Question Everything
Is Kansas City’s Population Growing?
Ben Evans is a Kansas City transplant, and after he recently bought a house in Waldo, he started wondering: Are other people moving to Kansas City? And how do experts and forecasters expect the population to change in the coming years? He posed those questions to curiousKC, and we fired up our spreadsheets to find…
How Should Police Officers Combat Stress?
Clinical psychotherapist Pat Hinkle was a police officer for 30 years before starting his counseling practice to help other officers work through stress and trauma. During his time as an officer, Hinkle recognized that there was a disconnect between police departments’ understanding of mental health and counselors’ understanding of officers’ experience of stress. “I had…
Crooked Missouri
David Bonebrake describes himself as the kind of guy who likes order. If he sees a crooked picture on the wall, he wants to fix it. When Bonebrake, a Kansas native, saw an aerial picture of Kansas City from 438 miles above — a photo he still keeps on his phone — he noticed that…
How Do Schools Prepare Students For The Digital Economy?
Jeremy Bonneson, vice principal of Summit Technology Academy in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, asked curiousKC: “How do schools adapt to the ever-changing and disruptive nature of the workforce landscape for today’s digital economy?” The question was right in our wheelhouse because Kansas City PBS is examining local workforce development efforts through its participation in the national…
Exploring Frank Lloyd Wright’s Naturalistic Legacy
By Christopher G. Olszewski Our area certainly has some distinctive architecture, including the art deco Power & Light Building in downtown Kansas City and the massive new Church of the Resurrection sanctuary in Leawood, Kansas. Before those bricks were laid, one of the world’s most famous architects left his mark on Kansas City. During a…
What’s In Our Tap Water?
By Lauren Langdon As the “Big Muddy” winds its way through Kansas City, it might be hard to believe that approximately 660,000 residents rely on the Missouri River for their drinking water — after it has been treated, of course. But, did you know that the treatment process itself can introduce potentially hazardous contaminants to…
Where Are Those 20-Somethings Living?
Where do young Kansas Citians live? The traditional Midtown haunts? High-end urban apartments? The large rental complexes in suburbia? CuriousKC delved into the topic after receiving this inquiry: “Who ARE all these people who can afford to live in all this new development? Where are young, 20-somethings finding places to live?” We couldn’t reach the…
What’s the Oldest House in the Kansas City Area?
Retired teacher Del Candler can trace her ancestors’ arrival in Jackson County to the 1840s, and wondered what structures remain from that period and Kansas City’s origins. She asked curiousKC, “What is the oldest house still standing in the Kansas City area?” With help from the Missouri Valley Room at the Kansas City Public Library…
Can You Improve an Area Without Gentrifying It?
By Anne Kniggendorf As a traffic engineer, Jay Aber worries that some of the improvements he designs have the exact opposite effect of what he had hoped. “We try to improve the street for the people who live there,” Aber said. “Then, the people who live there end up getting pushed out in favor of…
Searching For Her Dad’s Technical High School
By Jack Harvel Like so many men of his generation, Jack Harrigan was a small-town kid born early in the 20th century, weathered the Great Depression, fought in World War II, then returned home to raise a family while working a blue-collar job until passing away in 1990 at the age of 75. His daughter…