Topeka

• Residents asked the Shawnee County Commission for a one-year moratorium on data center developments due to environmental concerns. →
• Critics urged Topeka officials to reclassify the proposed hyperscale data center from light industrial to heavy industrial zoning. →
• Shawnee County planners asked Compass Data Centers to clarify fuel types and chemical disposal plans for its proposed facility. →
• The Topeka Planning Department halted the Compass Data Centers application for a hyperscale facility due to missing master plan details. →
• The Shawnee County Commission approved hiring an outside engineering firm to review environmental impacts of a proposed data center. →
• Stormont Vail Health is investing $7.5 million to establish a new Clinical Institute of Excellence at Washburn University in Topeka. →
• The Topeka Zoo broke ground on a new children's zoo and play zone on Monday. →
• Expect mostly sunny skies and sweltering heat in Topeka today with a high near 99°F, though gusty southwest winds and heat index values reaching 109 will make it feel even hotter.

🌾 Kansas

• The general election between Sen. Roger Marshall and the Rev. Adam Hamilton is projected to draw more than $50 million in combined spending, Kansas Reflector reported Monday. →

• The U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry voted 10-11 along party lines to keep the five-year farm bill stalled in committee amid a SNAP funding dispute. →

• Kansas districts opened the 2026-27 school year by implementing storage and collection systems for the state's new all-day student cellphone ban under House Bill 2299. →

• Washburn University Institute of Technology opened its third campus Monday inside a former Kmart in North Topeka, two days before classes began. →

• Shawnee County residents asked the Planning Commission to recommend a one-year countywide moratorium on data center development, citing environmental and property-value concerns. →

🇺🇸 US

• President Donald Trump signed an executive order Aug. 10 cutting the federal list of universally recommended childhood vaccines from 18 to 11, shifting shots for COVID-19, flu, rotavirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B and meningitis to individual clinical decision-making. →

• The FDA proposed a rule Aug. 10 that would end decades of voluntary self-certification for food additives, requiring companies to notify the agency and submit safety data before marketing new ingredients. →

• Newly released text messages show Dr. Anthony Fauci privately raised a theoretical concern in January 2021 that a strong immune response after a second COVID-19 vaccine dose could be linked to first-trimester miscarriage. →

• Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced Aug. 10 that Meta, OpenAI, Amazon, Google and QTS agreed to comply with new state standards requiring data centers to fund their own power infrastructure and reuse water. →

• The Washington Post reported that a credible Iranian threat led U.S. officials to secretly transfer President Donald Trump to a smaller decoy aircraft before he left Turkey on July 8. →

Weather

AUGUST 11, 1934: FEDERAL PRISONERS ARRIVE AT ALCATRAZ

The first group of civilian inmates classified as the nation’s “most dangerous” were transferred to the newly fortified federal penitentiary on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay. Built on a former military prison site, “The Rock” was intended to house high-risk prisoners and deter escape attempts with its isolation and harsh surrounding waters.

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.