News & Issues
Stories from around the Kansas City Metro area on a variety of topics.
How Red And Green Became The Colors Of Christmas
Victorians used a lot of different color palettes, and even put Santa in blue and green robes. Thanks to Coca-Cola, things got a lot more uniform after 1931.
Take 5 For Your Health
Shelters Seek To Heal Trauma Of Domestic Violence With Aid Of Furry Friends Many pet owners expect to be able to bring their furry friends everywhere – to restaurants, to the grocery store, on planes – and now some want even more doors to open up. Increasing numbers of domestic violence shelters are accepting the…
Resurrecting A Neighborhood
As the early Sunday morning service at Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church let out recently, Deacon Roosevelt Hall was happy to explain the large round button pinned to his lapel. “I’m committed,” it read. Yes, Hall said, it was about the 121-year-old congregation’s recently launched building renovation project. But that’s not all Metropolitan’s members are committed…
When Mr. Coffee Was The Must-Have Christmas Gift For Java Snobs
Few coffee aficionados are putting a Mr. Coffee machine on their wish list. But 40 years ago, it would’ve been at the top. The appliance revolutionized the quality and speed of home brewing.
Should Organic Food Be Grown In Soil?
There is a battle going on in the organic industry over hydroponics, the technique of growing plants without soil. The debate gets at the very heart of what it means to be “organic” and may change the organic food available to grocery store shoppers. To be labeled as organic, fruits and vegetables are required to…
Wonder Woman’s U.N. Job Comes To An End
The news broke this week: Her controversial tenure as honorary ambassador for the empowerment of women and girls will conclude on Friday.
Take 5 For Your Health
KDADS Policy Change Creates New Budget Worries for Youth Psychiatric Facilities Dana Schoffelman sees one way to keep serving Kansas children with serious mental health needs without going under financially: taking fewer of them and supplementing with out-of-state children. Schoffelman, executive director of Florence Crittenton Services in Topeka, has new financial concerns because of a…
Stiff Tab For Vital Statistics
Back in February, a nonprofit group called Reclaim the Records filed requests for Missouri birth and death listings from 1910 through 2015. The California-based outfit describes itself as a “group of genealogists, historians, researchers, and open government advocates who are filing Freedom of Information requests to get public data released back into the public domain.”…
U.S. Kids Far Less Likely To Out-Earn Their Parents, As Inequality Grows
“It’s basically a coin flip as to whether you’ll do better than your parents,” a Stanford economist says.
Media: Meet Us Where We Are
I’m long overdue, but I just got around to watching the 2015 Oscar-winning film “Spotlight” this weekend. As much as I enjoyed the movie, it increased my conflicted feelings regarding today’s reliance on social media and my anger at how far we’ve strayed from traditional media. “Spotlight” was about a Boston Globe investigative team defrocking…