News & Issues
Stories from around the Kansas City Metro area on a variety of topics.
Public hearing spotlights plans for unaccredited districts
The auditorium at Paseo Fine and Performing Arts Academy was nearly full of parents, teachers and community members Wednesday night for a public hearing hosted by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education on plans to address unaccredited school districts in the state. Kansas City Public Schools is one of three districts currently…
CEO of Research Medical Center announced
HCA Midwest Health System announced Tuesday the appointment of Jacqueline R. DeSouza as CEO of Research Medical Center, a 490-bed hospital in Kansas City, Mo. Her appointment takes effect Feb. 10. She is currently CEO of Lee’s Summit Medical Center, another HCA Hospital. DeSouza succeeds Kevin Hicks, who left recently to become CEO of HCA’s…
Local efforts aim to curb Medicare costs
Mike Sherry – The Hale Center for Journalism Established five decades ago, the Medicare program has a budget rivalling that of the Pentagon, and congressional budgeters project the roughly $600 billion price tag will double within the next decade. But three Kansas City-area physician partnerships, serving both sides of the state line, are on…
Education Q&A: Christina Chandler, student teacher
Christina Chandler is a 3rd grade student teacher at Red Bridge Elementary School. After hours, she devotes 10-20 hours a week coaching Center School District’s FIRST® LEGO® League teams. FLL gets 9 to 14-year-olds interested in engineering through robotics competitions. One of the teams Chandler works with is the Rocking Robo Roadrunners. This month they…
A Local Solution
Part 3 continued: Undocumented and Uninsured – A Health Care Challenge [Editor’s Note: Click this link for an overview of the series and an interview with the author.] Tammy Worth — Special correspondent to The Hale Center for Journalism The cleaning crew at the Farmland Foods plant in rural Milan, Mo., clocks in at 10 p.m. every weeknight….
Documentary examines link between race and education
Lindsey Foat – The Hale Center for Journalism Editor’s note: Reporter Lindsey Foat received a grant from PBS’s program “POV” to create community engagement around the “American Promise” documentary and to produce a short video localizing the issue. Most people would agree that education and economic opportunity are essential components of the American Dream. A new documentary,…
A Community Choice
Part 3: Undocumented and Uninsured – A Health Care Challenge [Editor’s Note: Click this link for an overview of the series and an interview with the author.] Tammy Worth — Special correspondent to The Hale Center for Journalism Kansas City may have the largest number of Hispanics in the metropolitan area, but Olathe has the largest percent…
Rainbow Mental Health Facility to hold town hall meeting
The organizations involved with the revamped Rainbow Mental Health Facility in Kansas City, Kan., are holding a town hall meeting Friday to explain the changes. Officials have scheduled the meeting for 10 a.m. at the Johnson County Mental Center, 6000 Lamar Ave. in Mission, Kan. Last week, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback announced that Rainbow will…
State of the States Focus on Education
Education was a major focus of both Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback and Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon’s respective State of the State addresses. Here are highlights from both speeches. Full transcriptions of Brownback and Nixon’s speeches can be found at respective links. Brownback delivered his speech Jan. 15, 2014. He championed a state plan to fund…
Program curtails visits to emergency rooms
After navigating the brightly lit aisles of the Raytown Wal-Mart, Lance Sharples wheeled a grocery cart to the check-out line one night last week. The clerk made quick work of the items – staples like bananas, hotdogs, frozen pizza, and white bread. “You push, man,” Sharples told his companion as they headed for the door….