monarch butterfly

The monarch butterfly population continues to shrink due to factors such as climate change. People working to help the species say proposed federal protections could boost existing efforts.

Once a chemical storage area, Olathe’s Pollinator Prairie has since been reclaimed as an ecological habitat hosting hundreds of native plants. A recent event showed off its role as a stopover for migrating pollinators like monarchs.

Elizabeth Kolbert, the Pulitzer-winning author of "The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History" and a staff writer for The New Yorker, says there are no easy choices when it comes to dealing with water shortages in Kansas, but changes are necessary. Kolbert will speak at the Linda Hall library Tuesday, Feb. 13.

The Kansas prison system has fired two employees and disciplined six others for insulting, mistreating, and denying medical care to a prisoner after she hurt herself. Plus: Volunteers around the Midwest are working to tag monarch butterflies as part of an effort to learn more about their journey each year to Mexico.

Monarch butterflies travel hundreds and even thousands of miles in their migration to Mexico. Volunteer efforts to tag the butterflies have helped scientists learn more about their journey.

It's been more than a week since 16-year-old Ralph Yarl was shot in Kansas City. Now that the dust is settling, how are Black residents feeling and what questions are still left unanswered? Plus: Why some cities still ban a plant that helps endangered monarch butterflies.

Across the Midwest, some city codes threaten people with fines for having milkweed on their property. But experts say many places have dropped those rules to support monarchs with urban and suburban butterfly gardens.

It’s the time of year when Monarch butterflies migrate through the Midwest, and butterfly tagging events are held nearly every weekend. However, these events have bigger goals than just collecting data.

Monarchs migrating across North America are expected to pass through the Kansas City area around September 10. Naturalists say the best ways to support them are to plant milkweed and nectar plants and create butterfly gardens.

Local homeowners have taken up the cause of No Mow May, which encourages people to temporarily pause their lawn-mowing in order to support the bees, butterflies and moths vital to pollination. In early spring, weeds are some of their prime food sources.

Summer is the season of the butterfly, and you can spot them fluttering around a number of gardens in Kansas City.

Sara Dykman's new book details how she bicycled with the monarch butterflies on their migration from Mexico to Canada and back.