Alva Review-Courier -

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A government report shows Kansas had fewer farms and ranches last year and fewer acres used for agriculture. The National Agricultural Statistics Service reported Friday that the 59,600 farms counted in the state in 2016 was d...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality had tentatively approved a new permit for a hog farm near Mount Judea. The department on Wednesday issued a draft for its decision approving the permit for C&H Hog Farms, t...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — With new Republican Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens' support, GOP lawmakers this year are pushing a collection of bills to limit liability lawsuits that supporters have praised as pro-business but critics have slammed as h...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — The Arkansas Department of Health is reporting an uptick in deaths due to influenza compared to last year. The health department says 19 people have died this season from the flu, and all of them were adults. That's c...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — It's a designation more than 65 million years in the making. Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Friday signed a resolution designating the Arkansaurus fridayi as the state's official dinosaur. The move makes Arkansas the 10th s...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — There are now more Mexican gray wolves roaming the American Southwest than at any time since the federal government began trying to reintroduce the predators nearly two decades ago. The annual survey released Friday by the U...

CHADRON, Neb. (AP) — Pregnant bighorn sheep have been fitted with special transmitters in an effort to improve the health of wild herds in northwest Nebraska, where lambs have been dying. A helicopter was used this week to help Nebraska Game and P...

CHENOA, Ill. (AP) — The calming smell of lavender filled the room as Rebecca Perkins brought her mother, Catherine Whitaker, inside. The lighting was subdued. On one wall, flowing lighting — which made it appear to mother and daughter as if they were...

Is replacing a severely disfigured person's face with one from a dead donor ready to be called regular care, something insurers should cover? Mayo Clinic has raised that question by doing the first U.S. face transplant that's not part of research. Fa...

ROCHESTER, Minn. (AP) — He'd been waiting for this day, and when his doctor handed him the mirror, Andy Sandness stared at his image and absorbed the enormity of the moment: He had a new face, one that had belonged to another man. His father and h...

PITTSBURGH (AP) — While most teachers spent the day in the classroom, social studies teacher Doug Kirchner spent a recent Friday traveling the world. As Kirchner pulled up on the controls, he zoomed past the Christ the Redeemer statue towering a...

NEW YORK (AP) — Mark Zuckerberg helped create the modern world by connecting nearly a quarter of its citizens to Facebook and giving them a platform to share, well, everything — baby pictures and Pepe memes, social updates and abusive bullying, hel...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A smart trap for mosquitoes? A new high-tech version is promising to catch the bloodsuckers while letting friendlier insects escape — and even record the exact weather conditions when different species emerge to bite. Whether it...

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (AP) — For its next trick, an internet-beaming balloon factory spun out of Google believes it can outmaneuver the wind. In doing so, the 4-year-old "Project Loon" says it will be able to bring remote parts of the world online m...

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — The federal Department of Agriculture has reposted inspection reports on certain animal testing labs on its website after a decision two weeks ago to remove a large online database of animal welfare records prompted complaints. T...

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture says there were 500 fewer farms in Iowa last year and the average farm size rose slightly but the amount of total land in farms remained at 30.5 million acres. The annual report on farms r...

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota has slightly fewer farms than a year ago but the ones that remain tend to be getting larger, following national trends. A U.S. Department of Agriculture report released Friday says the total number of farms in M...

(THE CONVERSATION) It’s been 20 years since scientists in Scotland told the world about Dolly the sheep, the first mammal successfully cloned from an adult body cell. What was special about Dolly is that her “parents” were actually a single cell...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Even infants can have conversations with mom or dad. Their turn just tends to involve a smile or some gibberish instead of words. That's a key lesson from programs that are coaching parents to talk more with their babies — and rec...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Karen Pence wants people to know that art therapy isn't exactly arts and crafts. The wife of Vice President Mike Pence has been a passionate advocate of art therapy for many years, including during her service as first lady of I...

HOUSTON (AP) — The number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. increased by 10 this week to 751. A year ago, 514 rigs were active. Houston oilfield services company Baker Hughes Inc. said Friday that 597 rigs sought oil and 153 e...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump got ahead of himself Friday when he said he's approved construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. Trump has signed an order asking the TransCanada pipeline company to "resubmit its application" for a permit t...

NEW YORK (AP) — Fifty years ago, mumps was once a childhood rite of passage of puffy cheeks and swollen jaws. That all changed with the arrival of a vaccine in the late 1960s, and mumps nearly disappeared. But now the U.S. is in the midst of one of t...

WASHINGTON (AP) — LGBT employees have asked Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to commit to safeguarding anti-discrimination regulations amid fears that the Trump administration may weaken those protections. In the email, obtained by The Associated P...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A teen girl and her mother are suing the Monongalia County Board of Education and the sheriff's department over alleged bullying. The Dominion Post reports (http://bit.ly/2lqKb7Y) that the lawsuit was filed Thursday. It s...