Kansas Bee Hotels Give Native Species A Place To Call Home
A patchwork of bamboo and paper tubes, with diameters no bigger than a nickel, are stacked artfully inside a 4-by-4 wooden frame near the edge of a public hiking trail in Lawrence, Kan. Organized by size, each hollow tube is about 8 inches long, designed as nests for Kansas’ wild bees. This structure is called…
Death And Dying: An Emerging Conversation
Editor’s note: On Wednesday, Medicare announced that it would reimburse doctors for end-of-life counseling. It’s part of an emerging conversation about end-of-life issues and the policy changes needed to give people more control over what happens to them in their final days. This three-part series of stories by KHI News Service, and a video produced in…
How one KC church creates an honest place to talk race
Ever since debates about race intensified following Ferguson and Baltimore and New York and South Carolina, a question directed at white people has grown sharper. Do you have any African-American friends? Not associates you see only at work. Not people you run into at your kids’ sports events. People you really talk to. Friends. At…
Immigration, the gender wage gap, and Donald Trump emerge as themes for Democratic candidates in KC
Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley addressed the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) on Monday at the Kansas City Convention Center. No Republican candidates spoke at the conference. NCLR is an national organization that advocates for the rights of the Hispanic and Latino population. Its conference in Kansas City runs…
La Raza Panel: Zip Codes Key To Understanding Community Health
Something as simple as schoolyard gates can play a role in improving the health of low-income communities.
US Treasurer Rios calls for greater economic equality and opportunity
The poverty rate for Latinos is decreasing, but the continuing growth of income inequality is making economic advancement for Latinos difficult. That’s according to panelists speaking Sunday at the National Conference of La Raza (NCLR) in Kansas City. In a panel discussion titled “The Great Economic Divide, Why Inequality Matters,” the town hall meeting featured U.S. Treasurer Rosie Rios as keynote speaker.
Young audience hears college advice at La Raza conference
Fernando Rojas and Emily Gonzalez are two young adults who know all about the trials and tribulations that Latinos face once they have overcome the first hurdle of getting into college, including navigating the financial aid system and overcoming parental anxieties.
La Raza outlines strategies to expand Medicaid
Advocates for expanding Medicaid coverage to more low-income Americans must refine their strategies to win over lawmakers in states such as Missouri and Kansas, which have resisted efforts to loosen eligibility requirements.
Superstar Ashton Kutcher backs former KC-based startup
It appears Kansas City may have let a promising startup slip through its fingers. Formerly based in Kansas City and now headquartered in San Francisco, Neighborly landed an investment and sparkling endorsement from venture capitalist superstar Ashton Kutcher. An actor and active tech investor, Kutcher founded venture capital firm Sound Ventures, which dished out one of…
Me, getting by
LaJua Manning is a single mom who is involved with Stand Up KC, a group that protests for higher pay for low wage workers. As a certified nursing assistant, LaJua works overnight to take care of bedridden patients. Yet, she still struggles to get by. Her $12 an hour salary keeps her constantly juggling expenses…
Low-wage workers and the child-care conundrum
On July 16, KCMO City Council members are expected to vote on the issue of whether or not to raise the city’s minimum wage, potentially up to $15 per hour by 2020. It’s a highly contentious issue with the business community threatening it would trigger layoffs, and fast-food workers and others rallying and fasting in support. One key issue that supporters say a raise in the minimum wage would would address is the high cost of child care for struggling families.
A “Campground” in the heart of the city
Most people see a shed in their backyard and think about storing garden tools or a lawnmower. But Chris Ceisel and his wife Cristin Llewellyn had a very different vision in 2011. They saw a bar. “It was this intimate space where people keep repeating to us that it ‘felt like they were no longer…
How your zip code affects your wellbeing
Place matters. Be it a street that divides the city or two neighboring counties, the place where one lives often strongly predicts income, educational opportunities and health outcomes. Income disparity is a geographic marker seen in this city and those across the nation. Mapping it out Click on the zip codes in this map, which…
The making of colorful canvases
Kwanza Humphrey is an emerging artist whose colorful canvases and insightful drawings have been featured in shows at the Kansas City Artist Coalition and the Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art. Humphrey says he tries to tell a deeper story about the people he captures in his art — a story he believes we’ll all recognize. On…
Conflicting police pursuit policies in the KC metro area
Police pursuits, more commonly known as car chases, can be very dangerous. Often they end in crashes or, in the worst cases, death. In the last decade in Kansas City, there have been at least 706 pursuit crashes that have killed at least 23 people – many of them innocent bystanders. Hundreds more were injured,…