News & Issues
Stories from around the Kansas City Metro area on a variety of topics.
Anxiety over changing farmworker housing rules
Many of the more than 3 million migrant farmworkers that plant and pick the fruits and vegetables we eat in the U.S. live on the farms they work for. But the rules that govern farmworker housing may be changing, worrying both farmers and migrant worker advocates. For decades, farmworker housing standards have been governed by…
City Council Sends A Message With Minimum Wage Increase
Kansas City’s decision to raise the minimum wage is a bid by council members to take a stand for low-income working Kansas Citians and to be “on the right side of history,” even as council members acknowledged the legal onslaught that may be in store.
Attacking infant mortality in Wyandotte County
After Ashley Anderson gave birth to her daughter, Jade Marie, the nurses placed the little girl on her mom’s chest. She says she remembers her newborn looking serene, with delicate lashes, her eyes gently closed. The heart-breaking truth – as Anderson had learned during the delivery – was that Jade had died in the womb….
Hands-on history: simulating the end of WWII at the Truman Museum
The highlight of Joe Henke’s summers are his visits to the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum. Henke is a world history and honors government teacher from Boonville, Missouri and has participated in the museum’s weeklong Summer Teacher Institute for the last seven years. This year on the eve of the 70th Anniversary of the…
Us, getting by
As the debate over a better living wage for Kanas City residents continues to be an ongoing conversation, and with the KCMO city council addressing the issue in today’s council meeting, reporter Daniel Boothe and photographer Lara Shipley present portraits and voices from KC workers, as part of Flatland’s “Getting By” project exploring the impact of economic, educational and health disparities in KC.
Death And Dying: Expanding Palliative Care
A milestone multi-year study published in 1995 startled the medical world when it revealed that about half the hospital doctors treating terminally ill people were unaware when their patients had not wanted aggressive, life-extending treatments and that about half those who died in their care had pain that might have been abated. Equally shocking, the…
Storify: NCLR conversations on Immigration, Economic Inequality, and Healthcare
Reporters, politicians and participants were active this week in tweeting their impressions from the annual National Council of La Raza, which took place at the Kansas City Convention Center, July 11-14. The twitterarti weighed in on key issues discussed at the conference, as reflected here in this Storify by KCPT’s Matthew Hodapp. Did you attend the conference? Let…
Death And Dying: An Emerging Conversation
Editor’s note: On Wednesday, Medicare announced that it would reimburse doctors for end-of-life counseling. It’s part of an emerging conversation about end-of-life issues and the policy changes needed to give people more control over what happens to them in their final days. This three-part series of stories by KHI News Service, and a video produced in…
How one KC church creates an honest place to talk race
Ever since debates about race intensified following Ferguson and Baltimore and New York and South Carolina, a question directed at white people has grown sharper. Do you have any African-American friends? Not associates you see only at work. Not people you run into at your kids’ sports events. People you really talk to. Friends. At…
Immigration, the gender wage gap, and Donald Trump emerge as themes for Democratic candidates in KC
Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley addressed the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) on Monday at the Kansas City Convention Center. No Republican candidates spoke at the conference. NCLR is an national organization that advocates for the rights of the Hispanic and Latino population. Its conference in Kansas City runs…