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…

Read More >

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…

Read More >
Healthy Campus detail

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.

Read More >
littler girl

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…

Read More >
Dr. William Atkinson, associate director for immunization education at the Immunization Action Coalition in St. Paul, Minn., addressed a meeting of the Mid America Immunization Coalition on Thursday in Kansas City, Mo. (Photo by Mike Sherry/Hale Center for Journalism)

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…

Read More >
Skull

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…

Read More >

‘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…

Read More >
Carrie O'Toole, Prairie Band Potawatomi council member. (Photo by Alex Smith/KCUR)

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…

Read More >
Missouri has the lowest cigarette taxes in the nation, at 17 cents a pack. Kansas has the 15th lowest, at 79 cents a pack.

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…

Read More >
Picture of fork

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.

Read More >