Proposal To Raise Missouri’s Cigarette Tax Would Fund Children’s Initiatives
A business-led group based in Kansas City, Mo., is leading an effort to quadruple Missouri’s lowest-in-the-nation cigarette tax and direct the proceeds to early childhood health and education programs. Organizers of the “Raise Your Hand for Kids” campaign on Friday outlined their plan for a statewide ballot initiative to an audience of about 100 business,…
Using T’ai Chi to help with chronic health issues
The room is dark. Most participants are not wearing shoes, and their eyes are closed. Clad mostly in sweatpants and seated in chairs, they settle in for a 45-minute guided meditation from their instructor. This is how Bill Douglas begins his classes at Turning Point: The Center for Hope and Healing in Leawood, Kansas. The center has…
Luncheon honoring Madeleine Albright delves into status of Missouri women
Eighteen years to the day that Madeleine Albright was nominated to be the first female Secretary of State, she reflected on her career and the challenges facing women and girls all over the world at the 22nd annual Women’s Foundation luncheon in Kansas City, Missouri. “The problem of gender discrimination isn’t limited to any one…
Hour of Code events teach kids logic and problem solving
At the Google Fiber space on State Line Road Tuesday morning, students from several local schools sat at laptops, trying to get the character Elsa from the movie “Frozen” to ice skate in a certain pattern. It looked like they were playing a computer game, but really they were participating in an international effort to…
Kansas nursing homes prepare for malpractice fund requirement
Hundreds of nursing homes and other assisted living facilities in Kansas will be required to participate in a fund meant to spread the risk of malpractice lawsuits starting next month. Advocates for those facilities say the change is a plus, but it has insurance agents scrambling to find liability coverage for their assisted living clients in a limited market.
From Austin to Kansas City: New KCMO Director of Creative Services appointed
The city of Kansas City, Missouri, announced a new division of the City Manager’s office today, along with the director of that division. Megan Crigger will join the city Jan. 5 as the director of creative services in the Office of Culture and Creative Services. The office will focus on cultural community planning and facilitating…
There’s a little Scrooge — and Tiny Tim — in all of us
Tom Averill and his family are avid fans of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” You know: Scrooge, “bah humbug!,” Tiny Tim Cratchit and the Ghost of Christmas Past? The family has such a love for the Dickens’ work that it is incorporated into holiday celebrations: Averill, his wife and children have read the book aloud…
KCK ‘healthy campus’ approves new master plan
A multimillion-dollar plan to transform downtown Kansas City, Kan., into a national model is one step closer to reality.
The Unified Government Board of Commissioners last week unanimously approved a new master development plan designed to help improve the health of Kansas City and other Wyandotte County residents by providing a state-of-the-art community center, more green space in which to exercise and access to healthy foods at a 30,000- to 35,000-square-foot urban grocery store.
KC Hispanic Chamber of Commerce celebrates opening of new Peruvian Association
Cecilia Mosher is a Peruvian woman who moved to Kansas City just one year ago. She, along with her two young daughters and friend Leyla Dejong, performed a traditional Peruvian dance called the Tondero at the recent grand opening of Kansas City Peruvian American Culture Association. The event showcased Peruvian culture in music, dancing, food…
Costs may limit use of meningitis B vaccine
Financial considerations might influence use of a newly approved vaccine targeted at a strain of bacterial meningitis that often strikes college campuses, according to speakers at an event Thursday in Kansas City, Mo., sponsored by the Mid America Immunization Coalition (MAIC). The drug in question is Pfizer’s Trumenba, which gained approval from the U.S. Food…
Cold case: Who is the mystery man of KC’s Runway 1?
Skeletal remains found by a construction worker last summer at Wheeler Downtown Airport opened up one of Kansas City’s oldest unsolved mysteries. The Hale Center for Journalism’s Mike McGraw found that the more he investigates, the more unanswered questions emerge. Could authorities do more to unravel the mystery? It appears they may be poised to…
‘No burgers, no fries, make our wages supersize!’
Between 81st and 85th Streets on Wornall Road in Kansas City, Missouri, there are half a dozen fast food restaurants: Taco Bell, Jimmy John’s, McDonald’s, Sonic. This afternoon, employees from these restaurants and others around the metro took to the streets to strike for “15 and a union”: $15 minimum wage and the right to…
KC Checkup: seven questions for Carrie O’Toole
Like many people in rural, medically underserved areas, many of Kansas’ Native American groups struggle with health problems. The four largest groups – the Iowa, Kickapoo, Prairie Band Potawatomi, and Sac and Fox – live in isolated reservations in northeastern parts of the state. In August, the tribes held a Kansas Tribal Health Summit, the…
Missouri and Kansas rank among lowest spending states for tobacco prevention
States continue to spend a miniscule portion of the billions of dollars they collect annually in tobacco revenues on smoking prevention and cessation programs, according to a new report by six leading health organizations. Missouri spent $76,314 on tobacco prevention in the latest fiscal year, the report says. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention…
Bite-sized tales of Thanksgiving from Tell KC
Tell KC, a reporting and engagement collaboration with KCPT and KCUR, asked folks to distill Turkey Day down to just six words. More than 30 people, including Swihart, accepted the challenge.