Steve Mencher
Stories by Steve Mencher
Could Strong District Attorneys Be a Solution for Police Accountability?
The creation of a Community Integrity Unit in Wyandotte County may be instructive as communities nationwide grapple with how to oversee investigations into police misbehavior.
Recipe |Chicken Karahi and the Iftar Meal
For the past several weeks, Dr. Hibba Haider has awakened before dawn to have a small meal that will sustain her until sunset. Haider is fasting for Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, which runs through July 5. Fasting is one of the five pillars of Islam, meant to both provide spiritual clarity…
‘Look Out St. Peter, You Got Somebody Coming’
Cheryl Christie (Love) Thompson, widow of the late civil rights leader Rev. Dr. Nelson “Fuzzy” Thompson, was remembered Tuesday as a force for good in her own right and as an unyielding ally of her husband. Thompson, who died June 17 at the age of 71, was welcomed home in a ceremony at Thatcher’s Funeral…
‘Religious Freedom’ Amendment a Shield Not a Sword, Says Proponent
With estimates of the cost to Missouri mounting, proponents of the state’s ‘religious freedom’ amendment found little sympathy among commentators on KCPT’s news program “Ruckus” last week. The amendment to the Missouri Constitution (pdf) would give protection from lawsuits to churches, clergy or anyone who provides a wedding-related service to the public, but wants to refuse that service to…
Extraordinary Documentary Sheds Light on Today’s Clash of Faiths
It’s a story almost nobody knows, with particular relevance for a world in which religious misunderstanding fuels hatred and murder. Coming January 24th to the Kansas City Jewish Film Fest, “Besa: The Promise” tells a tale of hope and redemption amidst the horrors of the Holocaust. As a special attraction, the film will be followed by a…
Interfaith Group Seeks to Welcome, Not Shun, Syrian Refugees
Responding to calls for a halt to the settlement of Syrian refugees in the United States, an ad hoc group of Kansas City faith groups, organized under the name “People of Faith for Peace,” held a rally Sunday at the Liberty Memorial. About 100 people braved the afternoon’s rainy weather and answered the organizers’ call…
Climate Change: Why Pope Francis Considers It a Crisis
As the United Nations climate change summit wraps up this weekend in Paris, three local groups sponsored a gathering at Queen of the Holy Rosary Church in Overland Park to discuss Pope Francis’s call for action on the environment (Laudato Sí), and to learn what action they can take locally to combat global warming. The Kanza…
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…