A 'pesticide free zone' sign hangs at the Somerset Ridge Vineyard and Winery near Paola, Kansas. Owner Dennis Reynolds says potential changes to the state's weed eradication laws could threaten his vineyard. (Andy Marso | Heartland Health Monitor)

Take 5 for your health

Weed Eradication Changes In Kansas Draw Environmental Concern The rows of grapevines at Somerset Ridge Vineyard and Winery near Paola, Kansas, are withering, with dying leaves and shriveling fruit. But that’s expected this time of year. The prospect of it happening in the middle of the growing season concerns owner Dennis Reynolds more. Grapes are a…

Negro Leagues Baseball Museum Celebrates 25 Years

At a fundraising gala Saturday night, home run king and baseball legend Hank Aaron was joined by fellow members of baseball’s Hall of Fame, slugger Dave Winfield, and pitching great Ferguson Jenkins, to celebrate 25 years of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri. Of his short time of the Negro Leagues, Aaron…

University of Missouri President Tim Wolfe, shown in this file photo, resigned this morning after months of tension and protests from campus groups who have been protesting the way Wolfe has dealt with issues of racial harassment during the school year. (Photo: Jeff Roberson | AP)

“It’s the right thing to do.”

During a press conference this morning, University of Missouri system president Tim Wolfe stepped down in an emotional speech after weeks of mounting pressure from students and faculty for the university to tackle race issues. “To our students…to our football players and other students, the frustration and anger I see is real. And I don’t doubt it,”…

Several Oklahoma farmers wander through a field of broad-leafed cover crops during a state Conservation Commission workshop in Dewey County in western Oklahoma. (Photo: Logan Layden | Harvest Public Media)

Farmers school themselves on soil health to revive dying dirt

Generations of tilling and planting on the same land have left the nation’s soil in poor shape. And if farmers don’t change the way they grow crops, feeding the future won’t be easy. As farmer Jordan Shearer from Slapout, Okla., puts it, “we’re creating a desert environment by plowing the damn ground.” Taking a toll…

Novel Cancer Treatment At KU Signals Start Of ‘Remarkable Revolution’

Carl Adams has an aggressive form of blood cancer that has resisted multiple attempts to treat it through chemotherapy. So in September, the 47-year-old father of two young daughters traveled halfway around the world with his family from their native Australia to The University of Kansas Cancer Center. There, a clinical trial is underway to…

Dr. Marc Hahn

KC Osteopathic School On Track To Open Joplin campus

The Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences is nearing a milestone in its march toward opening Missouri’s first new medical school in four decades, with a fundraising campaign for its Joplin campus now entering the home stretch. The Joplin-area committee running the campaign has commitments for more than 80 percent of the $30 million…

Sounding Smarter

It was a big week for weed news. Oregon’s legalization laws went into effect with shops racking up roughly $11 million in sales in the first week. Meanwhile in Ohio, a weed legalization effort failed at the polls, at least partially due to concerns about a monopoly on distribution of the drug. (Similar concerns have been raised in Missouri.) Then…

Royals Parade

You ain’t seen nothing yet

If you were there, this is what your heart felt like. If you watched from afar, this is what your heart felt like. KCPT Producer Cole Blaise walked the Kansas City Royals #RoyalCelebration route, and yes, this is what his heart felt like. Watch the video and let us @FlatlandKC know what you think. Are you feeling it?…

Magnolia’s Fresh Bloom

While hundreds of thousands gathered to watch the Kansas City Royals in downtown Kansas City this Tuesday, chef Shanita McAfee was holding a bullpen session of her own. The owner of Magnolia’s, which opened yesterday at 9916 Holmes, had gathered six of her staffers on stools at the bar and was reviewing the restaurant’s policies…

The Weekender

Have you recovered yet? We’re all a little hungover, emotionally and physically, from winning the World Series. Nevertheless, the weekend approaches. It’s time to get out and about. Personally, I’m excited for the chance to wear green. Or burgundy. Or almost any color other than blue, really. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a massive Royals…

Hey, you guys, remember the parade?

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Kansas City Royals' Johnny Cueto celebrates after Game 5 of the Major League Baseball World Series on Monday. The Royals won 7-2 to win the series. (Photo: David J. Phillip | AP)

Love, Reign O’er Me

Amor vincit omnia, et nos cedamus amori. ― Virgil, Eclogues X Love conquers all things, so we too shall yield to love. The Royals are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. I’ve been to the Louvre, seen a sunrise over the Grand Canyon, and witnessed things involving Angie Everhart and a bedsheet that…

We are Royal. Bring on the confetti.

Kansas City is ready to party. The Royals are the 2015 World Champions, and it seems like the entire town has shut down to celebrate what might be this generation’s World Series parade. There will be Royals. There will be fans. There will be a 2.3 mile parade route that stretches from the Sprint Center…

Truman Medical Centers and the University of Missouri-Kansas City operate University Health, a new outpatient clinic on Hospital Hill in Kansas City. (Photo: Andy Marso | Heartland Health Monitor)

Take 5 for your health | Nov. 3

Truman Clinic Aims To Fill Health Care Hole In Downtown Kansas City Downtown Kansas City, Mo., has a new outpatient surgical center and the University of Kansas School of Medicine has some local competition as it trains the next generation of KC doctors. Leaders of Truman Medical Centers and the University of Missouri-Kansas City School…

Kansas Kids Count Shows Improvements But Persistent Problems

An annual report on child well-being in Kansas shows some positive trends, but they’re overshadowed by persistent problems. Among the improvements cited in the 2015 Kansas Kids Count report: There are fewer uninsured children in Kansas. “That dropped to 5.5 percent in 2014,” says Shannon Cotsoradis, president and CEO of Kansas Action for Children. “That’s an all-time low,…