western Kansas

With small towns on the decline, some residents in western Kansas are trying to brainstorm ways to keep their rural lifestyles alive. Their answer? Youth rodeos. Plus: One Kansas City orchestra wants to inspire the next generation of jazz artists.

As small town populations decline, people in places like western Kansas look for ways to keep their rural farming and ranching lifestyle alive for the next generation. Some families think youth rodeo might be part of the answer.

Customers are paying more at the grocery store for a number of items, but one item is seeing a bigger spike than anything else: Eggs. Plus: Kansans with long COVID struggle to find remedies in one of the only states without dedicated treatment centers.

Post-COVID care centers have been popping up across the country as millions of Americans struggle with the aftereffects of the virus. The centers are typically in larger cities and can have months-long wait times.

A new study from Kansas State University researchers is the first to measure how a changing climate is hurting wheat production in the Great Plains. And it points to a future with more extreme heat, drought and wind.

Shayla Curts was pregnant with her third child when she was shot and killed in December. Her family says this might not have happened if Jackson County's child welfare system had worked like it was supposed to. Plus: The plan to conserve water in western Kansas and save the region from drying up altogether.

After decades of irrigation, the aquifer that makes life possible in dry western Kansas is reaching a critical point. Several counties have already lost more than half of their underground water. But a new plan could save more of what’s left.

It’s been one year since drought-fueled wildfires tore across western and central Kansas. For the ranchers who lost so much, the rebuilding process is far from over.

From deadly wildfires to choking dust storms to decimated crop harvests, this year’s drought has left its mark across the country. For the hardest hit areas, such as the Great Plains, recovering from the far-reaching impacts of this historically dry year won’t be easy.

The ongoing drought in Kansas isn’t only parching crops and drinking water supplies. It’s also hurting wildlife as the Kansas wetlands that normally act as vital pit stops for migrating birds dry up.

Thanks to decades of conservation efforts, Hays has become the California of Kansas — a place where thinking about your water use is a way of life. For now, it’s an outlier. But as climate change brings drier, hotter weather to Kansas, more cities may have to follow a similar path.

As Kansans prepare to vote on the future of abortion, rural western Kansas offers a preview of what life with an abortion ban might eventually look like for the rest of the state.