News & Issues
Stories from around the Kansas City Metro area on a variety of topics.
Explore many careers, you must: voice of Yoda visits career day
If Yoda offered career advice, he might tell you something like, “Do or do not. There is no try.” But Tom Kane, who was the voice of Yoda in the animated film “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” as well as numerous Star Wars video games, is more interested in making sure the Blue Valley Middle…
The University of Kansas Hospital: Patient admitted Monday does not have Ebola
UPDATE 10/14/14 4:10 pm: A man who was admitted Monday to The University of Kansas Hospital suffering from diarrhea and who worked recently near Africa’s west coast does not have Ebola, the hospital said Tuesday afternoon. Results of blood tests showed the patient has not contracted the virus, which has killed more than 4,000 people in the…
State scrutiny of early head start programs prompts questions
One of Kansas’ largest early childhood development programs has decided not to reapply for nearly $1 million in Early Head Start funding because of difficulties dealing with a state agency. “This wasn’t something we wanted to do,” said Teresa Rupp, longtime executive director at Child Start, a Wichita-based program that provides Head Start and Early…
Mule jumping: The county fair tradition you didn’t know you loved
Fair-goers pack the stands at the East Perry Community Fair in Altenburg, Missouri, on a warm, sunny Saturday afternoon. They aren’t here for the blue ribbon pigs, the truck pull or the beauty contest. These people are here for the fair’s biggest attraction — the jumping mules. Mule jumping is a simple sport. A handler…
Forum develops a healthy to-do list for Kansas City area
The Kansas City of the future would be a place where people have affordable medical care, policymakers work with the community on health issues and residents suffer less from chronic diseases and violence. That, at any rate, is the consensus that emerged Saturday at a forum in Kansas City, Mo. And it was just the…
KC Week in Review: Wedding bells ringing in JOCO for same-sex couples
In an historic move, Johnson County becomes the first jurisdiction in the metro and in the state of Kansas to issue legal marriage licenses to gay partners. Also on the program…news reviewers Mary Sanchez of the Kansas City Star, Steve Vockrodt of The Pitch, Garrett Haake from 41 Action News and Dave Helling of the Kansas City Star dissect the Kansas U.S. Senate debate, Dan Cofran’s…
With next Obamacare enrollment period set to start, navigators share successful strategies
Meridith Berry and her team learned a valuable lesson at an event where they were encouraging Hispanics to purchase coverage through the health insurance marketplace established by the Affordable Care Act: don’t use green card stock. Berry, a family financial education specialist with the University of Missouri Extension in Trenton, Mo., said the slip-up occurred…
The language of lullabies: KU professor develops music therapy for preemies
(Video by Todd Feeback/The Hale Center for Journalism) If the idea of music therapy brings to mind 1960s-era folk singers warbling to bemused patients, you haven’t seen Deanna Hanson-Abromeit at work. At Operation Breakthrough in Kansas City, Missouri, the University of Kansas assistant professor sings a good morning song to Daren, a curious, if slightly…
Plans for ‘Healthy Campus’ in KCK move forward
Updated 9:09 a.m. Oct. 10 Kansas City, Kan., Mayor Mark Holland on Thursday unveiled an initiative to ensure that all residents can use a proposed new community center regardless of their financial circumstances. Holland announced the initiative as part of a community forum for a “healthy campus” proposed for an urban site just west of…
Paving the launch pad for female astronauts: KC woman shares her experience in the Mercury 13
When Sarah Ratley received the invitation to be part of a secret project testing women as potential astronauts in 1961, she was at the beauty parlor. While working as an engineer for AT&T, Ratley had gone to get her hair done over the lunch hour. “They traced me down to the beauty salon,” said Ratley,…