The Malek Family: Confident in This Country
Altaf and Shaheen Malek immigrated to the United States in 2007 from Gujarat, India. They came at the insistence of Altaf’s sister, who sponsored their immigration. Altaf, then the owner of a well-established electronics shop, and Shaheen, a pharmacist, did not jump at the opportunity to leave their well-established life. After discussing it heavily and seeking feedback from others in their community, they decided to leave everything behind and start over in the United States for the sake of their children.
Talking Diversity
Kansas City Mayor Sly James joined KCPT producers Christopher Cook and Nathaniel Bozarth, a panel of four community advocates and about 200 Kansas Citians who came out to the Gem Theater to discuss ways to bridge racial and cultural divides in our communities. That issue is also the topic of a series of digital videos that KCPT and Flatland are producing in partnership with Cook and Bozarth. The discussion was moderated by KCPT executive producer Nick Haines.
Diversity is the topic for event hosted by KC Mayor Sly James and KCPT
Join the producers of Your Fellow Americans and Mayor Sly James for a free panel discussion on race, immigration, & the American Dream.
Back from war, on to the farm
Veterans returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan often have a hard time transitioning back to their civilian lives and careers. They have higher rates of divorce, depression and suicide. And they’re more likely to be unemployed than both civilians and veterans of other wars. In recent years, thousands of veterans like Creech have showed an interest in farming as a way to find peace and purpose, and several nonprofit organizations and universities have launched programs to help them pursue careers in agriculture.
Truman Med looks to be on cutting edge of cancer research
For years, Truman Medical Centers’ chemotherapy unit sat in an open room located in an un-renovated portion of its mid-1970s hospital near downtown Kansas City, Mo. Only a few feet separated each chemotherapy patient – seated in recliners next to their IV poles – and the ground-floor pharmacy sat several stories below the oncology unit….
Cannabis oil passes Kansas committee
For the first time, a Kansas House committee has approved a bill allowing some form of medical marijuana. House Bill 2282 was limited in scope to begin with, and Rep. John Wilson, the bill’s sponsor, proposed amendments to further limit it Monday in the hopes of assuaging concerns about opening the state to legal pot abuse. The effort worked, and Wilson’s bill passed the House Health and Human Services Committee verbally with only a few “nay” votes. Wilson said the somewhat anti-climactic vote was appropriate.
Confronting race and denial in Kansas City
In 1944, Swedish sociologist Gunnar Myrdal wrote in “An American Dilemma” — his landmark, 1,800-page study — that the subordination of African-Americans is “perhaps the most glaring conflict in the American conscience and the greatest unsolved task for American democracy.” Myrdal’s examination of the so-called “Negro Problem” — and the ways that same problem affects…
New FAA rules could open doors for drone-preneurs
Earlier this month, the Federal Aviation Administration released a proposed set of rules for commercial unmanned aerial systems or, as they’re more commonly known — drones. The new rules, which would go into effect within the next few years, would open up possibilities for drone-based companies. Right now, you can legally fly a drone if…
Farmers waiting, watching and weighing the options on Farm Bill ‘menu’
Across the Corn Belt, farmers are signing up for Farm Bill support programs and which ones they choose will impact the overall price tag for taxpayers. Projections for the cost of these commodity programs are blowing past the amounts originally budgeted just a year ago, when the Farm Bill was enacted, leaving the possibility that U.S….
Kansas City In Running For National Health Award
Kansas City, Mo., officials said Friday that the city is one of 15 finalists nationwide for the Culture of Health prize conferred annually by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), a highly regarded health foundation based in Princeton, N.J.
The loophole behind Monsanto’s new product
Monsanto’s reaction to superweeds? To supersize its Roundup Ready product line. An interesting story by our pals over at the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting explains that Monsanto is getting ready to launch a new version of its popular genetically-modified seed line. This one is dubbed Roundup Ready Xtend, cotton and soybean seeds set to counter the so-called superweeds that have grown resistant to herbicides.
KCMO mayor talks race and crime with Flatland
Kansas City’s mayor has a lot to say when it comes to the relationship between crime reduction and race in KC. While KCMO ended 2014 with the lowest number of homicides since 1972, James said these 78 murders were still too many. The real path to crime reduction, he said, is honest communication. Flatland spoke…
A Kansas chef with an unlikely specialty: cheesecake
Cowtown Cheesecake Co., in Bonner Springs, Kansas, brings innovative ingredients and an eclectic food sense to a classic dessert.
Big jumps in healthcare.gov sign-up for Kansas and Missouri
Obamacare enrollment grew by nearly 70 percent in both Kansas and Missouri during the most recent sign-up period, according to preliminary figures released Wednesday by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
A different take on cannabis oil
Rep. Kevin Jones interrupted Tuesday’s hearing on House Bill 2282 to question a woman sitting in the front row of the gallery holding her young son. “I hope it’s not too personal,” Jones said. “But did he just have a seizure?” Kiley Klug, a resident of the small central Kansas town of Odin, nodded. Jones,…