Topeka

• The Shawnee County Commission will host an Aug. 24 ribbon cutting for new behavioral health housing units at the county jail. →
• Shawnee County received the final permit to begin construction on the Gage Park carousel building in Topeka. →
• Chronic absenteeism dropped to 19.3% in Topeka USD 501 elementary schools and 38.8% in high schools, down from pandemic highs. →
• Topeka USD 501 reported critical staffing shortages for custodial workers and math special education teachers for the upcoming school year. →
• Topeka USD 501 warned of projected 14% to 30% health insurance premium hikes, prompting officials to consider self-insurance options. →
• The Topeka USD 501 Citizens Advisory Council will study the district 1.75-mile student walking radius and hold a public forum on Sept. 1. →
• Expect early patchy fog to clear out for a mostly sunny Friday with a high near 91°F.

🌾 Kansas

• Democratic nominee Adam Hamilton and Republican Sen. Roger Marshall made separate campaign stops in the Wichita area this week ahead of their Nov. 3 general election matchup. →

• Hays city commissioners reached consensus Aug. 20 to direct staff to draft a resolution setting guidelines for future industrial water use, to protect R9 pipeline supply. →

• An El Niño-driven fall outlook points Kansas toward warmer, wetter weather amid worsening southern drought, with USDA data showing wheat export commitments down 32% from last year. →

• Transgender men calling themselves the SB 244 Compliance Crew have toured public buildings across Kansas, using women's restrooms as required under the state's new restroom law to protest it. →

• Deere & Co. said the farm equipment slump has hit bottom, reporting third-quarter net income of $1.379 billion and raising its full-year profit forecast to between $4.75 billion and $5 billion. →

🇺🇸 US

• Moderna and Merck's personalized mRNA cancer vaccine met its primary goal of reducing melanoma recurrence in a Phase 3 trial, the companies announced Aug. 19. →

• Walmart reported its slowest U.S. same-store sales growth in six years, up 2.6% and below Wall Street's roughly 3.5% estimate, sending shares down about 9%. →

• FBI agents seized former Rep. Eric Swalwell's cellphone at San Francisco International Airport on Aug. 15 and searched his Washington home the next day as part of a criminal investigation into sexual assault and misconduct allegations. →

• The FDA announced Aug. 19 it had cleared Aletta, the first standalone robotic device authorized in the U.S. to draw blood from a patient's arm without hands-on operator intervention. →

• Russia launched an overnight missile and drone barrage on Kyiv that killed between 12 and 16 people and destroyed part of an apartment building, with reports linking the strike's effectiveness to Ukraine's shortage of Patriot interceptors. →

Weather

AUGUST 21, 1863: GUERRILLA RAID MASSACRES LAWRENCE, KANSAS

Pro-Confederate guerrillas under William Quantrill attacked the abolitionist stronghold of Lawrence, Kansas, killing around 150 men and burning much of the town. The massacre, rooted in the long-running frontier conflict known as Bleeding Kansas, intensified the cycle of retaliatory violence along the Missouri–Kansas border during the lead up to the Civil War.

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.