On today’s edition of The Game, 20 questions in 20 shows continues with a look at the most improved area for K-State football in 2026. Also, the Big 12 has officially banned professional athletes and college football starts tonight!

Full Show

Segment 1 – College football starts tonight/Big 12 bans pros

Segment 2 – Where will K-State be most improved in 2026?

Segment 3 – Where will K-State be most improved in 2026? Part 2

Segment 4 – Ask Us Anything

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The Manhattan Wrecker High School Football Preview Show continues with our first conversation with one of the area schools, as Wamego head coach Weston Moody previews the Red Raiders ahead of the 2026 season. Coach Moody and Wamego will try to continue their remarkable consistency over the past several seasons, having won at least nine games every year since 2021.

2026 schedule (home in BOLD)

9/4 Clay Center
9/11 Abilene
9/18 Rock Creek
9/25 Mulvane
10/2 Bye
10/9 Concordia
10/16 Hesston
10/23 Jefferson West
10/30 Week 9 Bracket game
11/6 Regionals
11/13 Sectionals
11/20 Sub-State
11/28 State

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Riley County commissioners fine-tuned the pay and expectations for the new county administrator position during their Thursday meeting.

The administrator will report to the county commission and oversee more than a dozen departments, including emergency services, health, finance, the county appraiser, county counselor and human resources.

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After three top-10 team finishes during the 2025-26 season under the guidance of K-State director of track & field and cross country Travis Geopfert, K-State Athletics and Geopfert have agreed to a new six-year contract through the 2031-32 season. The contract was unanimously approved by the K-State Athletics, Inc., Board of Directors.

“Travis and his staff have elevated our track and field programs to a level of national and international prominence,” athletics director Gene Taylor said in a statement. “K-State is a destination for the world’s top track and field athletes and we look to continue the momentum that our staff has generated for a very long time. Travis is an elite recruiter and coach, and more importantly, is a tremendous person who fits the culture that we have at Kansas State.”

To view the full article visit theMercury.com.

Click here for more K-State sports.

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By Maya Smith

LAWRENCE — The U.S. Department of Justice and Department of Education announced a plan for increased enforcement measures against two Kansas school districts for their gender-inclusive policies.

In April, the department found four public school districts — Olathe, Shawnee Mission, Topeka and Kansas City, Kansas — were in violation of federal Title IX civil rights protections. Reasons included allowing students to change their name or pronouns used at school without clear communication to parents and allowing transgender students to use the restroom, locker room and changing room that aligns with their gender identity.

On Tuesday, the Education Department announced it would work alongside the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division to take “enforcement measures” against the Olathe and Shawnee Mission school districts for failing to comply with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA.

The Education Department said that failure to comply could lead to legal action and potential loss of federal funding.

“These policies encourage schools to conceal from parents whether their child uses different pronouns and even permits schools to print a different name on students’ diplomas without parental knowledge or consent,” the release said. “Withholding such sensitive information from parents when they request their children’s records is a clear violation of FERPA.”

The Education Department issued letters Wednesday to local and state education agencies with reminders about FERPA guidelines as a new school year begins. A news release from the department said the reminder comes amid “rampant reports” of schools withholding records related to a child’s gender or gender transition from parents.

The Education Department said it proposed resolution agreements with Olathe and Shawnee Mission school districts earlier this year, and that the Shawnee Mission district never agreed to a resolution.

In a letter addressed to the Education Department’s Student Privacy Policy Office, the Shawnee Mission school district’s legal representation said the office’s findings did not violate FERPA. The letter also said the office’s findings ignored that the district requires proof of parental involvement in official student name change requests.

“Nothing about SMSD’s approach to student names, pronouns, or gender violates or even implicates FERPA,” the letter said. “SMSD has been and remains in compliance with FERPA.”

The Olathe district signed a “voluntary resolution agreement” in May outlining the district’s commitment to giving students access to gender-specific facilities “strictly on the basis of sex.” The agreement was rejected by the Education Department.

The Olathe district has said throughout the department’s investigation there have been no Title IX or FERPA violations in its schools, and outlined district communication with the department as well as any legal correspondence on its website.

“The unfortunate continuation of this drawn-out political display continues to rob time and resources from the work that matters most as a public school system: educating our children,” said a district press release. “Olathe Public Schools will continue to defend the integrity of its people and practices, and remains committed to serving students, supporting families, and complying with all applicable federal and state laws.”

The Education Department announced Tuesday that its Student Privacy Policy Office entered a resolution agreement with the Topeka school district to uphold parental rights and come into compliance with federal law.

The agreement’s guidelines include not creating gender support plans, allowing any gender support plans on file to be reviewed by parents, adding FERPA content into staff training and revoking any guidance that prevents schools from keeping parents informed about their students.

The post Federal agencies threaten to punish two Kansas school districts over gender-inclusive policies appeared first on News Radio KMAN.

By Morgan Chilson

TOPEKA — Kansas communities exploring data center development must put policies in place to protect residents, the environment and long-term economic growth before building begins, national experts say.

Mike Turner, a Loudoun County, Virginia, county official, learned about holding data centers accountable through “painful lessons.”

Loudoun County is often called “data center alley,” with 70% of the world’s internet traffic going through 253 data centers located there. Turner wrote a white paper about what government entities should consider before approving a data center.

“The 15 best practices are based on six factors that you have to address before we say yes to a data center: sound, power, water, emissions, setback and appearance,” he said. “Right now, if you measured, we probably don’t pass five of the six. Our new ordinances that we’re crafting and have been crafting for the last two years do address all six.”

The county’s application process is about two years long, Turner said. Ordinances are adapted over time.

For example, Turner said the county decided data centers must have Tier IV backup generators, even though Tier II are the minimum acceptable standards.

“Tier IV diesel generators, the current, highest EPA standard for diesel generators, are much quieter and filter out more than 90% of all pollutants,” Turner’s paper said.

Best practices are learned over time, and Turner travels the country sharing them with other communities.

Kathryn Kline Tyndall led a team for the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, D.C., holding roundtable discussions nationwide, including in Kansas City, Missouri, about data center development.

She said it is easy for communities to feel a “David and Goliath” relationship as they talk with data center developers who have experience handling negotiations.

Being prepared and taking the time to learn from other communities can make a difference. One Maryland county planned ahead, talking about power needs, possible locations and other options, before a data center approached them, she said.

Although the Bipartisan Policy Center report wasn’t meant to make policy recommendations but to gather information, she said several roundtable attendees thought technical assistance for communities from state and federal levels might be needed.

“It was proposed that a state task force group would come into communities with some expertise and more experience and knowledge and help communities negotiate these deals,” she said. “I think something like that seems like it could be worth exploring.”

Turner’s 56-page white paper, which he has been updating since July 2024, isn’t a layman’s guide to data center development. It goes in depth on energy usage and power lines and even looks at possible future industry changes that would affect operations.

Water usage

Drought conditions in Kansas, as well as declining aquifers that threaten the state’s agriculture industry, make water usage a prime concern in Kansas.

Turner said Loudoun County’s 253 data centers use about 10% of the county’s potable water.

“Water has not been an issue for us, but then virtually all of our data centers are on closed-loop water systems,” he said. “In today’s day and age, I would not approve a data center on anything other than a closed-loop water cooling system.”

Closed-loop systems are recharged every few years, and Turner said communities need to know how that works and where the water will be discharged.

“You’ve got to address wastewater with your water authority,” he said. “Wastewater, whether it’s an open loop or closed loop system, is going to contain biocides, anti-corrosion chemicals, and heavy metals, and that’s all got to be cleaned out.”

The water utility will need to understand how to treat wastewater from the data center, Turner said. In Loudoun County, the wastewater is discharged into the Potomac River, “so it’s very clean,” he said.

Increased utility usage associated with data centers also causes increased water usage tied to power generation, according to a report from the sustainability advocacy group Ceres.

The effect of power generation on water varies in each state and even down to localities, depending on whether power generation comes from natural gas, renewable energy, coal or nuclear, the report said.

“Nationally, data centers rely heavily on water-dependent electricity generation,” the Ceres report said. “Natural gas supplies 40% of their electricity, followed by renewables (24%), nuclear (20%), and coal (15%). Though there are many renewable projects in the pipeline to meet the growing energy demands (65% of renewable power purchase agreements in the U.S. signed since 2021 have been dedicated to data center operations), these options are often limited by timing or transmission and distribution issues across the grid.”

Energy usage

Utility regulators at the Kansas Corporation Commission set a large load tariff in November for big power users like data centers in an attempt to make sure infrastructure costs aren’t passed along to residential and small business consumers. While one energy expert called the tariff a “model” for other states, one conservation organization expressed caution.

In a statement, Sierra Club said it signed on as one of the convenors on the large load tariff but was concerned because Evergy, the state’s largest electric utility, is building natural gas plants and delaying coal plant retirements to meet energy demands.

Turner’s paper notes negative effects on climate sustainability goals, and he explored changes that may occur as power grids are stressed and data center companies develop new ways to cool their systems.

Objections to data centers became louder in the last few years in Loudoun County, Turner said, and he believes most of the problem is about energy usage.

In Loudoun County, PJM Interconnection — a regional transmission organization that manages power transmission needs and energy markets like the Southwest Power Pool does for Kansas and the Midwest — determined that it had underestimated five-year infrastructure needs by a factor of 10, Turner said.

“We’ve got nine overhead transmission lines under construction in Loudon County right now, and it’s not going to be enough, in my opinion,” he said.

Southwest Power Pool made a similar projection, with energy usage in its 14-state area expected to grow by 96% over the next decade.

“Generally speaking,” he said, “my rule of thumb is every data center is going to come with an overhead transmission line, at least a single 230-kV line overhead, and a substation, at least one substation, maybe two. So you need to plan on all of that.”

Energy usage affects not just a single community but an entire region, said Kansas Health Institute analyst Emma Uridge, who worked on a team to examine the environmental footprint of data centers.

The East Coast and other areas have seen power failures, she said, and it is a concern that has to be looked at from a regional and statewide perspective.

“One solution that I’m seeing to respond to this is actually legislation that’s putting some responsibility on developers to make upgrades to the grid and any related infrastructure for them to successfully kind of connect to the grid when they come online,” she said. “I’ve been seeing policy that would require on-site renewable energy.”

Noise, light pollution

Noise and light pollution are handled through design perimeters and location, Turner’s paper said, and aren’t as challenging as the utility usage issues. As part of 15 best practices for communities, he recommends requiring significant setbacks from the road, berms and tree plantings, and other tactics.

Many of those are already used in economic development, such as for manufacturing plants, said Mike Morse, partner at Kansas Commercial Real Estate Services Inc. in Topeka and a proponent of a Compass Datacenter facility trying to open southwest of the capital city.

The city of Topeka recently passed a one-year moratorium on data center development to better research the issue.

Morse said Topeka has noise standards and other criteria that any developer has to meet. Compass has already done decibel testing to see what the noise level is at the property now, knowing it would need to comply with local regulations, Morse said.

The Bipartisan Policy Center’s Tyndall said roundtable discussions talked about noise and light pollution as hyperlocal issues. Sometimes, she said, it can be more about perception of a problem. One group went to a data center and it wasn’t loud, Tyndall said.

“This really brings home an important point that it’s not really about the numbers as much as it’s about the community perception on some of these pieces,” she said, adding that it turns back to having “honest faith conversations” about community concerns and being transparent.

Transparency

One of the primary challenges is lack of data about the actual effects data centers have on the electric grid and water resources, Uridge said. The KHI report found that “current corporate emissions reporting practices present a related challenge.”

For instance, one analysis found that some data centers may emit more carbon dioxide than publicly reported, the KHI report said.

“Despite existing policy frameworks, including the U.S. Energy Act of 2020, which mandates studies on data center energy and water use and development of efficiency metrics, voluntary disclosure of energy and water use by data center operators remains inconsistent, limiting the ability of researchers, regulators and public health professionals to fully assess the sector’s environmental footprint,” the report said.

Communities can change that through their practices, Turner said. He recommends allowing no nondisclosure agreements, for instance. He helped Newcastle County, Delaware, write an ordinance for a data center that wanted to build.

“The data centers have to live by those rules,” he said. “The key is does the local governing authority have the authority to enforce these rules with new data centers, and that’s critical. There are states that are taking local authority away and making the decision at the state level. That is a huge mistake because every data center application is a unique, community-based solution.”

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Within Reason with Mike Matson: Mike Rezkalla, CEO, Pawnee Mental Health Services

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A 35-year-old Manhattan man was arrested Wednesday on a probation violation warrant, his latest arrest following multiple allegations involving law enforcement officers earlier this month.

Nicolus Allen Weiss was arrested just after 2 p.m. at the Riley County Law Enforcement Center on a Riley County District Court warrant for probation violation. The warrant stems from original charges including criminal threat, battery, harassment and domestic battery.

Weiss was issued a $25,000 bond and remained confined in the Riley County Jail at the time of the report.

Weiss was arrested twice Monday on a total of seven allegations of battery of law enforcement officers. He was first arrested at the Riley County Courthouse on four counts before being arrested again at the Riley County Law Enforcement Center on three additional counts. He was issued a total bond of $106,000 for those arrests.

Weiss was also arrested Thursday, Aug. 20, on allegations including four counts of battery of a law enforcement officer, interference with a law enforcement officer and criminal damage to property. Police later reported additional allegations involving battery of a law enforcement officer and physical contact with a corrections or court services officer.

The post Manhattan man arrested again days after 7 law enforcement battery allegations appeared first on News Radio KMAN.

Two Manhattan juveniles were arrested Wednesday afternoon following reports at Manhattan High School involving allegations of drug distribution and battery.

Paola Pio Rebegila, 14, was arrested at about 2:36 p.m. on an allegation of distribution of certain substances within 1,000 feet of a school. Rebegila was issued no bond and transported to the North Central Kansas Juvenile Detention Center in Junction City.

Christian Carlos Salas, 15, was arrested at about 2:36 p.m. on two counts of battery of a school employee, one count of battery of a law enforcement officer, one count of distribution of certain substances within 1,000 feet of a school and one count of interference with a law enforcement officer.

Riley County Police listed three men, ages 58, 54 and 46, as victims in the report involving Salas.

Salas was issued no bond and transported to the Sunlight Children’s Home in Andover.

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Catera DeShea Wycoff Giles, 18, of Manhattan, was arrested at approximately 2:53 p.m. on Aug. 26, 2026 in the 100 block of N. 4^th Street on a Riley County District Court warrant for probation violation. This arrest stems from original charges of possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. Wycoff Giles was issued no bond and remains confined in the Riley County Jail at the time of this report.

Officers filed a report for distribution of certain substances in KSA 65-4105(h) within 1000 feet of a school at approximately 1:37 p.m. on Aug. 26 in the 2100 block of Poyntz Avenue. A 14-year-old male was listed as the suspect. Paola Pio Rebegila, 14, of Manhattan, was arrested at approximately 2:36 p.m. for distribution of certain substances in KSA 65-4105(h) within 1000 feet of a school. Rebegila was issued no bond and transported to the North Central Kansas Juvenile Detention Center in Junction City.

Officers filed a report for two counts of battery of a school employee, one count of battery of a law enforcement officer, one count of distribution of certain substances in KSA 65-4105(h) within 1000 feet of a school, and one count of interference with a law enforcement officer at approximately 1:37 p.m. on Aug. 26 in the 2100 block of Poyntz Avenue. Listed victims included a 58-year-old man, a 54-year-old man and a 46-year-old man. A 15-year-old male was listed as the suspect. Christian Carlos Salas, 15, of Manhattan, was arrested at approximately 2:36 p.m. on two counts of battery of a school employee, one count of battery of a law enforcement officer, one count of distribution of certain substances in KSA 65-4105(h) within 1000 feet of a school, and one count of interference with a law enforcement officer. Salas was issued no bond and transported to the Sunlight Children’s Home in Andover.

Nicolus Allen Weiss, 35, of Manhattan, was arrested at approximately 2:10 p.m. on Aug. 26 in the 1000 block of S. Seth Child Road on a Riley County District Court warrant for probation violation. This arrest stems from original charges that include criminal threat, battery, harassment and domestic battery. Weiss was issued a total bond of $25,000 and remains confined in the Riley County Jail at the time of this report.

Anyone with information, contact RCPD or the Manhattan Riley County Crime Stoppers. Using the Crime Stoppers service can allow you to remain anonymous and could qualify you for a cash reward up to $1,000.

Click here for past RCPD reports.

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