Tougher times put young farmers’ dreams on hold
Grant Curtis remembers the day he went shopping for his first tractor. “It was an eye opening experience,” he said. “Walking into a dealership, getting the prices, walking back to the bank and pleading my case. Saying, ‘I want to get back to the farm, but I need a way to do that.’” Curtis, in…
Separate but not equal: KU professor explores university’s complicated past
Professor Emeritus Bill Tuttle is himself part of a complicated legacy of race relations at the University of Kansas and the surrounding community. In 1968, Tuttle taught the University’s first ever African American studies course, and has devoted much of his career to examining equality in the progressive burg of Lawrence, Kansas. “I think there…
Migrant farmworkers remain crucial to harvest
On a warm October afternoon Veronica Jaramillo walks through rows of skinny apple trees on the orchard where she works as the sun sinks behind rolling Missouri hills. The 30 year-old migrant farmworker reaches into a tree on the Waverly, Mo., orchard, and in one fluid motion, picks a Golden Delicious apple. “I don’t like…
Personal historians preserve our own stories
Some people’s lives are chronicled by professional writers in their biographies. Some people write their own memoirs. And then, some people hire The Story Scribe. This Kansas City memoir writing business, founded by Amy Butler, is part of the personal history industry. The Association of Personal Historians, the industry’s professional organization, has more than 600…
Week in Review: $1 billion problem in Kansas
Kansas finds out it has a $1 billion problem this week. Newly released state revenue estimates show that Kansas will burn through $380 million in reserves and still need to cut $280 million to balance its current budget, which ends in June. The problem continues in 2016, when revenues are projected to run $436 million…
Found Footage Fest returns with VHS gold, including a KC find
Growing up in a really small town in Wisconsin, Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher found their fun at nearby thrift stores. “I remember we used to buy answering machines, eject the tapes and listen to people’s incoming and outgoing messages,” Prueher said. Everything changed for Pickett and Prueher when VHS tapes started showing up at…
Cerner breaks ground on massive south Kansas City complex
Cerner Corp., the Kansas City-based health care information technology giant, broke ground Wednesday on its huge campus in south Kansas City, Mo., a project that’s eventually expected to house as many as 16,000 workers. Cerner officials, along with Missouri Governor Jay Nixon and Kansas City mayor Sly James, took part in the ceremony at the…
Mickey Mouse for school board!
Sen. Pat Roberts and Gov. Sam Brownback were the big winners last Tuesday in Johnson County, Kansas, but Mickey Mouse also appeared on ballots in the county. So did Beyoncé, Cookie Monster, Professor Dumbledore and President Obama. These familiar names, in addition to many others, were written in by Johnson County voters. The complete list…
Medicaid expansion still on table in Kansas, Missouri following elections
Kansas hospitals are moving ahead with plans to put a Medicaid expansion plan before lawmakers despite election results that returned Gov. Sam Brownback to office and solidified conservatives’ control of the Legislature. Democrat Paul Davis favored expansion but came up short in his bid to upset Brownback, a Republican who thus far has opposed expansion….
History comes to life at KC’s National WWI Museum Veterans Day celebration
Kansas City’s National World War I Museum is currently celebrating the centennial of the duration of “the Great War,” so today’s Veterans Day took on special significance. Veterans Day was originally “Armistice Day” and celebrated the end of WWI. The WWI Museum at Liberty Memorial is hosting a whole day of activities, which began this…
Children’s Mercy adds heart transplants to cardiac program
Over the years, physicians at Children’s Mercy Hospitals and Clinics have developed substantial expertise in caring for patients before and after they receive heart transplants. But now the hospital can provide the full spectrum of care to these children, following approval last week for it to perform such transplants itself. The go-ahead came from the…
‘The last piece of the puzzle’: Long-term gay couples make their commitments legal in KC
Donna Botts and Terri Guillott are used to waiting. The women have been a couple for 14 years, committed themselves to each other in 2007 and, now, minutes before making that commitment legal, they’re waiting for the photographer from their small town’s local paper to document the wedding. The couple stands in the lobby of…
Kansas City Week In Review: Dissecting the 2014 Election
After countless millions spent, dinners interrupted by robo-calls and every TV break filled with attack ads for the better part of a month, it’s finally over…so how do you explain what happened and what happens now? Dissecting the results are Garrett Haake, Political reporter with 41 Action News; Jim McLean of KHI News Service, Topeka and Former Kansas Statehouse Bureau Chief, Topeka Capital Journal; Barbara…
Self-published crime writer sells novels all over the world from KC home
FBI agent Jack Davis fights for good in Kansas City from the Plaza to the KCK neighborhood of Argentine. Davis has investigated a mass murder, a serial killer hiding in plain sight and a shootout at a gun show. If you’re wondering why you haven’t heard about Davis or any of these crimes, it’s because…
Voters in Salina, Kansas vote to keep fluoride in water
Salina voters rejected an effort to remove fluoride from their drinking water Tuesday by a 2-to-1 margin, halting a growing anti-fluoride movement. The city’s dentists and doctors led the charge, and unofficial results showed 6,392 Salinans voting against the measure to remove fluoride and only 3,091 voting in favor. “We are very excited to see…