Black Lives Matter

A niece holds up a sketch of Medal of Honor winner Willy F. James Jr.

KC’s Forgotten Medal of Honor Recipient

The family of Medal of Honor recipient Willy F. James Jr. is seeking local recognition for the Kansas City native who gave his life to save another in World War II.

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Thomas Jones, bottom right.

Preserving Our Past: Kansas City Stories of Black History

In “Preserving Our Past: Kansas City Stories of Black History,” a new Kansas City PBS documentary compiled in honor of Black History Month, Flatland reporter Catherine Hoffman shares untold or unexamined stories of local Black history.

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Lauren Billinger, a South Patrol officer with the Kansas City Police Department, responding to a call for service.

Use of the Force: KC Debates Police Department Staffing

Kansas City is grappling with how to allocate resources for its police department this budget season. Much of the debate turns on how many police officers are needed, and how they should be deployed.

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Jesse James Jr., son of outlaw Jesse James, is second from left in the front row in this family picture taken at the family farm in the early 1900s.

Clay County’s Colorful History Left Some (Land)marks

In 2019 restoration crews began work on a 200-year-old Clay County cabin. They daubed the cabin’s interior walls and stabilized its foundation, inspecting and replacing deteriorated hand-hewn logs. On one of them they noticed a charred spot where flames once had left their signature in the wood. The scorch mark was not a total surprise. …

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Fran Marion is a leader in the Fight for $15 movement

Feeling the Effects of a Widening Wealth Gap

A recent study from WalletHub ranked 50 states and the District of Columbia in terms of wealth gaps by ethnicity. When you add it all up, Black families are still getting the short end of the stick nationwide.

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