News & Issues
Stories from around the Kansas City Metro area on a variety of topics.
Serving KC’s Homeless Students
All public schools in the U.S. are required by federal law to designate a liaison for homeless students. The McKinney-Vento Act, passed in 1987, spells out what schools are required to provide students in order to minimize barriers to education created by homelessness. Under the act, the definition of “homeless” is rather broad, and can…
As deep-red states expand Medicaid, Nixon says Missouri is leaving money on the table
As other deep-red states agree to expand Medicaid within their borders, Gov. Jay Nixon says Missouri is leaving federal health care dollars on the table.
A double whammy for KC safety-net providers
Samuel U. Rodgers is one of Kansas City’s largest safety net health clinics, and the doctors and nurses here take pride in offering care to all. That means learning to expect the unexpected. But cuts in funding are something else, according to CEO Hilda Fuentes, who recently got a letter explaining that the money she gets from the city would be cut this fiscal year by more than 10 percent, or about $167,000.
Hazy on hookah
Kansas legislators are trying to determine what they should do, if anything, to regulate hookah. But first, several of them have to determine exactly what hookah is.
1 year after GED changes: Kansas students lost in shuffle
The number of people who passed the GED exam in Kansas last year is the lowest it’s been in decades. And adult education centers, which for years have helped ensure that students are ready for the test, have been cut out of the process.
Hospitals Join Johnson County EMS Effort
Six area hospitals have signed on to become paying partners in a Johnson County program aimed at providing the high-quality care to patients in need of emergency services.
KC city council candidates weigh in on tech issues
How do we close the digital divide? How do we become a gigabit city? How do we attract and keep tech talent in Kansas City? These questions and more were discussed last week at KC Digital Drive’s Civic Tech Forum at Union Station. KC Digital Drive is an organization that grew out of the Mayors’…
Thousands Of Kansans, Missourians Could Lose Health Coverage If Court Erases Subsidies
More than 300,000 consumers in Kansas and Missouri have a stake in the case argued Wednesday in the U.S. Supreme Court over a provision in the Affordable Care Act. The vast majority of people who purchased Affordable Care Act coverage in both states qualified for federal tax credits. But they could lose those credits if the court rules that only consumers using state-based marketplaces are entitled to them.
Balancing child safety and parental rights, in Kansas
In Kansas, when parents or guardians decline to provide their children treatment the medical community deems necessary, the state can use medical neglect statutes to compel treatment unless that treatment would run counter to religious beliefs determined to be legitimate by a judge. A bill that overwhelmingly passed the Kansas Senate could alter that.
Cerner wins $170M contract in Australia
Kansas City-based health IT giant Cerner Corp. has won a $170 million, 10-year contract to provide its medications management system to hospitals in New South Wales, Australia.