Kansas City, MO – This spring and summer, an alarming number of sewage spills are threatening local waterways. Millions of gallons of human waste have poured into rivers and lakes. And it's unclear if this is business as usual, and the public just didn't know about it before.

What's changed is that the city and the state are now reporting these spills more consistently. To understand the situation better, KCUR's Sylvia Maria Gross caught up with journalist Karen Dillon, who covers the environmental beat for The Kansas City Star.

By Maria Carter

Kansas City, MO – President Barack Obama will be in Kansas City this week, mixing campaigning with a discussion about the economy.

National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins, FDA commissioner Margaret Hamberg, and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius are meeting with local academic and industry leaders today about the future of cancer treatment.

By Steve Bell

Kansas City, MO –

Topkea, KS – Kansas Governor Mark Parkinson returned from a trip to Washington D.C. recently, where he and a coalition of governors urged Congress to extend federal payments that help support the Medicaid program.

The joint state/federal health program benefits aged, low-income and disabled Kansans.

Federal stimulus legislation has helped pay a bigger chunk of the program in recent years than usual. State lawmakers have assumed that would be extended, and built the funding into the state budget for this fiscal year.

By Maria Carter

Kansas City, MO – Kansas Governor Mark Parkinson returned from a trip to Washington DC recently, where he and a coalition of governors urged Congress to extend federal payments that help support the Medicaid program.

The New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator says 45 separate bodies are involved in a case that began in March when heads and other body parts were discovered at a Kansas medical waste facility.

By Steve Bell

Kansas City, MO –

By Steve Bell

Kansas City, MO –

Overland Park, KS – The iconic White Haven Motor Lodge sign on Metcalf Avenue is staying in Johnson County, after the motel finished auctioning off all of its property today.

The Johnson County Museum had the highest bid - $5500. The only other bidder was a museum in Indiana. Johnson County Museum Director Mindi Love says many Kansas Citians have fond memories of the motel and sign, and wanted to see it stay in the community. And she says the sign also has historical significance.

Leawood, KS – A Grandview man has been charged today in the Tuesday break-in at a Leawood Kansas home and the rape of a 92 year old woman.

The woman managed to dial 911 in the course of the series of crimes in her home near 103rd street and Overbrook. Police were close by and say they were at the house within one minute of the call, to arrest 21 year old Simon Angilda. An outrageous crime and uncommon, to Major Troy Rettig. He's deputy police chief, who put it this way.

Kansas City, MO – Missouri Senate leaders are bypassing a committee that's blocking legislation to provide auto incentives during the ongoing special session.

Republican Chuck Purgason, chair of the senate's Fiscal Oversight committee, is blocking a vote on the House bill that contains both incentives for Ford Motor Company and tax breaks for underground data centers. So Senate leaders have crafted a separate bill that excludes the data centers. It's sponsored by Republican Luann Ridgeway of Platte County: