Kevin Hardy, Stateline

Stories by Kevin Hardy, Stateline

An aerial view of Truman Sports Complex.

Kansas v. Missouri Stadium Battle Shows How States are Reigniting Border Wars

A bidding war for the Kansas City Chiefs and Kansas City Royals may undermine a 2019 compact struck by Kansas and Missouri to end an economic border war.

Sprinklers irrigate a field in Hamilton County, Kansas, where some farmers have petitioned to be removed from a local groundwater management district. State lawmakers are pressuring the district to do more to conserve water in the Ogallala Aquifer.

‘Time for a Reckoning.’ Kansas Farmers Brace for Water Cuts to Save Ogallala Aquifer

After decades of local inaction, Kansas lawmakers are pushing for big changes in irrigation to conserve water and save the Ogallala Aquifer.

General Manager Brian Horak walks down an aisle at Post 60 Market in Emerson, Neb.

‘Lifeblood of the Community’: States Invest to Save Rural Grocery Stores

In Kansas, 1 in 5 rural grocery stores closed between 2008 and 2018. No new store has opened in half of the 105 communities that lost grocers over that time.

A view of the downtown skyline from inside the proposed Kansas City Royals ballpark.

Team Owners Look to Taxes Amid ‘Stadium Construction Wave’

As stadiums show their age, professional sports teams like the Kansas City Royals teams are looking for new facilities — and taxes to help pay for them.

Brownie Wilson kneels next to a decommissioned irrigation well outside Moscow, Kansas.

Agriculture Built High Plains Towns. Now, it Might Run Them Dry.

The Ogallala Aquifer, which spans eight states from South Dakota to the Texas Panhandle, is the primary water source for parts of the region. It's running dry.

A farm tractor rolls along outside a Silver City, Miss., neighborhood in May. Mississippi lawmakers want the state to join the growing list of those regulating foreign ownership of agricultural land next year.

This Land is Our Land: States Crack Down on Foreign-Owned Farmland

As foreigners buy up American farmland, lawmakers in more states want to keep certain countries out.

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