KCMC

Stories published as part of the Kansas City Media Collective.

Smithville Mayor Damien Boley on a bike path.

‘Ten Years to Save the Planet’: Kansas City Metro’s Small-town Mayors Take Up Climate Fight

Mayors and local officials founded Climate Action KC, and are taking measurable steps to reduce emissions and create healthier communities throughout the Kansas City metro.

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A row of police line up in the middle of the street on the Country Club Plaza, flanked by demonstrators on the left and right.

Imagine That: What If Police Unconditionally Respected the Community?

Two former Kansas City Police Department officers are now training people in how to use “unconditional respect” to help reform law enforcement.

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Center pivot irrigation systems like this one in Finney County pump water up from the Ogallala aquifer to spray on crops. This part of southwest Kansas experienced some of the state's worst aquifer declines last year as drought pushed farmers to pump more water from underground.

How Kansas Could Lose Billions in Land Values as its Underground Water Runs Dry

The water in the Ogallala aquifer is worth billions of dollars to western Kansas, but it’s rapidly disappearing. And it’s been a challenge to find ways to slow the depletion.

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Former Haviland mayor Robert Ellis stands between pipes inside the small town's multimillion-dollar water treatment plant.

As Fertilizer Pollutes Tap Water in Small Towns, Rural Kansans Pay the Price

For towns with only a few hundred residents, keeping tap water clean and safe can pose a crippling expense. The predicament is likely to become more common in western Kansas as farm chemicals seep into dwindling water supplies.

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KCXL owner Pete Schartel says he fulfilled a childhood dream when he bought his first radio station in 1994.

A Missouri Radio Station Still Broadcasts Kremlin Programming, Even as Russia Invades Ukraine

As the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, so do broadcasts of what critics decry as Kremlin-funded propaganda on KCXL, a radio station in Liberty, Missouri. Pressure is mounting for KXCL to end broadcasts that have kept the station in business.

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Wilson Vance grew up in an apartment at 41st and Warwick. She can't afford to rent in that part of midtown any more. Now she hopes she can stay in her new home further east.

Rent is Going Up So Fast, It’s Not Just Pricing Out Residents — It’s Hurting Kansas City

A Midtown “townie” priced off of her bus line. A retiree on fixed income forced out of her home of 17 years. Kansas City renters are facing substantial rent hikes, with serious repercussions.

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