News & Issues
Stories from around the Kansas City Metro area on a variety of topics.
KC schools supporters speak on superintendent search
For a school district that has had a revolving door of superintendents over the past several decades, it would seem natural that Kansas City Public Schools residents would value a person with staying power as the school board is on the hunt yet again for a top administrator.
Kansas Groups Gear Up For Yet Another Run At Medicaid Expansion
Editor’s note: This is the second of two stories looking at Medicaid expansion in Missouri and Kansas. Today’s story looks at the failure to expand Medicaid in Kansas. Wednesday’s story looked at the failure to expand Medicaid in Missouri. Tonight, Thursday, at 7:25 p.m., KCPT Channel 19 will air a video tied to the stories….
Rankings show Kansas up in child health, but down in child poverty
Kansas improved its ranking in child health but dropped in child poverty in the latest data released by a national nonprofit that advocates for children. The state retained its No. 15 overall ranking from the Annie E. Casey Foundation in its 2015 Kids Count survey published Tuesday. The latest information comes from 2013 and shows…
Missouri’s Refusal To Expand Medicaid Leaves Hospitals Feeling The Pain
It’s a sweltering Monday afternoon, and in the emergency room of Truman Medical Centers near downtown Kansas City, a patient complains of excruciating abdominal pain. The attending physician advises her there’s only so much he can do. “The reality is you can get whatever pain medication I’m able to give you in an effort to…
Kansas City Week In Review Tackles the Minimum Wage Decision
In the most recent episode of “Kansas City Week in Review,” host Nick Haines and a guest panel discuss the council’s decision last week to raise the city’s minimum wage. Also, “Week In Review” weighs in on the National Council de La Raza convention, Kansas tax hikes, the exodus of teachers from Kansas, and the gay…
The science behind farm herbicides and cancer
Farmers count on chemical herbicides to keep their fields weed-free. But an international panel of scientists who studied two of the most heavily used farm chemicals to determine whether they could cause cancer, said exposure to weed-killing chemicals could come at a cost. In the last few months, scientists brought together by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, or IARC, considered glyphosate and 2,4-D.
Missouri Ordered To Name Lethal Injection Drug Provider
Missouri must disclose the name of the pharmacy from which it buys lethal injection drugs, a circuit court judge has ruled in yet another case challenging the Department of Corrections’ refusal to provide such information. The case was filed last year in Cole County Circuit Court by five news organizations, including The Kansas City Star…
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….