Author

AJ Dome

AJ Dome

AJ Dome is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster from southwest Kansas. As a reporter, he has done everything from chase tornadoes and track wildfires to hang out with ostriches and drive golf carts across the Flint Hills. When he's not writing for the Reflector, he's developing a series of adventure novels set in the Sunflower State.

Child adoption efforts highlight need for parents, high number of teens in system

By: - November 28, 2020

Jeremy Allison-Murphy and his wife, Liz, knew they wanted to adopt JP as soon as they saw his video. The 13-year-old was one of hundreds of Kansas children in need of adoption, most of whom are teenagers. Allison-Murphy, who works for the Kansas Department for Children and Families, said the couple wanted to give an […]

His free speech rights threatened, Haskell student journalist fights back

By: - November 14, 2020

A student journalist’s questions in Lawrence have put him at odds with his university and given him a taste of media attention. Jared Nally, 27, is the editor-in-chief of The Indian Leader, the nation’s oldest Native American-run student newspaper, at Haskell Indian Nations University. Nally, a member of the Miami tribe of Oklahoma, has been […]

Pandemic restricts access to malfunctioning weather equipment, compromising accuracy

By: - November 8, 2020

Temperatures recorded at a western Kansas weather station in late September captured the attention of a researcher looking for the first measurable snowfall in the Midwest. Analysis by Brian Brettschneider, a research physical scientist with the National Weather Service Alaska region, led him to a cooperative observation station 13 miles north-northeast of Tribune in Greeley […]

Conservation project aims to restore Ogallala Aquifer through naturally occurring landforms

By: - November 7, 2020

The future of water availability in western Kansas is receiving support from a multimillion-dollar project aimed at using existing land formations to recharge a major underground water source. Final details of the Groundwater Recharge and Sustainability Project, or GRASP, are being worked out within the offices of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation […]

Kansans blast Evergy’s ‘discriminatory’ fee proposals for solar panel use

By: - November 6, 2020

About 100 Kansans voiced concerns during a virtual public hearing Thursday night regarding proposals from Evergy to alter the rate structure for solar energy customers, and on the future of renewable energy in the state. The Kansas Corporation Commission invited public feedback as part of its review to accept Evergy’s proposal for a $3 per […]

Deal strikes balance between Quivira Wildlife Refuge, agriculture producers

By: - September 29, 2020

Officials say a new agreement benefits both a national wildlife refuge and local agriculture producers in central Kansas, and it involves the extraction of several invasive plant species in the area along with water augmentation for a local creek. Water usage at the 22,135-acre Quivira National Wildlife Refuge in Stafford, Rice and Reno counties has […]

On Aug. 14, 2020, a landspout tornado developed along the Kansas-Colorado border near the small town of Towner, Colorado. Unusual weather patterns this year have produced historically low numbers of tornadoes across Kansas. (Mike Umscheid)

Kansas seeing historically low number of tornadoes in 2020

By: - August 29, 2020

Tornadoes and their warnings have been few and far between in Kansas for the majority of 2020, and in one corner of the state a record is poised to be broken if the trend continues through the end of the year. The National Weather Service office in Dodge City has recorded only six tornadoes across […]

Heavy rains were blamed for a rare landslide last year that made access unstable to Coronado Heights Park, near Lindsborg. (Submitted by Neil Croxton to Kansas Reflector)

Historic Kansas attraction recovering from last year’s rare landslide

By: - August 15, 2020

As a historic Kansas landmark neared its centennial last year, heavy summer rains loosened several layers of earth and triggered a rare three-foot slump in the landscape. Damage at Coronado Heights Park, which sits on a 300-foot sandstone bluff northwest of Lindsborg, made access unstable. The landslide forced cancellation of a 100th anniversary party planned […]