Topeka

• A jury found Damian Lewis guilty of first-degree murder for a 2024 killing in North Topeka following a trial in Shawnee County. →
• Topeka Mayor Spencer Duncan announced new public engagement formats, including solo town halls and one-on-one meetings starting in May. →
• The Topeka City Council approved a $1 million settlement for two sex discrimination lawsuits involving the Topeka Police Department. →
• The Shawnee County Board of County Commissioners introduced Kasey Hanney as the new general manager of the Stormont Vail Events Center. →
• Kansas high school seniors were recognized for academic achievement during the 43rd Governor’s Scholars Awards ceremony in Topeka. →
• A dog attack in the 2800 block of SE Wear Circle in Topeka hospitalized two men, leaving one with life-threatening injuries on April 30. →
• Expect a beautiful, sunny day in Topeka with a high of 85 and light northwest winds.

🌾 Kansas

• Kansas collected $1.4 billion in taxes in April, beating the consensus estimate by $31.6 million as strong individual income tax receipts offset a 25% year-over-year drop in corporate income tax collections. →

• Wichita's Spangles closed its 42-year-old North Broadway location due to repeated break-ins and staff safety concerns, continuing a string of fast-food departures from the corridor. →

• Kansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Eric Rosen and Court of Appeals Chief Judge Sarah Warner held a Law Day ceremony honoring President Eisenhower's 1958 establishment of the annual rule-of-law observance. →

• Trego County detention deputy Jerry Jervah Jr. was arrested on suspicion of conspiring with inmates to murder a separate inmate held at another facility, and is no longer employed by the county. →

• Wichita's Exit 5B off northbound I-135 onto Kellogg was voted the most stressful highway offramp in Kansas in a survey of 3,011 state drivers. →

🇺🇸 US

• Trump announced Project Freedom, a new U.S. initiative to escort stranded ships through the Iranian-blockaded Strait of Hormuz beginning Monday, warning that any interference would be met "forcefully" while Iran's Revolutionary Guards dismissed the move as "Trump's delirium." →

• Spirit Airlines ceased operations around 3 a.m. Saturday after a proposed $500 million government rescue package collapsed amid internal administration disagreements, opposition from bondholders, and mounting financial pressure from elevated fuel costs. →

• A global aluminum shortage is squeezing U.S. automakers, with primary aluminum prices nearly 90% higher than a year ago due to the Iran war cutting Persian Gulf supplies, a 50% U.S. tariff, and a major supplier outage. →

• Anthropic is finalizing a roughly $1.5 billion joint venture with Blackstone, Goldman Sachs, Hellman & Friedman, and General Atlantic to sell AI consulting services to private equity-backed companies, with an announcement expected as soon as Monday. →

• China's Ministry of Commerce formally ordered national companies to ignore U.S. sanctions on Chinese firms purchasing Iranian oil, escalating tensions with Washington less than two weeks before a scheduled Trump-Xi summit in Beijing. →

Weather

MAY 4, 1904: U.S. OFFICIALLY ACQUIRES PANAMA CANAL AND TAKES OVER CONSTRUCTION

The United States assumed control of the failed French canal project, launching a new engineering effort to link the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. By redesigning the plan with locks and Gatún Lake and asserting control over the Panama Canal Zone, the U.S. reshaped global trade routes and the geopolitics of Central America.

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