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Poet Tess Taylor's new book, Work & Days, is a lyrical meditation on food and farming and our "fragile and ultimately, necessary relationship we have with the earth." Download her illustrated poems.

Genetically-modified crops were introduced in the United States about 18 years ago. First, there were tomatoes -- then soybeans, potatoes and corn. Since then, more farmland has been devoted to these plants, which have a gene added to their DNA, giving them helpful traits such as pesticide resistance. But during this same period, a growing number of children have developed allergies to food. Despite assurances of safety from biotech companies and government agencies, the parallel timing has raised suspicion. Harvest Public Media’s Camille Phillips checked out the research. To learn more about this story, log on to Harvest Public Media's website, at HarvestPublicMedia.org.

(Photo Credit: hayspost.com)TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas health officials say five Kansas lakes have dangerous levels of toxic algae. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment said in a release Thursday high levels of toxic blue-green algae have been detected at Hiawatha City Lake in Brown County, Lake Shawnee in Shawnee County, Lake Warnock in Atchison County, Logan City Lake in Phillips County and Memorial Park Lake in Barton County. The department says a warning means conditions are unsafe, and swimming, wading, skiing or other direct contact with the water are prohibited. The department has also lifted an algae advisory for Mission Lake in Brown County. When animals are exposed to toxic algae they may experience vomiting, diarrhea or even death. Humans can also experience symptoms including rashes, running noses and eye infections.

Monarch butterfly (Photo credit: pnwfieldguide.wikispaces.com)LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — There were fewer monarch butterflies found during an annual event aimed at tracking their migration through Kansas. Chip Taylor, director of the University of Kansas-based Monarch Watch conservation group, told The Lawrence Journal World that this summer's drought meant a much smaller population of monarchs at Saturday's event at the Baker Wetlands. Monarch Watch organizes the tagging to track migration through the U.S. and into Mexico for the winter. This is the group's 21st year of tagging, and it's been inviting the public to take part. Taylor says this year's monarch population was the smallest he'd seen in northeast Kansas. Consistently dry conditions led to fewer flowering plants and milkweed, which the butterflies need to survive. Taylor says, however, the nation's northeast coast population...which is normally smaller...is doing well.

Psychologist Carl-Johan Forssen Ehrlin designed his best-selling (and self-published) story The Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep to help kids doze off. We visited a local naptime to see if it works.

A tornado hit Eureka last (THUR) night, damaging 50 homes but causing no injuries. The governor has declared a state of disaster emergency in Greenwood County.

High jumper Erik Kynard (Photo credit: David J. Phillip/Associated Press) Kansas State high jumper Erik Kynard (kih-NARD) captured a silver medal yesterday (TUE) at the London Olympic Games. Kansas Public Radio's Greg Echlin has more:

A Topeka woman was killed when her bicycle was struck by a truck in southeast Kansas. The victim, 60-year-old Glenda Taylor, was head of the art department at Washburn University.

Kai Wright's podcast revisits the early years of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, focusing in particular on populations that are frequently overlooked — including the pediatric patients at Harlem Hospital.

This week, Taylor Swift debuted her engagement ring and the parasite world brought us something gross to worry about.