Sounding Smarter
According to the state-run Xinhua news agency, China has decided to end its decades-old one-child per couple policy. The change comes to counter a shortage of young people in the Chinese workforce. Gee, who could have possibly seen that coming? The extinction of big animals including whales and elephants is creating environmental problems, new research finds. According to…
A confector, a baker, and a candy-tree maker
Kristina Briseno is about to invent a new species of tree. A redbud tree is being reborn – a statement piece for a local wedding with pink and white cotton candy in lieu of fall leaves. She knows this sounds fantastical, but to her this is simply another Thursday. “Anything creative, people just come to…
The Weekender | Halloween Edition
If you hate fun, this will be a terrible weekend. Kansas City is in rare form right now. The weather is crisp. The leaves are changing. And – oh, yeah – our favorite local baseball team is playing in some kind of postseason contest. World Series games 3, 4 and 5 (if necessary) are Friday, Saturday and Sunday night, respectively….
Letting art instill pride
When the school closed in 2011, Scarritt Elementary in the historic Northeast became a magnet for vandalism. With 76 boarded-up windows and 12 doorways, the vacant building takes up an entire city block. Facing an uphill battle against graffiti, Kansas City Public Schools turned to Héctor Casanova, an instructor in the Illustration Department at the Kansas City Art…
Safe Trick-or-Treating in Wyandotte County
Kids love to trick-or-treat for Halloween, but it can be scary for concerned parents. Safety concerning door-to-door trick-or-treating has increased over the years especially in inner-city locations like Wyandotte County. Parents have many concerns about what candy their child is receiving, how cold it can be outside, and how quickly it becomes dark. Wyandotte County offers several…
‘Baseball isn’t like this’
As a long-suffering Kansas City Royals fan, I was all-in, in 2014. The Royals’ playoff run was one of the most exciting stories in baseball in recent years. But, of course, the Royals fell 90 feet short of tying Game 7 of the World Series, and had to go home with just a pennant. I was…
Sympathetic Vibrations | A Well-Oiled Machine
The music business has stood on rather volatile ground for the past two decades. Piracy — and a momentous shift in the way people consume music — shook the foundations of what had become something of a predictable business model. The major labels are still reeling from the blows, largely spending the last 15 years…
Wyandotte County Could Lead Region In hiking Legal Age For Cigarette Sales
Supporters of banning the sale of cigarettes to teens and young adults in the Kansas City area may be close to landing their first major coup. On Monday night, a legislative committee of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas, one of the region’s largest municipalities, endorsed revising its legal code to ban the…
‘Talking Scripture’ explores sacred text and meaning through interfaith dialogue
Two pastors, a pair of religious scholars, a Muslim, and a Baha’i lawyer sat down on the stage of a UMKC auditorium recently to chat. And no, this is not the set-up of a joke: It is the actual panel of interfaith leaders that led a thoughtful discussion on scripture and its meanings in our…
The Eight Most Annoying Things Fans Do
We all know the Royals have some of the most passionate and knowledgeable fans in baseball. But even the best can go overboard. “Fan,” after all, is short for “fanatic,” and the level of crazy rises as a team gets deeper into the postseason. We all start acting like lunatics. Myself included. Nevertheless, it’s best…
Take 5 for your health
KU Tobacco Cessation Expert Sees ‘Big Disparity In Who’s Smoking And Who’s Dying’ Studies have shown that nearly half of the cigarettes consumed in the United States are smoked by people thought to have a mental illness. At the same time, people who have a mental illness die an average of 25 years earlier than those…
From ‘combine karaoke’ to cursing: The sounds of harvest in the Midwest
Erik Terstriep, perched in the captain’s chair of his combine, glides through eight rows of corn at a time. When he lifts up the harvesting head to turn the machine around, it lets out a quick, staccato, “beep, beep, beep.” Terstriep is fluent in the language of this machine, able to decipher every chirp. “You…
Today’s Special | The Hop!Toddy
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated with video. For the entire “Today’s Special” series and other digital productions, follow Flatland’s YouTube channel. When Oddly Correct arrived on the coffee landscape five years ago, the independent roaster and coffee shop made a name for itself because of what it would not serve: cream and sugar. Oddly Correct’s founder…
More than a cheap drink, Argentine’s ‘Nest’ is a place of history, community
Snuggled in a corner of 26th Street, behind the train tracks in the Argentine neighborhood of Kansas City, Kansas, sits a place with a rich history: American Legion Post #213, also known as The Eagles Nest. It’s a place where families gather to cheer on their teammates during baseball tournaments nearby, enjoy each other’s company…
Royals take second-straight AL pennant, and head to World Series
(Associated Press) The Kansas City Royals are headed to the World Series. The Fall Classic begins Tuesday in Kansas City, pitting the Royals against the New York Mets. The Mets won their last World Series crown in 1986, one year after the Royals claimed their lone title. The Royals wrapped up their second straight American League pennant last night by outlasting the Toronto Blue Jays 4-3 in Game 6…