Monsanto, world’s largest seed company, sets off a corporate ‘feeding frenzy’
Monsanto, the world’s largest seed company, is attempting to swallow up the chemical operations of Syngenta, the world’s largest producer of pesticides and other farm inputs. The proposed deal signals a change in focus for the agricultural giant, and could have ripple effects across farm country. By its own admission, Monsanto lags behind in chemistry…
Growing agriculture jobs far from the field
Listen to the story: Technology has transformed farming, one of the Midwest’s biggest industries, and while fewer people are now needed to actually work the farm field, new types of jobs keep many office workers tied to agriculture. Beyond operating a tractor and a combine, today’s farmers need to manage all kinds of information. From…
Kansas Officials Cancel Limits On ATM Welfare Withdrawals
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration will not follow through on plans to limit welfare recipients to cash withdrawals of $25 per day. Phyllis Gilmore, secretary of the Kansas Department for Children and Families, said Tuesday that federal officials objected to the limit, saying that it would prevent needy families from having “adequate access to their…
K-State, Future Home of Federal Biolab, Faces Federal Sanctions
Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kan., future home of a controversial Homeland Security biolab, got a dressing down last year from federal regulators over its handling of dangerous pathogens. State dollars are helping to support construction of the $1.25 billion lab, which will research hoof and mouth disease and other agriculture-related pathogens, when it opens…
Many Americans are staying away from banks
LaJua Manning works 40 hours a week, and sometimes more than that. She’s a certified nursing assistant, working nights to take care of bedridden patients. Still, she struggles to make ends meet for her and for her two-year-old daughter. When the paychecks do come in, Manning doesn’t deposit them in a bank. In fact, she…
My Farm Roots: Room to Roam
Listen to this story: The Matthew family farm, M&M&m Farms, outside of La Harpe, Ill., looks different from the farms surrounding it. It’s not filled with neat rows of soybeans or lines of corn that’s over-my-head high in late July. The Matthew’s place is a bit more disorganized and far more diverse. “A lot of…
Slap’s BBQ hits the KC Barbecue scene
A few cars trickle into the Slap’s BBQ parking lot at 535 Central Avenue as the clock hits 2 p.m. on a Thursday in summer. Three men walk through the door, pausing briefly to read the sign on butcher paper taped to the front, which informs them that the line forms to the right. But…
Official reports about the shooting of Ryan Stokes raise more questions than answers. Here’s why
In the early morning hours of July 28th, 2013, Ryan Lee Stokes, 24, died when Kansas City Police Officer William Thompson shot him in an asphalt parking lot near the Power & Light District. Stokes was unarmed. Last weekend, almost two years later, supporters at a candlelight vigil on the steps of City Hall demanded…
Medicare and Medicaid 50 years old today
Advocates of government-sponsored health care gathered Thursday at the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum in Independence, Missouri, to mark the anniversary of legislation that’s both a local story and a milestone for medical care in the United States. Fifty years ago, on the same stage where speakers sat, President Lyndon Johnson signed the law establishing…
Medicare Turns 50 But Big Challenges Await
Medicare, the federal health insurance program for the elderly and disabled, has come a long way since its creation in 1965 when nearly half of all seniors were uninsured. Now the program covers 55 million people, providing insurance to one in six Americans. With that in mind, Medicare faces a host of challenges in the…
Changes Ahead For Shawnee County Safety Net Clinics
The switch from county oversight to management by a Wichita-based nonprofit is under way for the four safety net clinics in Shawnee County. Together, the four clinics provide health services to about 8,000 patients a year, regardless of their ability to pay. That sounds like a lot. But for a county with 20,500 uninsured children…
MIDTOWN KC CHARTER WINS APPROVAL FROM STATE PANEL
A band of Midtown Kansas City parents is close to realizing their dream of creating a diverse, high-performing school district aimed at serving young families that might otherwise leave the city for better education options in the suburbs. The Missouri Charter Public School Commission this morning approved a plan put forth by the nonprofit Citizens of…
Rethinking Mental Health’s Role In Rural Kansas
A new partnership in southwest Kansas aims to build mental health services and help strengthen a couple of rural hospitals at the same time. The nonprofit United Methodist Health Ministry Fund is leading an effort to make the health system work better for people in rural Kansas. The fund’s president, Kim Moore, says the current…
Federal Investigation of Kansas Medicaid Waiting Lists
A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Justice said Tuesday that the department is still investigating complaints about Medicaid waiting lists for disability services in Kansas. The services are daily living supports in home and community-based settings that people with disabilities would normally receive Medicaid coverage for if they were in assisted living facilities. In…
Vigil tonight marks anniversary of police shooting
It has been two years since Ryan Lee Stokes lost his life at the hands of Kansas City police, and his supporters are scheduled to gather this evening at City Hall to mark the grim anniversary and to highlight the circumstances of his death.