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Kaw Valley Almanac for Dec. 20-26, 2021
The winter solstice is on Tuesday; expect 14 1/2 hours between sunset Tuesday and sunrise Wednesday morning. In contrast, summer solstice nights last just a little more than 9 hours.
The winter solstice is on Tuesday; expect 14 1/2 hours between sunset Tuesday and sunrise Wednesday morning. In contrast, summer solstice nights last just a little more than 9 hours.
Last week, the calm water reflected the sunset and leafless trees just west of the Baker Wetlands a few minutes after sunset. This week promises to be much windier, with high fire danger and potentially severe weather midweek.
This heron is hanging out on a cottonwood branch at the Baker Wetlands near the Wakarusa River in the fading twilight. The sun sets at 4:59 p.m. all this week, the earliest sunsets of the year.
With a shrinking, waning moon and fair skies predicted for much of the week, this might be a very good time to observe the night sky.
Four of the five members on Evergy’s finance committee, tasked with recommending management and investment decisions to the board of directors, were selected by activist hedge funds that critics worry are asserting undue influence over the electric utility.
This greenish-tinged limestone is full of fossils, including a short seven-segment section of a crinoid stalk, a plant that was quite prolific in oceans where Kansas is now some 250 million years ago.
Nov. 17 is the peak day for deer-car accidents, with some 700 of the 10,000 annual collisions in Kansas occurring on that day. Drive carefully, especially around dawn and dusk.
If you are a daytime person, find a sweet gum tree like this one and watch the star-shaped leaves falling to the ground this week.
With recent rains, puffball mushrooms have been popping up. These join a surprising variety of other fall mushrooms including chanterelles, pleurotis, lion’s mane and hen of the woods.
Evergy can retire two more coal-burning power plants within the decade without sacrificing affordability or massively increasing rates, environmental advocates say in a new report.
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