David Condos
Host, Up From DustDavid Condos is the host of the KCUR Studios podcast Up From Dust.
He currently works as KUER’s southern Utah reporter based in St. George, covering the dynamics shaping life in communities across the southern part of the state with a focus on environmental issues.
His reporting has earned several prestigious honors, including three National Edward R. Murrow awards, six Public Media Journalists Association awards and seven Regional Edward R. Murrow awards. His radio stories have also regularly aired on NPR’s national programs Morning Edition, All Things Considered and Here & Now.
Prior to joining KUER, Condos spent two and a half years covering rural Kansas for High Plains Public Radio and the Kansas News Service. He grew up in Nebraska, Colorado and Illinois and graduated from Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee.
Email him at dcondos@kuer.org.
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More than 2,000 cattle carcasses were put in landfill piles or pits after dying in the southwest Kansas heat. But that’s not a prohibited or uncommon method of livestock disposal. -
The weather event that killed thousands of cattle in southwest Kansas last month was a rare combination of extreme factors. But it highlights the ongoing risk that heat stress poses for cattle, especially as climate change pushes temperatures higher. -
Russia's war in Ukraine has disrupted global food supplies, driving up demand and prices for wheat. But after months of drought, many western Kansas farmers won’t have a crop to sell. -
For small towns with dwindling populations and shrinking tax bases, luring travelers to stop and spend a few dollars is a matter of community survival. Some turn to quirky roadside tourist attractions. And the community pride these offbeat sites generate can be just as valuable as the money they bring in. -
For Kansans living in Liberal, Dodge City and Hays, there’s only one airline that flies to and from the local airport. So when that airline filed paperwork this spring to terminate services, it sent shockwaves through these remote towns. -
Installing fiber-optic internet in sparsely populated places like western Kansas is extremely expensive, even with government subsidies. But some smaller, local broadband providers are finding ways to make it work where the big national companies have not. -
The Kansas wildfire season is typically winding down around this time of year. But after months of drought, high winds and dry grass continue to fuel extreme wildfire conditions across the state. -
The water in the Ogallala aquifer is worth billions of dollars to western Kansas, but it’s rapidly disappearing. And it's been a challenge to find ways to slow the depletion. -
For towns with only a few hundred residents, keeping tap water clean and safe can pose a crippling expense. The predicament is likely to become more common in western Kansas as farm chemicals seep into dwindling water supplies. -
In rural places like western Kansas, the physical distance between support services and victims of domestic and sexual violence adds to the psychological and cultural barriers that might keep someone from seeking help.
