Daniel Boothe
Stories by Daniel Boothe
Claims of Faulty Jail Cell Doors at Lansing
When news broke last week that prisoners at the Jackson County Jail could unlock their own cells and walk freely around the facility, it may have been familiar news to Shawn McDiffett, an inmate at the Kansas state prison in Lansing. In a letter to KCPT in August, McDiffett insisted that his fellow inmates can…
Church Without the Dogma
Fewer people believe in God these days, and now there is a local church for it. Just don’t call it church. Members of Kansas City Oasis, which serves atheists, agnostics, and “everything in betweens,” gather every Sunday at the Tony Aguirre Community Center on Kansas City’s West Side. The group has about 200 participants, and…
Life Behind the Scenes at TEDxKC
It was more than three decades ago that Richard Saul Wurman, an American architect and graphic designer, envisioned a conference that explored the convergence of technology, entertainment and design. Debuting in 1984, the first TED Conference was a financial flop. Yet the concept eventually took off and has exploded into a global nonprofit organization with…
Keeping the Pressure On, His Memory Alive
Updated 1:38 p.m. July 29 The family of a man shot to death by Kansas City police three years ago has filed a wrongful death suit against the department, alleging that its policies were to blame for an incident that quickly spun out of control. The suit, filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for…
Peace Outside and Inside
For the Rev. Ken McKoy, following the teachings of Jesus does not mean simply preaching from the pulpit. “There’s very little record of Christ spending his time in the synagogue,” said McKoy, a St. Louis pastor who walks the dangerous streets of his city three nights a week armed only with his faith and the…
Rewriting The History Books
Tom Taylor is about to rewrite a chapter of Kansas City history. Through research for an upcoming talk, the architectural historian has debunked the long-held belief that a group of apartment buildings on the west side of the Country Club Plaza are the sole work of well-known architect Nelle Peters. Jesse Lauck and Elmer Boillot…
Church Vows to Never Forget
The Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph Sunday concluded a series of “healing services” it has held around the area for much of the past year, but Bishop James V. Johnston Jr. said the diocese will never forget the victims who suffered sexual abuse at the hands of its priests. As part of his 25-minute homily,…
Faith In The Wake Of Tragedy
President Obama has called the Orlando, Florida massacre a case of “homegrown extremism,” with gunman Omar Mateen reportedly pledging allegiance to the Islamic State during the attack at a popular gay nightclub. But the religious sentiment was altogether different at a Sunday evening vigil in downtown Kansas City to honor the dead and wounded from…
Blessing the Barbecue
At around 2:30 Thursday afternoon a long line begins to form in the back of Pak Halal, a local Middle Eastern grocery store in the heart of Lenexa. One by one, customers who had driven from “as far as Omaha” await their turn at the butcher counter to place their order. Most people are in…
KC Hearing Examines Payday Lending
Federal regulators looking to crack down on abuses in the payday lending industry heard from both sides of the issue at a hearing Thursday in Kansas City. “If a lender can succeed when borrowers are setup to fail, it is a telltale sign of a malfunctioning market,” said Richard Cordray, director of the Consumer Financial…