Topeka

• The City of Topeka remains on schedule to finalize the sale of Hotel Topeka to Endeavor Hotel Group LLC by mid-June. →
• The Topeka City Council is seeking public input on its five- and 10-year capital improvement plan for long-term infrastructure spending. →
• Topeka Assistant City Manager Braxton Copley voiced support for the 8 percent transient guest tax to fund local tourism efforts. →
• The City of Topeka launched an electric vehicle pilot program, adding its first EV truck for inspections with five more expected by 2025. →
• The Topeka Fire Department is accepting applications for Camp Courage, a summer program designed to recruit women ages 16 to 18. →
• The City of Topeka launched the Get Digital initiative to provide internet access and education to 370 low-income households. →
• Topeka Police identified Samantha Allen and her 10-year-old son as the victims of accidental deaths in the 600 block of NE Grattan. →
• Expect a mostly cloudy day with a high near 66, but keep an eye out for a few scattered showers or a possible thunderstorm moving through the area this afternoon.

🌾 Kansas

• The U.S. House delayed its farm bill vote Wednesday after Republican disputes over E15 ethanol and pesticide liability provisions stalled the package, with Speaker Mike Johnson pushing final action back roughly two weeks following a 216-210 procedural vote. →

• House lawmakers pulled year-round E15 sales from the 2026 Farm Bill and plan a separate floor vote on the measure in coming days, with Kansas holding direct stakes as a top corn and ethanol producer and having already enacted a state tax credit for E15 retailers. →

• Kansas State University student Jack Fleischaker, 19, died after falling from a second-story window of the Sigma Chi fraternity house early Saturday, and Riley County police are investigating whether alcohol was involved. →

• The Metropolitan Area Planning Commission deferred a decision Wednesday on Mission Clean Energy's nearly 1,500-acre solar project southwest of Wichita, scheduling further consideration for June 11 after a four-hour hearing drew mostly opposition. →

• Construction of the $300 million Wichita Biomedical Campus is on track for substantial completion of its 471,000-square-foot first phase by end of 2026, with classes set to begin in spring 2027 at the downtown facility shared by WSU, WSU Tech and the University of Kansas. →

🇺🇸 US

• The Supreme Court's conservative majority issued a 6-3 ruling Wednesday sharply weakening Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, a decision that could net Republicans as many as 12 House seats by enabling redrawn majority-minority districts across the South. →

• Brent crude surged past $126 a barrel Thursday as President Trump said the naval blockade of Iran would continue until Tehran abandons its nuclear program, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth telling Congress the war has cost $25 billion and 14 American lives. →

• The House voted 235-191 Wednesday to renew Section 702 of FISA for three years, but attached a central bank digital currency ban that Senate Republicans called a nonstarter, likely forcing a short-term extension before next week's recess. →

• One year of Big Tech AI capex in 2026 (~$670 billion) exceeds the entire Interstate Highway System (~$580 billion, built 1956–1991) and more than doubles the Apollo program (~$280 billion) — and the four-year cumulative spend (~$2.9 trillion) tops the combined cost of the 1990s telecom boom, the highway system, Apollo, the Manhattan Project and Hoover Dam. →

• Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund will cease bankrolling LIV Golf after the current season, effectively ending the Saudi-funded circuit that spent billions poaching top players from the PGA Tour beginning in 2022. →

Weather

APRIL 30, 1993: WORLD WIDE WEB ENTERS THE PUBLIC DOMAIN

On this day, computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee released the source code for the first web browser and editor, WorldWideWeb, into the public domain. By making his system royalty-free and widely accessible, he paved the way for the modern internet and a historic expansion of global information sharing.

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