News & Issues
Stories from around the Kansas City Metro area on a variety of topics.
How nonprofit hospitals – including one in Missouri – are seizing patients’ wages
Earlier this year, ProPublica and NPR reported that the wages of millions of U.S. workers are diverted to pay off a variety of consumer debts. Most states, like Missouri, allow creditors to take a quarter of after-tax wages—an amount that government surveys show is unaffordable for lower-income families.
Why the Midwest is recruiting California dairies
As drought, feed costs, and urban development wear on West Coast milk producers, states like Nebraska, Kansas and Iowa are pitching themselves as a dairy heaven. Even in California, the nation’s No. 1 dairy state, many dairy farmers are listening.
How prepared are Kansas and Missouri for disease outbreaks?
Kansas and Missouri rank in the bottom half of states in preparedness for potential outbreaks of infectious diseases like Ebola, Enterovirus and ‘superbugs,’ according to a report released Thursday.
Death Cafes: Discussing death, and especially life
On a Wednesday evening in October, about 20 people gathered in a St. Joseph, Missouri, coffee shop to talk about death. It’s called a Death Cafe, and it’s part of an international movement to get people talking about death and dying. It started in the U.K. in 2011 and, soon after that, hospice social worker…
Why are minorities diagnosed with autism at lower rates than whites?
For many Hispanic parents, getting help for their autistic children is a challenge. And that often starts with the failure to identify the disorder in the first place, says Jason Travers, an assistant professor in the special education department at the University of Kansas.
Kansas budget cuts affect Department for Children and Families
A spokesperson for the Kansas Department for Children and Families says the agency plans to heed Gov. Sam Brownback’s call for cutting $3.9 million from its fiscal year 2015 budget by delaying a planned upgrade of its computer system.
Proposal To Raise Missouri’s Cigarette Tax Would Fund Children’s Initiatives
A business-led group based in Kansas City, Mo., is leading an effort to quadruple Missouri’s lowest-in-the-nation cigarette tax and direct the proceeds to early childhood health and education programs. Organizers of the “Raise Your Hand for Kids” campaign on Friday outlined their plan for a statewide ballot initiative to an audience of about 100 business,…
Using T’ai Chi to help with chronic health issues
The room is dark. Most participants are not wearing shoes, and their eyes are closed. Clad mostly in sweatpants and seated in chairs, they settle in for a 45-minute guided meditation from their instructor. This is how Bill Douglas begins his classes at Turning Point: The Center for Hope and Healing in Leawood, Kansas. The center has…
Luncheon honoring Madeleine Albright delves into status of Missouri women
Eighteen years to the day that Madeleine Albright was nominated to be the first female Secretary of State, she reflected on her career and the challenges facing women and girls all over the world at the 22nd annual Women’s Foundation luncheon in Kansas City, Missouri. “The problem of gender discrimination isn’t limited to any one…
Hour of Code events teach kids logic and problem solving
At the Google Fiber space on State Line Road Tuesday morning, students from several local schools sat at laptops, trying to get the character Elsa from the movie “Frozen” to ice skate in a certain pattern. It looked like they were playing a computer game, but really they were participating in an international effort to…