There’s a border war going in the Midwest and it’s over water. Kansas and Nebraska have been battling for years over the water in the Republican River, which runs from Colorado to Kansas, through Nebraska.

Can you imagine walking across an endless sea of grass?  Maybe your journey started along the Santa Fe Trail from a tree-lined river bank of the Ohio Valley, the forests of the Appalachian mountains, or the sugar maple groves of New England, and now you face a gale of hot, dry wind.  You think you must be on the edge of hell.. until... up ahead you see a shimmer of hope... a cottonwood tree.  

The saying ‘You can’t get there from here!’ must have been on the minds of many of the pioneers who tried to settle in far west portions of the HPPR broadcast area.  For a long time, road making was an individual task which involved taking off  in the direction you needed to go, and then hoping you would make it to your destination.  Eventually trails became roads, which then became highways as travel vehicles evolved from wagons to buggies to new-fangled automobiles, but it could still be a bumpy ride at best. 

President Obama will be sworn into office for a second term on Monday morning, January 21, 2013.  High Plains Public Radio will broadcast special coverage of this event, starting at 10:06 central time.

The 20th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says that a presidents term begins on January 20.  Since that date falls on a Sunday, President Obama will make the oath of office twice, on the day designated by law, and again on Monday as is traditional.  

Size is relative.  Most folks living on the high plains would scoff if you told them a good sized whitetail buck weighed 105 pounds and had 90 inch antlers.  They'd probably tell you that was a half way decent size yearling.  But, those stats are excellent for the Coues deer, named after cavalry surgeon, Elliott Coues.  As a matter of fact, Larry Weishuhn, made the record book recently with a gross score of 135, and a net score of 120 on his deer.  To get into the record book with a Coues deer, you only need a Boone and Crockett score of 110.

Skilled technicians with the right equipment create concert and video light shows that dazzle viewers.  An important component of such expertise is that anyone, anywhere can ooh and aah at  color and light shifting like a living kaleidoscope. Kansans don’t have to wait for light shows to come to town. They only have to look west each evening to enjoy award-winning productions the setting sun and our clear atmosphere create daily.

One of the earliest trees to bloom in the spring is the redbud.  This favorite ornamental rarely reaches heights of greater than 20 feet.  The redbud comes in three color varieties: white, red, and purple.  They are self-pollinating and a fast grower, but that also means they have a shorter lifespan.  The redbud is a member of the legumes- their seed pods and flowers are edible.  They are forgiving of soil types, growing best in moist, well-drained sites.