My Farm Roots: Farm kids’ big life lesson
Farm dog? Check. Barn cats? Check. Muddy work books lined up at the back door? Five checks. We kick off our fourth season of “My Farm Roots” with the Renyer Family, five farm kids I had the pleasure of meeting last week. Driving onto the Renyer farm, out in Nemaha County, Kan., I was struck…
Missouri’s Refusal To Expand Medicaid Leaves Hospitals Feeling The Pain
It’s a sweltering Monday afternoon, and in the emergency room of Truman Medical Centers near downtown Kansas City, a patient complains of excruciating abdominal pain. The attending physician advises her there’s only so much he can do. “The reality is you can get whatever pain medication I’m able to give you in an effort to…
Kansas City Week In Review Tackles the Minimum Wage Decision
In the most recent episode of “Kansas City Week in Review,” host Nick Haines and a guest panel discuss the council’s decision last week to raise the city’s minimum wage. Also, “Week In Review” weighs in on the National Council de La Raza convention, Kansas tax hikes, the exodus of teachers from Kansas, and the gay…
The science behind farm herbicides and cancer
Farmers count on chemical herbicides to keep their fields weed-free. But an international panel of scientists who studied two of the most heavily used farm chemicals to determine whether they could cause cancer, said exposure to weed-killing chemicals could come at a cost. In the last few months, scientists brought together by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, or IARC, considered glyphosate and 2,4-D.
Missouri Ordered To Name Lethal Injection Drug Provider
Missouri must disclose the name of the pharmacy from which it buys lethal injection drugs, a circuit court judge has ruled in yet another case challenging the Department of Corrections’ refusal to provide such information. The case was filed last year in Cole County Circuit Court by five news organizations, including The Kansas City Star…
Anxiety over changing farmworker housing rules
Many of the more than 3 million migrant farmworkers that plant and pick the fruits and vegetables we eat in the U.S. live on the farms they work for. But the rules that govern farmworker housing may be changing, worrying both farmers and migrant worker advocates. For decades, farmworker housing standards have been governed by…
A City of Pop-Ups
If Joe West was ever going to have his own restaurant, he knew he had to get out of the kitchen. The chef, formerly of Bluestem and 801 Fish, has spent the past several months cooking his way across the city in a series of pop-up dinners that he hopes leads to a more permanent…
City Council Sends A Message With Minimum Wage Increase
Kansas City’s decision to raise the minimum wage is a bid by council members to take a stand for low-income working Kansas Citians and to be “on the right side of history,” even as council members acknowledged the legal onslaught that may be in store.
Attacking infant mortality in Wyandotte County
After Ashley Anderson gave birth to her daughter, Jade Marie, the nurses placed the little girl on her mom’s chest. She says she remembers her newborn looking serene, with delicate lashes, her eyes gently closed. The heart-breaking truth – as Anderson had learned during the delivery – was that Jade had died in the womb….
Bringing Jazz Back to the Heartland
Daniel and Ebony Edwards have a dream; to ignite a passion for jazz and community right here in Kansas City. The couple are reimagining a future for the abandoned Public Works Building, located at 20th and Vine streets near Kansas City’s historic “Jazz District,” with the hopes of converting the space into the world’s top jazz…
Hands-on history: simulating the end of WWII at the Truman Museum
The highlight of Joe Henke’s summers are his visits to the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum. Henke is a world history and honors government teacher from Boonville, Missouri and has participated in the museum’s weeklong Summer Teacher Institute for the last seven years. This year on the eve of the 70th Anniversary of the…
Us, getting by
As the debate over a better living wage for Kanas City residents continues to be an ongoing conversation, and with the KCMO city council addressing the issue in today’s council meeting, reporter Daniel Boothe and photographer Lara Shipley present portraits and voices from KC workers, as part of Flatland’s “Getting By” project exploring the impact of economic, educational and health disparities in KC.
Death And Dying: Expanding Palliative Care
A milestone multi-year study published in 1995 startled the medical world when it revealed that about half the hospital doctors treating terminally ill people were unaware when their patients had not wanted aggressive, life-extending treatments and that about half those who died in their care had pain that might have been abated. Equally shocking, the…
NCLR takes on Latinos and the digital divide
The day before President Obama announced an initiative to expand high-speed broadband access to more families across the country, a panel at the National Council of La Raza Conference in Kansas City was talking about the exact same issue. The “Opening the Portal of Technology to Latino Families” featured three guest speakers: FCC Commissioner Mignon…
Storify: NCLR conversations on Immigration, Economic Inequality, and Healthcare
Reporters, politicians and participants were active this week in tweeting their impressions from the annual National Council of La Raza, which took place at the Kansas City Convention Center, July 11-14. The twitterarti weighed in on key issues discussed at the conference, as reflected here in this Storify by KCPT’s Matthew Hodapp. Did you attend the conference? Let…