An Old Soldier’s Virtual Heaven

sketch of a campsite

The 70-year-old photo, discovered behind an old kitchen cabinet in Huntington, West Virginia, held tightly to its secrets; only the barest of clues were etched on the back in pristine penmanship. It’s a man in uniform, highly posed, perhaps in his mid-20s, holding a pipe to his mouth. He would be well into his 90s…

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The ABCs of Port KC

A barge on a river

This week KCUR reporter Suzanne Hogan and KCPT reporter Mike McGraw are exploring the economics behind Missouri River navigation and Port KC development. During a conversation that aired today on KCUR 89.3, McGraw told Hogan, “Historically, the port has been just about the river and a big freight facility down in southern Kansas City. But…

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Who’s Winning, and Losing, In Port KC Development Projects

Illustration of water surrounding Kansas City downtown

When Kansas City needed help to keep a prestigious global architecture firm from leaving town last year, it reached out to an unlikely partner — the Port Authority of Kansas City. The loss of the firm, Populous architecture, which designs sports arenas around the world, would have been a huge blow to Kansas City and…

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Commentary | Putting a ‘solid rocket booster’ on my journalism

Last month, KCPT presented the play “Justice in the Embers” with the Center for Investigative Reporting and The Living Room Theatre in a unique StoryWorks KC production. In this piece, which was first commissioned and published by CIR’s Reveal News, KCPT reporter Mike McGraw looks inside the newsroom at the process of taking his investigative reporting and putting it on…

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Supreme Court Decision Has Repercussions for KC Man Serving Life Sentence

The U.S. Supreme Court, covered in snow, announced a decision on Monday that signals a new resentencing hearing for a Kansas City man currently serving a life sentence. (Photo: Alex Brandon | AP)

The U.S. Supreme Court has cleared the way for a resentencing hearing in the case of a Kansas City man serving a life sentence in federal prison for a 1988 explosion that killed six Kansas City firefighters. Bryan Sheppard, one of five defendants serving life sentences after their 1997 convictions in federal court, will now…

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