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Subscribe to RSSA car is silhouetted against the setting sun as it travels along I-70, March 27, 2013, in Kansas City, Kan.
Charlie Riedel / AP
A car is silhouetted against the setting sun as it travels along I-70, March 27, 2013, in Kansas City, Kan.
Winter whiteout slams central US
Matt Reid / AP
Robert Miller, left, and J'Qwan Robinson help push a friend's car out of the snow Feb. 21, in St. Joseph, Mo.
Dave Kaup / Reuters
Stalled vehicles are seen during a blizzard as traffic backs up on a major thoroughfare in Overland Park, Kan., on Feb. 21.
Tom Dorsey / AP
Tim Meece shovels a walk to help a friend Feb. 21 in Salina, Kan.
By Erin McClam and Matthew DeLuca, NBC News
Lumbering coast to coast, a winter storm hammered the Great Plains on Thursday, and more than a dozen more states were forecast to be hit in coming days.
Accidents were reported across the region, with one death: an Oklahoma teenager who was killed when his pickup truck skidded across a slushy road. Read full story
Dave Kaup / Reuters
A man stands next to car stuck in the snow during a blizzard in Kansas City, Kan., on Feb. 21.
David Carson / AP
A car is stuck in a ditch after spinning out on Interstate 70 East near Lake St. Louis, Mo., Feb. 21.
Robert Cohen / AP
An American Airlines flight arrives as sleet falls at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, on Feb. 21.
Tom Dorsey / AP
Gina Pucket shovels snow from her driveway in Salina, Kan., on the morning of Feb. 21.
Much of the Midwest is covered in a blanket of white as a massive winter storm has covered parts of Missouri, Oklahoma, and Kansas with over a foot of snow. NBC's John Yang reports.
Slideshow: Winter's Frozen Splendor
PhotoBlog: Golf championship play stopped due to Arizona winter storm
This story was originally published on Thu Feb 21, 2013 3:29 PM EST
Rural Kansas school teaches math, science, economics through hands-on farm program
Jeff Tuttle / Reuters
First grade student Livie Classenn recites the Pledge of Allegiance to start the day at the Walton Rural Life Center Elementary School, in Walton, Kan., Jan. 18. Students at the school do farm chores at the beginning of each school day. The Walton Rural Life Center - a kindergarten through fourth grade charter school in rural Kansas - uses agriculture to teach students about math, science, economics.
Jeff Tuttle / Reuters
A dozen fresh farm eggs sold by the students is pictured.
Feeding the animals is not just a chore, said Walton Rural Life Center teacher Amanda Paulus.
"It gives them a lot of responsibility in that they are actually caring for something that depends on them," Paulus said.
-- By Kevin Murphy, Reuters
Jeff Tuttle / Reuters
Second-grade student Madison Schroeder washes the eggs after the morning farm chores.
Jeff Tuttle / Reuters
Second-grade student Brylee Budde counts the money earned from selling eggs.
Jeff Tuttle / Reuters
Third-grade students Cody Eye and Elizabeth Harder feed the hogs.
Jeff Tuttle / Reuters
Wool that was sheared by the students is washed and dried before the students make yarn from the material.
Jeff Tuttle / Reuters
First-grade student Destiny Smith prepares hay to feed the cows.
Tom Dorsey / Salina Journal via AP
Sabrina Berman, left, and Scott Tully go for a walk early on Aug. 3, in Salina, Kan., as much needed rain falls. Tully wasn't concerned about getting wet during the walk. Tully said, "We're not going to melt."
A summer walk under ominous skies, as Kansas gets some drought relief
While the skies have briefly opened up in Kansas, the area continues to suffer from a serious drought. AP reports:
About 40 Kansas cities have either required citizens to conserve water, or are considering doing so. The conservation effort comes as a drought continues to bake the state, prompting Gov. Sam Brownback to place all of the state's 105 counties in the emergency drought stage. Continue reading.
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Kentucky beats Kansas 67-59 to win national title
David J. Phillip / AP
Kentucky players celebrate at the end of the NCAA Final Four tournament on Monday night.
Jeff Gross / Getty Images
Travis Releford #24 and Elijah Johnson #15 of the Kansas Jayhawks react after losing to the Kentucky Wildcats 67-59 on Monday night.
AP reports: NEW ORLEANS - No matter where Anthony Davis and his buddies go to make their millions, their ol' Kentucky home will long remember this championship season. The Wildcats hit the jackpot with their lottery picks Monday night, ignoring Davis' bad shooting night and parlaying a roster full of NBA talent into a 67-59 victory over Kansas for the team's eighth national title - and its first since 1998.
Kentucky vs. Kansas in national title game
Jeff Haynes / Reuters
Kentucky Wildcats forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist falls while driving to the net on Kansas Jayhawks center Jeff Whitey and guard Elijah Johnson during the first half of their men's NCAA Final Four championship college basketball game in New Orleans, Louisiana, April 2, 2012.
Chris Steppig / AP
Kentucky forward Anthony Davis (23) leaps for a rebound over forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (14) and Kansas center Jeff Withey (5) during the first half of the game.
Ronald Martinez / Getty Images
Thomas Robinson #0 of the Kansas Jayhawks with the ball as Michael Kidd-Gilchrist #14 of the Kentucky Wildcats goes after it in the first half in the game on Monday night.
Get live updates on NCAA final as Kentucky, Kansas vie for national title.
Kansas celebrates 80-67 victory over North Carolina
Sarah Conard / Reuters
Kansas Jayhawks forward Thomas Robinson and guard Tyshawn Taylor celebrate their victory over the North CarolinaTar Heels.
Sarah Conard / Reuters
North Carolina Tar Heels Justin Watts, P.J. Hairston, John Henson and Kendall Marshall sit on the bench during their loss to the Kansas Jayhawks.
Tyshawn Taylor broke out of his slump in a big way Sunday, scoring 22 points and leading Kansas back to the Final Four with an 80-67 victory over former coach Roy Williams and top-seeded North Carolina.
--The Associated Press
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Sifting through the debris of the tornado aftermath
Whitney Curtis / Getty Images
Steve McDonald stands in the debris of his mother-in-law, Mary Osman's home. Osman was killed after a tornado touched down on Feb. 29 in Harrisburg, Ill.
Twisters roared through the nation's heartland in the early morning darkness Wednesday tearing through small towns in Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, and Missouri.
In Harrisburg, Ill., a town of 9,000, residents sorted through piles of debris and remembered their dead while the winds still howled around them.
Not long after the storm, Darrell Osman raced to his mother's home, arriving just in time to speak to her before she was taken to a hospital with a head injury, a severe cut to her neck and a broken arm and leg.
"She was conscious. I wouldn't say she was coherent. There were more mumbles than anything," he said. "She knew we were there."
Mary Osman died a short time later.
-- The Associated Press
Related Posts:
- Storms damage country music resort town, kill 9
- PhotoBlog: Storm's path of destruction crosses several Midwest states
Laurie Skrivan / St. Louis Post-Dispatch via Zuma Press
One of the owner's of Dream Baskets, a gourmet food eatery located off Route 45, look out the exposed north side of the restaurant, which was destroyed by a tornado on Feb. 29 in Harrisburg, Ill.
Sarah Conard / Reuters
Carissa Westfall helps salvage products from Nature's Sunshine Health Foods store in Branson, Missouri, on Feb. 29.
Jamie Squire / Getty Images
Prince Okoroh #3 of the Howard Bison loses the ball as Elijah Johnson #15 of the Kansas Jayhawks defends during the game on Dec. 29, 2011 at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kansas.
Overmatched Howard loses 89-34 at No. 17 Kansas
AP reports: LAWRENCE, Kan. - Howard knew what it was getting into when it scheduled a two-game swing through the Sunflower State. It can only hope to fare better against Kansas State than it did at No. 17 Kansas.
Prince Okoroh had seven points and six rebounds to lead the Bison, who fell 89-34 to the Jayhawks on Thursday night. Howard watched as the bigger, stronger team from the Big 12 raced out to a double-digit lead in the opening minutes and never looked back as it prepped for conference play.
"We got our butts kicked," Howard coach Kevin Nickelberry said.
Charlie Riedel / AP
Teagan Keil, 12, right, is comforted by Radene Rupert after Keil learned that the body of his father, Travis Keil, had been recovered, Oct. 31, 2011, at the Bartlett Grain Co. in Atchison, Kan. Six people were killed in an explosion at the elevator Saturday night.
Three more victims of Kansas grain elevator blast are found
Charlie Riedel’s picture of Teagan Keil being comforted is one of the most sensitive grieving pictures I’ve seen. Riedel not only informs the viewer with the grain elevator and the barricades, but he gives us an understated, emotional scene that makes us care. It shows Teagan’s pain without intruding into a tender moment. I can’t look away.
ATCHISON, Kansas -- The final three bodies were recovered Monday from the burnt wreckage of a Kansas grain elevator where a weekend explosion killed six people and injured two others, a company official said.
Bob Knief, a Bartlett Grain Company senior vice president, declined to discuss the identities of the three victims found Monday, but relatives identified two of them as Curtis Field, 21, and state grain inspector Travis Keil.
Over the past four decades, there have more than 600 explosions at grain elevators around the U.S., killing more than 250 people and injuring more than 1,000, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Read more…
Fred Blocher / AP
In a June 8, 2011 photo, Johnson County Sheriff's Dept. Sgt. Paul Nonnast demonstrates one of the TASER Axon video system cameras. Johnson County sheriff's deputies are among the first officers in the country to wear cameras on their ears, in an effort to provide a better record of what happens during contact between officers and the public.
These cops wear guns — and cameras
As cellphone videos are becoming more common in cases of alleged police misconduct, it's no surprise police departments are deciding to employ technology to record video from the officer's point of view.
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Charlie Riedel / AP
Lightning from a severe thunderstorm flashes in the distance beyond a crucifix in a cemetery near Easton, Kan., Saturday, May 21.
Crucifix highlighted by lightning as severe thunderstorms sweep across eastern Kansas
Read more about the Kansas storms here.