St. Francis — Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate. - Isaiah 62:4. For 20 consecutive nights, people had gathered in the city park here to pray for rain. Full Story.

Spearville — Lowell Aberson, a Kansas Wildlife & Parks biologist, was walking across the bottom of Hain State Fishing Lake. Except for a shrinking pool of water in the center, dry inch-wide cracks covered the lake bed's 53 acres. It looked like a giant jigsaw puzzle. Full Story.

Tribune — There are a lot of dry counties in Kansas this year. But Greeley County is one of the driest. From August 2001 to this July, just 6.18 inches of rain fell here. That's 2 inches less than fell during the fabled Dust Bowl years of 1934-1935. Then, there were 8.84 inches. Full Story.

Rolla — Charles Milburn and his brother Tom farm more than a thousand acres in Morton County in extreme southwestern Kansas. Their farm north of Rolla was started by their grandfather. Charles, now 61, began farming with his father, Elver, in 1972. Full Story.

Bird hunting last year in Kansas was as poor as it's been in 30 years. And all indicators suggest quail and pheasant hunters won't do any better this year. "With good conscience I couldn't recommend that anyone go hunting in the western quarter of Kansas this year," said Randy Rogers, Kansas Fish and Game biologist in Hays. Full Story.