Missouri Lawmakers Debate Whether Pregnancy Resource Centers Must Provide Science-Backed Information
You don’t have to drive far in Missouri to see billboards offering help to pregnant women. They’re part of the state’s Alternatives to Abortion program, which has seen a big increase in public funding in recent years. This year’s legislative debate on the program focuses on a new question: What kind of information should these…
Tap List | Snake Saturday Suds
Sipping Suds on Snake Saturday The annual Snake Saturday Parade in North Kansas City, scheduled to start at 11 am, brings up to 100,000 participants, spectators, and revelers to the city. The parade begins at 16th and Swift Street. As a reminder, the city has a zero-tolerance policy about carrying open containers of alcohol. It’s…
To Diversify The Landscape, Diversify Who Works It
Farmers in the U.S. like to point out that their products feed people all over the world. And while this is a diverse country, the people working on farms and elsewhere in agriculture often don’t reflect the nation’s demographics. Changing that is becoming a priority, in hopes new people will bring fresh ideas to meet…
Judge Releases Defendant in 1988 Arson Deaths of 6 KC Firefighters
Bryan Sheppard, the youngest of five people sentenced to life in prison for a 1988 explosion that killed six Kansas City firefighters, will be released, possibly in the next few days, a federal judge ruled today. Members of Sheppard’s family, who packed one side of a federal courtroom here this afternoon began sobbing as…
Waffle Iron Pop-Up & Other Weekend Possibilities
Waffling on where to go for breakfast? How about the Waffle Iron pop-up at Hammerhand Coffee (22 N. Main St., Liberty, Missouri). It’s from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. If you head over on Saturday, you can also catch the grand opening of Anna Marie’s Teas (7 W. Franklin St.). The Liberty tea shop…
Lethal Injection Drugs at Center of Death Penalty Fight
Historical accounts peg Peter Johnson as the first person executed in Missouri — hanged in 1810 for killing another man in a township southwest of St. Louis. More than two centuries later, Missouri is still meting out the death penalty. But now, the method is lethal injection, a process that is ensnaring Missouri and other…
The Science of Believing
What is the single biggest factor related to student achievement? You’ll find it buried deep in a 50-year-old document. You’ll also see it on the faces of Kansas City youth who struggle to not let their past hold them back from a more promising future. Follow Take Note: Our City. Our Schools. Our Future as together, we…
Your Purpose Must Be Clear
When a storm blew through Shawnee this summer, it left downed trees and branches in an elderly man’s yard. He had neither the financial nor the physical means to clean up. Many suburban codes don’t make exceptions when it comes to unkempt yards. But in Shawnee, the city has a backup plan thanks to a…
Monarch Gets Ready to Brew in Valentine
A stretch of Broadway that diners often took on their way to get somewhere else to eat is beginning to form a dining identity of its own. And just a block from an Ethiopian (Mesob), Scandinavian (Krokstrom Klubb & Market), and Vietnamese-French (iPho Tower) restaurant, a coffee shop is in the works at 3550 Broadway….
The Weekend Starts Today
Winter, it seems, has been canceled. Or at least seriously downgraded. February 2017, with a few notable exceptions, was remarkably, even creepily, temperate. Whatever the cause for this unseasonable season, you might as well get out and enjoy the weather while it’s mild. You will not, however, be able to do so while watching sports….
Doctors Caught In Middle As Travel Ban Intersects With Rural Recruitment
Dr. Saeedeh Salmanzadeh became a U.S. citizen at a naturalization ceremony in October 2015. When the presiding official asked if any of the new citizens wanted to speak, she was one of the first to raise her hand. By then Salmanzadeh had spent 15 years in America, after leaving her home in Iran where she…
How We Got Here
It has taken us more than a century to get here. That’s the first thing we come to realize as we explore the current state of K-12 education systems across the Kansas City metro. A host of interesting characters, challenging times, and complex issues created both the successes and failures we’re currently experiencing in districts from Blue…
Take Note: Does ZIP Code Matter?
Should where a child rests his or her head at night impact the quality of the education they receive? KCPT and American Public Square examine the relationship between poverty, housing and education in our metro in this town hall conversation. Panelists: Dr. Dennis L. Carpenter, Outgoing Superintendent, Hickman Mills School District Tony Kline, Superintendent &…
Ruckus: Newsmaker Mike McShane
In December, Ruckus host Mike Shanin interviewed Mike McShane, Director of Education Policy for the Show Me Institute, about Betsy DeVos, now secretary of education under the Trump administration. McShane also touched on the role of Federal education programs, as well as state’s responsibilities. McShane is a member of the Take Note advisory board.
Making Sense of A Tragedy
The Rev. Kelly Isola is chair of the Greater Kansas City Interfaith Council. The comments below were prepared for a vigil held days after the fatal shooting in Olathe. It is with a heavy heart that I stand with you today. The council is deeply disturbed and saddened by these violent acts. We offer our…