Topeka

• The Topeka Planning Commission reviewed proposed zoning code amendments regulating where data centers can be built in Topeka. →
• National Weather Service Topeka found recent Shawnee County storm damage was caused by 70-90 mph straight-line winds, not a tornado. →
• Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach warned residents across the state to watch for roofing scams following recent severe storm damage. →
• Interstate 70 will close in both directions in East Topeka starting Monday, with detours at Southeast California Avenue. →
• Topeka's historic Jayhawk Theatre marked its 100th anniversary with public tours as a state-funded restoration project continues. →
• Devonta Miller received a Hard 50 prison sentence for the 2021 murder of Kristy Rodriguez in Topeka. →
• Expect a scorching, sunny day in Topeka with a high near 101°F and heat index values climbing as high as 109, along with breezy south winds gusting up to 25 mph.

🌾 Kansas

• The Kansas Department of Health and Environment said it will keep its existing childhood immunization schedule despite President Trump's Aug. 10 executive order revising federal vaccine policy. →

• Evergy plans to add more than 5 gigawatts of generation through 2032, including natural gas, solar and battery storage, to meet rising demand from data centers and other large customers. →

• Kansas schools began the 2026-27 year under House Bill 2534, which limits active-shooter drills by grade level, bars sensory elements mimicking real shootings and requires 24-hour parental notice with an opt-out option. →

• A Citizen Journal review found Kansas counties, including Riley, Dickinson and McPherson, are renting jail beds from neighboring governments rather than pursuing costly new jail construction bonds. →

• A Douglas County judge ordered Kansas to restore transgender Lawrence resident Jamie Miller's driver's license, finding the state likely violated her due process rights under Senate Bill 244. →

🇺🇸 US

• Jury selection began Monday in Oakland in a federal bellwether trial accusing Meta of designing Facebook and Instagram features to hook young users while concealing mental health harms. →

• U.S. Customs and Border Protection halted barrier construction inside Big Bend National Park on Monday as Commissioner Rodney Scott visits the site amid objections from Gov. Greg Abbott and Texas lawmakers. →

• The Trump administration let an appeal deadline lapse, allowing a federal court ruling that voided National Firearms Act registration requirements for silencers and short-barreled rifles to take effect in more than a dozen states. →

• Nvidia said Monday it will provide more than $105 billion in financing for an OpenAI-leased AI data center campus in Pike County, Ohio, being built by SB Energy. →

• President Trump said Sunday he ordered Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to substantially reduce the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield joint military exercises with South Korea. →

Weather

AUGUST 18 1991: SOVIET HARD-LINERS LAUNCH COUP AGAINST GORBACHEV

Soviet hard-liners moved to depose President Mikhail Gorbachev, placing him under house arrest in a failed coup that tried to halt his reforms of perestroika and glasnost. The uprising collapsed after mass protests led by Boris Yeltsin, hastening the breakup of the Soviet Union and reshaping the post–Cold War world order that still frames today’s conflicts over Russian power and democracy.

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.