjournal.us) / [KCTV5](https://www.kctv5.com/2026/11/04/kansas-initiate-close-race-audits-six-races-including-tight-governors-race/?ref=citizenjournal.us) / [KSNT](https://www.ksnt.com/capitol-bureau/kansas-governors-race-still-too-close-to-call-as-officials-conduct-close-race-audit/?ref=citizenjournal.us) / [Kansas Public Radio](https://kansaspublicradio.org/daily-headlines/2026-11-05/headlines-for-thursday-november-5-2026?ref=citizenjournal.us) / [KCUR](https://www.kcur.org/politics-elections-and-government/2026-11-05/kansas-missouri-voter-turnout-2026-midterm-election?ref=citizenjournal.us) / Kansas Reflector 2. [Evergy](https://investors.evergy.com/news-releases/news-release-details/evergy-announces-third-quarter-2026-results-declares-quarterly?ref=citizenjournal.us) / [Motley Fool](https://www.fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2026/11/05/evergy-evrg-q3-2026-earnings-call-transcript/?ref=citizenjournal.us) / [Benzinga](https://www.benzinga.com/news/26/11/62925162/evergy-q3-2026-earnings-call-transcript?ref=citizenjournal.us) / [Yahoo Finance](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/evergys-q3-earnings-revenues-beat-133300450.html?ref=citizenjournal.us) / [Utility Dive](https://www.utilitydive.com/news/kansas-michigan-data-center-large-load-evergy-consumers/805115/?ref=citizenjournal.us) / [EIA](https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=97&t=3&ref=citizenjournal.us) 3. [Lindsborg City Council](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=%5FC-%5FjRNCUyQ&ref=citizenjournal.us) / [Ad Astra Radio](https://www.adastraradio.com/mac-news/leader-of-deflock-lindsborg-now-a-lindsborg-council-member/?ref=citizenjournal.us) / [Citizen Journal](https://www.citizenjournal.us/deflock-co-founder-brandon-burch-joins-lindsborg-city-council/) / [KWCH](https://www.kwch.com/2026/09/22/deflock-lindsborg-group-demands-removal-license-plate-cameras/?ref=citizenjournal.us) 4. [Citizen Journal](https://www.citizenjournal.us/moran-completes-2026-tour-of-all-105-kansas-counties/) 5. [KWCH](https://www.kwch.com/2026/11/05/nw-kansas-transmitter-down-causing-concern-over-how-residents-will-receive-severe-weather-info/?ref=citizenjournal.us) / [KWCH Video](https://www.kwch.com/video/2026/11/05/western-kansas-transmitter-is-down-causing-concern-over-severe-weather-info/?ref=citizenjournal.us) --- *This article was written using our proprietary AI system, Cronkite. 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