News & Issues
Stories from around the Kansas City Metro area on a variety of topics.
The Meaning Of Milk: A War Over Words Erupts In The Dairy Aisle
A war is brewing over what you pour on your breakfast cereal. Dairy farmers say the makers of plant-based milks – like almond milk, soy milk and a long list of other varieties – are stealing away their customers and deceiving consumers. And they’d like the federal government to back them up. At its heart,…
1,000 Years Ago, Corn Made This Society Big. Then, A Changing Climate Destroyed Them
The Mississippian American Indian culture rose to power after 900 A.D. by farming corn. Now, new evidence suggests a dramatic change in climate might have led to the culture’s collapse in the 1300s.
Anyone Can Lead, Anytime, Anywhere
Pastor Adrion Roberson likes to say that youth sports founded his church in Kansas City, Kansas. He has spent 25 years coaching youth football in Wyandotte County and founded the KC United! Youth Sports Initiative – a league that has grown to 65 teams in several Kansas City-area communities. He launched it so working parents…
Medicine By Monthly Fee Expanding In Kansas: Is KanCare Next?
Dr. Damon Heybrock’s office doesn’t look like a traditional medical clinic. Heybrock finished converting a two-story row house into a medical practice in September, putting exam tables in the bedrooms and a centrifuge for lab tests next to the kitchen sink. Original pieces by Kansas City artists cover the walls of the clinic in Westwood,…
Outcry Over Immigration Ban Spans the Weekend in KC
As it has across the country, the temporary immigration ban instituted by President Trump continued to reverberate through the Kansas City area over the weekend. The activities, including a town-hall forum organized Saturday by U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a Kansas City Democrat, came against the backdrop of a fast-developing story. A federal judge in Washington…
Not All Fun And Games: New Guidelines Urge Schools To Rethink Recess
New guidelines urge schools to take recess seriously. It’s not just playtime for kids and a chance for teachers to get a break.
Reveal | Trial By Fire
Listen to the podcast here: This podcast is from the Center for Investigative Reporting, which co-produces the “Reveal” radio show and podcast with PRX. “Reveal” features CIR’s reporting, as well as stories from public radio stations and a wide range of media partners, both nonprofit and commercial. For “Trial by Fire,” CIR relied on decades of reporting…
Why You’ll Be Seeing More GMOs At The Grocery Store
Genetically engineered crops are nothing new. But new technology that allows scientists to alter plants more precisely and more cheaply is taking genetically engineered plants from the field to the kitchen. The first version of the Arctic Apple, a genetically modified Golden Delicious, is headed for test markets in the Midwest in February, according to…
The Importance of Engaging Beyond Your Usual Circle
When Kansas City Oasis, a nonreligious fellowship, first partnered with a religious organization to serve meals to the needy, some Oasis members expressed concern that their secular group could become fractured. Would the separate factions find shared connections? Would they breach one another’s beliefs or boundaries? These days that concern is hard to remember. The religious group –…
Don’t Like Doctor Visits? Medical Giant Offers Patients DIY Health Tools
When Amanda January was growing up in Gardner, Kansas, regular doctor’s visits weren’t a regular thing at all. “When I was a kid we almost never went to the doctor,” January says. “I was rarely sick. My siblings were rarely sick. We just didn’t go.” She’s now a dancer and Pilates teacher who works hard…