In western Kansas, rural hospitals have been closing or are perpetually understaffed, leaving residents to drive anywhere from an hour to multiple hours for doctors appointments. Plus: Scientists are working on a new framework that factors climate trends into how we think about drought.

Western Kansas is the place for a quiet, rural lifestyle. But with that comes shortages when you need to see a doctor. Rural Kansans on average travel twice as far for medical care than their urban counterparts. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have found that largely due to this difference in access to health care, rural residents are more likely to die early than urban residents. Calen Moore of the Kansas News Service reports.

Drought is defined as an abnormal period of dryness. But climate change means today’s normal might not be the same as yesterday’s. Climatologists are now coming together to figure out how to characterize drought because their proclamations have real, practical consequences. Some federal policies that give farmers emergency relief money are tied to the drought monitor. Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk's Harshawn Ratanpal reports.

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Kansas City Today is hosted by Nomin Ujiyediin. It is produced by Carter Galloway and KCUR Studios, and edited by Madeline Fox, Emily Younker and Gabe Rosenberg.

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