A busload of hungry tourists and a restaurant kitchen with a near-empty pantry: What could have been a disaster turned into an improvised recipe that's been pleasing crowds for nearly six decades.

A busload of hungry tourists, a restaurant kitchen with a near-empty pantry. What could have been a disaster turned into an improvised recipe that's been pleasing crowds for nearly six decades.

Geothermal energy has been limited to places with subtera reservoirs of hot water. A new technology being proven in Utah is expanding it to exploit dry hot rock underground.

The Wizard of Oz and Kansas have been inseparable since farm girl Dorothy Gale first skipped down the yellow brick road. But a Dust Bowl 1930s image may also hold Kansas back from what it wants to be.

Temperatures have been over 100 degrees for days at Zion National Park. Is it keeping the tourists away? No, even as two hikers in a nearby state park died of apparent heat-related causes Saturday.

Extreme temperatures boost wildfire danger, and the forecast for some Southwestern states include high winds. That means warnings are being issued for fires that could start and spread quickly.

How can communities keep rural traditions alive for the next generation? In Western Kansas youth rodeo is gaining in popularity.

Towns across the Great Plains are shrinking. Some families in western Kansas are now looking to youth rodeo as a way to preserve their rural lifestyle.

Decades of large scale crop irrigation now means big water problems in drought-stricken areas like western Kansas.

This historically dry, hot year is wreaking havoc across the US. In the Great Plains, widespread drought has dried up water supplies, decimated crop harvests, and left cattle with no grass to eat.

Scientists seeking to learn about prehistoric oceans have flocked to an unlikely place: western Kansas. And today, the fossils embedded in these Great Plains could hold clues about the future of life.

Scientists seeking to learn about prehistoric oceans have flocked to an unlikely place: western Kansas. And now, the fossils embedded in these Great Plains could hold clues about the future of life.

For small towns with dwindling populations and shrinking tax bases, luring travelers to stop and spend a few dollars is a matter of survival. Some turn to quirky roadside tourist attractions.

Installing high-speed fiber internet in rural places like western Kansas is very expensive, even with government subsidies. Some smaller, local broadband providers are finding ways to make it work.

In rural farming regions, dangerous chemicals from fertilizer have made their way into water sources. For some towns, it takes millions of dollars just to get clean water for a few hundred residents.

Cotton farming is inching north into the Midwest. Climate change combined with dwindling water resources and new infrastructure means states like Kansas are becoming cotton country.

40 years ago, two Great Plains towns were sent on very different paths. While a meatpacking plant has allowed one town to prosper, another regrets that its former leaders once feared change.

In the land of the open prairie, an invasive plant is threatening to transform Kansas' grassland ecosystems into biodiversity wastelands. Researchers are running out of time to find ways to stop it.