Work in Progress
The Blue River is Kansas City’s River — Can Kansas Citians Access it?
The Blue River is Kansas City’s river — but does everyone have equal access to it? There’s only one boat ramp on the entire 40-mile Blue River, and some community members say there could be more done to better connect them with the water flowing through their backyards. Flatland talked with the Heartland Conservation Alliance…
Kansas City is voting on a sales tax to fund a new jail. Here’s what to know about Question 1
Kansas City voters will decide on April 8 whether to renew the city’s public safety sales tax, as part of its efforts to fund and build a new municipal jail. Supporters of the tax renewal say the city is long overdue for its own detention and rehabilitation center — for a decade the city has not had…
Nick’s Picks | St. Pat’s Parade, Transit Woes, Planet Comicon, and More …
Kansas City Turns Green We didn’t get to have a Super Bowl parade this year, but it looked like we were heading for a massive St. Patrick’s Day Parade. With most kids out of school for Spring Break and temperatures in the 70s, organizers were expecting a larger-than-usual crowd for today’s Kansas City St. Patrick’s…
Meet the Kansas City Public Schools board candidates for the April 2025 election
This story was originally published by The Beacon, an online news outlet focused on local, in-depth journalism in the public interest. Meet the Kansas City Public Schools board candidates for the April 2025 election All seven candidates running for the Kansas City Public Schools board support the $474 million bond issue that’s also on the…
Leavenworth considers prison cells for Trump’s mass deportation plan
This story was originally published by The Beacon, an online news outlet focused on local, in-depth journalism in the public interest. The immigrant detainee, a client of Rekha Sharma-Crawford, would have to be moved. Chase County Detention Center was full. Located in Cottonwood Falls, Kansas, it’s the largest detainee holding center in the region contracting…
Nick’s Picks | Temperatures Rise, Crash Memorialized, Ramadan Begins and More …
Spring Has Arrived Early? It’s a bad news, good news week… The Bad News: For the first time in weeks, our kids will have to spend all five days in the classroom. The Good News: We get to bask in spring-like temperatures. The National Weather Service is forecasting 60-degree weather today and Tuesday. And we’re…
Sharpening Teeth of Acclaimed KC-Based Catholic Watchdog
A national (and international) Kansas City company has a new leader who grew up here but doesn’t live here now and may never call Kansas City home again. James Grimaldi began a few months ago as the new executive editor of The National Catholic Reporter, an award-winning, progressive newspaper voice for Catholicism. Given Grimaldi’s long…
Kansas City Bears Racial Scars of Interstate System
Political power, civic influence, and blatant racism shaped the construction of the federal highway system crisscrossing the U.S. today. Kansas City was an extraordinarily adept player in the post-WW II effort. As a result, interstates slice and encircle the metropolitan area, U.S. 71 Highway runs along the east side of town, and many other connecting…
Cultivating History Pt. 3: Business Success Breeds Resentment
Junius Groves had built a potato empire by 1907, when educator Booker T. Washington showcased his success in his book, “The Negro in Business.” Groves then was shipping potatoes across North America while also importing what Washington called “fancy seed potatoes” from distant states. “He would get seed potatoes from Idaho and other places, and…
Cultivating History Pt. 2: ‘Potato King’ Thrives Amid Racism
While Kansas would prove friendly to potato growers like Junius Groves, it would not be quite the “free state” envisioned by Exodusters, the African Americans who, following the end of Reconstruction, considered their prospects more promising in the North. “It was about the same time when the Exodusters arrived in Kansas that the state Legislature…
Cultivating History Pt. 1: ‘Potato King’ Earning New Renown
Junius G. Groves is having a moment. Community knowledge of the African American potato farmer, who died 100 years ago this August, is growing after largely having vanished from the collective memory of Kansas, where he arrived carrying 90 cents in 1879. A new documentary, “The Potato King,” directed by filmmaker Jacob Handy, premiers Thursday…
Nick’s Picks | Spring Training, Abortions, Casinos, and More …
Winter Forever? Say it isn’t so… Another major snowstorm is on the way that could cause a big disruption to your commute and force school closures again. And brace yourself for Arctic-like temperatures. The National Weather Service says wind chills will be below zero from Monday night through Thursday morning. As for the snow…our TV…
After Tuberculosis Outbreak, Wyandotte County Parts Ways with Health Director
The director of the Wyandotte County Public Health Department is no longer with the agency, a spokesperson confirmed Tuesday. It comes after turmoil during the handling of the major tuberculosis outbreak, shown by emails obtained by the Kansas News Service. Elisha Caldwell had been head of the local health department while an outbreak of TB grew…
Nick’s Picks | Super Letdown, ICE Raids, Trump Effects and More …
Super Sick Monday So, there’ll be no victory parade after all. No “Three-Peat” after the Chiefs fall to the Eagles on football’s biggest stage. That was tough to watch, wasn’t it? And the questions have already begun: Was that Kelce’s final game for the Chiefs? You might be experiencing a record level of absences at…
SCOTUS Justice Applauds KC Stage Adaption of Her Book
As the first Latina, and the third woman on the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice Sonia Sotomayor is noted for reasoned questioning and, at times, searing dissents. But legal opinions, despite obvious historical weight, aren’t the writings that Sotomayor referred to as her life’s work during her recent visit to Kansas City. The messaging within her…