Top 5 Kansas news stories
December 17 2025
Fast-Moving System Brings 50 MPH Winds, Blowing Dust to Kansas Thursday
Kelly Predicts GOP Legislators Lack Votes to Redraw Congressional Map Targeting Davids
Salina Commission Votes to Appeal Cozy Inn Mural Ruling Despite Allowing Immediate Completion
Walmart Expands Partnership with Topeka Public Schools to Provide Supplies, Sponsor Community Events
Archbishop Reinstates Priest with Restrictions on Minor Contact After Investigations Find No Violations
1. Fast-Moving System Brings 50 MPH Winds, Blowing Dust to Kansas Thursday
A cold front will deliver wind gusts exceeding 50 mph across much of Kansas Thursday, creating hazardous conditions including blowing dust, elevated fire danger, and difficult driving. Wednesday's unseasonably warm temperatures in the upper 50s and low 60s—well above the normal mid-December high of 46 degrees—will give way to cooler upper 40s Thursday as northwest winds intensify between 6 a.m. and 4 p.m. across central and northern Kansas, though precipitation will remain minimal with only trace amounts expected before south winds return Friday to warm the region into the weekend.
KWCH
2. Kelly Predicts GOP Legislators Lack Votes to Redraw Congressional Map Targeting Davids
Gov. Laura Kelly said Tuesday she doubts the 2026 Legislature will have enough political support to implement a new congressional district map aimed at unseating Democratic U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids. Kelly pointed to an unchanged political landscape since November, when House Speaker Dan Hawkins fell about 10 signatures short of the supermajority needed to trigger a special session on redistricting. The proposed map would split Johnson County to target Davids in the midterm election. While enough Kansas Senate Republicans signed a petition authorizing a special session to pursue the GOP leadership's objective, the House fell short of the required threshold. Ousting Davids—the state's lone Democrat in the federal delegation—without threatening three incumbent Kansas Republicans in Congress aligns with the Trump administration's push for GOP-led states to gerrymander districts to maintain Republican control of the U.S. House.
Kansas Reflector
3. Salina Commission Votes to Appeal Cozy Inn Mural Ruling Despite Allowing Immediate Completion
The Salina City Commission voted 5-0 Tuesday to appeal a federal court ruling in favor of the Cozy Inn in an ongoing mural dispute, authorizing special legal counsel Todd Messenger to seek clarity from the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on the city's definition of "signs" versus "murals" after U.S. District Judge John Broomes declared the current definition unlawful under the First Amendment for requiring officials to examine content to determine regulation. Despite the appeal, owner Stephen Howard will be permitted to finish the controversial mural immediately under a stipulation that bars further city permits or regulatory intervention during the appellate process. Messenger informed the commission the case could take 18 to 24 months to resolve through briefing beginning in first quarter 2026, potential oral arguments in Denver or Salt Lake City, and judicial deliberation, but emphasized the appeal's "national significance" since no Supreme Court precedent clearly defines a constitutional standard for the term "sign" and many municipalities across Kansas and the nation use similar definitions that could be affected by the 10th Circuit's ruling on whether local governments can regulate commercial signage without infringing on artistic expression.
Greg Loving
4. Walmart Expands Partnership with Topeka Public Schools to Provide Supplies, Sponsor Community Events
All Topeka Walmart locations have partnered with the Topeka Public Schools Foundation to provide school supplies that would otherwise be wasted and sponsor various community events at USD 501 schools, expanding what began as a small collaboration between one Walmart and Highland Park High School into what foundation executive director Fredrick Willer calls "a great symbiotic relationship" since many Walmart employees are parents or family members of students in the district.
CJOnline
5. Archbishop Reinstates Priest with Restrictions on Minor Contact After Investigations Find No Violations
Archbishop Shawn McKnight has reinstated Rev. Jerry Arano-Ponce, who was temporarily removed in August from the Catholic Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, after investigations found he violated no civil or church laws, but imposed restrictions prohibiting minors in the rectory, banning the pastor from providing gifts to individual children, and forbidding him from taking pictures of minors.
Kansas City Star
Sources
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